Young Playwrights Residencies

City Theatre’s Young Playwrights program fulfills state Common Core and Academic Standards, including Arts and Humanities and English Language Arts. The program is dedicated to centering and amplifying youth voices in a creative and safe way. Through classroom-based residencies, the program takes students through ensemble building exercises and creative games and writing prompts to encourage students to explore the fundamentals of playwriting with the goal of submitting their one-act to the Young Playwrights Contest. 

A City Theatre teaching artist collaborates with the classroom teacher to facilitate in-school playwriting workshops for students. Students learn improvisation and basic theatre skills in an ensemble-based environment, as well as monologue writing, dialogue writing, character creation, and other fundamentals of playwriting. Students participate in moderated constructive peer review of each other’s work, and have the unique opportunity to receive one-on-one feedback from the teaching artist in individual revision conferences. 

City Theatre’s core values are Community, Collaboration, Creativity, and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility and the Young Playwrights program and its teaching artists are committed to those values 

 GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE! 

What you get: 

• An in-school playwriting residency 
• Student tickets to the Young Playwrights Festival 
• Student tickets to a student matinee 

• Flex subscription to all Mainstage shows FOR YOU! 
• Bus transportation and substitute teachers costs reimbursed 

REQUIREMENTS: 

• Attend the 1-day YP Teachers Institute at City Theatre (ACT 48 credit provided) 
• Attend 3 of the 4 additional Professional Development workshops (ACT 48 credit provided) 

• Complete all evaluation materials (surveys, lesson plan samples, etc.) 
• Student completion of online survey 

ABOUT: 

Funding Eligibility: 

7-12th grade teachers in IU1, IU4 and IU7 

For more information about grant funding OR bringing a residency to your school, please contact Katie Trupiano, Director of Education, at ktrupiano@citytheatrecompany.org. 

YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

Selected submissions to the Young Playwrights Contest are given professional productions at City Theatre as part of the annual Young Playwrights Festival. Student playwrights develop their scripts in collaboration with professional theatre artists—a director, dramaturgs, designers, and actors—for productions on City Theatre’s stage. 

YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS CONTEST

City Theatre’s annual Young Playwrights Contest encourages 7-12th grade western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia students to make their voices heard by writing and submitting original, one-act plays. Every script is read and evaluated by a Literary Committee of theatre professionals, and each student receives a written summary of the evaluator’s comments, including encouraging suggestions for continued revisions.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

Get an upfront seat to the artistic process at City Theatre.  Participate in discussions and demonstrations with many of City Theatre’s creative team, including playwrights, directors, designers, and more. Receive ongoing support for Young Playwrights classrooms and theatre practices from professionals. Act 48 credit is available.