PLAYWRITING IN SCHOOLS
We teach playwriting and theatre in grades 3-12, during and after school. Theatre professionals use a dynamic, interactive curriculum designed to support standards in English and Theatre. Lessons can be adapted to support other content areas. Programs often culminate with professional actors performing students’ scripts. Learners at all levels enjoy success. Safe behind the mask of fiction, young people explore actions and their consequences. Empathy and compassion are fostered as students gain confidence, non-violent techniques for solving problems, essential language skills, and knowledge of theatre. Programs include:

Imagine That Creative Drama, grades 3-12
Write On! Playwriting, grades 4-12
Professional Development for Teachers

PLAYWRITING CONTEST
Each year Californians under age 19 submit original scripts to the California Young Playwrights Contest. Every writer who requests feedback receives an individualized script critique. Selected writers win script readings or full professional productions in Plays by Young Writers. Distinguished artists from major theatres select festival scripts and write comments to the playwrights. With support from a dramaturg, each winning writer strengthens his or her script and participates in every step of the production process.

Download contest entry form here

STAGE PRODUCTIONS
Plays by Young Writers, our annual festival of plays by contest winners, educates young artists in professional theatre as they work alongside experienced artists and technicians. Staged each year at a renowned theatre in San Diego (The Old Globe, San Diego Re's Lyceum Theatre, and Old Town Theatre), the festival entertains viewers of all ages. Student matinees give hundreds of young people their first chance to “go to the theatre,” where they often meet characters grappling with conflicts much like their own, in plays praised by local critics. Nationally known dramatists whose first plays were staged in the festival include Karen Hartman, Jim Knable, Josefina López and Annie Weisman.

TOURING PRODUCTIONS
The WINS Tour (Writers in the Next Stage of their careers) brings professional theatre to schools and community sites throughout Southern California. We commission former contest winners to develop plays that engage teenage viewers or select plays written by young people and previously produced in our festival of Plays by Young Writers. Scripts illuminate issues of cultural identity, bullying, fitting in, difficulties in communicating, and inter-generational tensions. The program introduces theatre of substance to experienced theatre-goers and audiences who are new to live theatre.

PROGRAMS WITH FOSTER YOUTH
Telling Stories: Giving Voice to Foster Youth creates theatre from the life experiences of youth in and out of the foster care system. We developed the program in partnership with LEAP (Leadership Empowers All Possibilities), a group of young adults involved in advocating for changes to the system. When foster youth tell people about their experiences, the response is often, "That's not true. You're telling stories." Our theatre artists work with these storytellers during group sessions and one-on-one interviews to shape their stories into short plays, which are performed by professional actors. The youth and young adults examine the challenges they've faced, celebrate the positive choices and personal strength that have helped them persevere, and communicate their stories to encourage community involvement in improving the child welfare system. We are collecting stories from youth, care providers and others involved in all aspects of foster care, with plans to tour a production to community venues in fall 2010. Let us know if you have a story to tell. The program is made possible through a grant from The San Diego Foundation through its Art Works for San Diego initiative, which supports art as a powerful agent for social change.

SENIOR PROGRAMS
Lifestages creates grassroots theatre from the lives of older individuals. The program pairs seniors, with a lifetime of stories to tell, with actor/writers eager for material to dramatize. The writers interview the storytellers and then shape their wisdom and memories into dramatic vignettes, which are performed by theatre artists in senior residences and community venues. Recollections writing workshops help groups of seniors craft their life experiences into theatre; professional actors perform scripts at the end of the program. In both programs Storytellers receive videotaped copies of the performance. Reflections brings performances of the seniors’ writing to community sites and local schools, bringing history to life for younger generations.