Programs Serve:

School Groups and Teachers

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

We teach playwriting and theatre in grades 3-12, during and after school throughout San Diego County. 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.

 

Student Playwrights

The California Young Playwrights Contest is open to Californians under age 19. Every year young playwrights submit original scripts to the 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.

Playwrights Project provides youth playwriting camps for students to explore their creativity outside of a school setting. These camps culminate in a performance on the final day of camp where student scripts are performed by professional actors.

Theatre Goers and School Groups

Plays by Young Writers, our annual festival of plays by contest winners, features full professional productions at a renowned theatre in San Diego (Past theatres include: The Old Globe, San Diego Rep's Lyceum Theatre, Old Town Theatre and The Joan B. Kroc Theatre). The festival entertains viewers of all ages. The festival provides an intensive learning experience for the young writers as they work alongside experienced artists and technicians. 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 early plays were staged in the festival include Karen Hartman, Jim Knable, Josefina López, Lauren Yee, Annie Weisman, and Rian Johnson.

Community Storytelling

Playwrights Project's community programs create new plays with groups that do not typically attend theatre. The plays are presented to these groups to reflect on shared experiences, better understand differences and to spark a love of live theatre. The program is made possible by the James Irvine Foundation. Participants can take part in several ways. No previous writing experience is required.

 

Incarcerated Adults and Returned Citizens

Out of the Yard draws stories from the lives of adults experiencing incarceration and returned citizens. Recognizing that challenging situations can lead to difficult decisions and that we all make mistakes at times, the program supports individuals in creating fictional plays that examine hardships and explore positive solutions, look forward to brighter futures, and redefine the characters beyond the labels imposed by past choices.

 

Foster Youth and Alumni of Care

Telling Stories: Giving Voice to Foster Youth creates theatre from the life experiences of current and former youth, care providers, mentors, and those involved in various aspects of foster care. The program garnered its name from former foster youth who told us that when they inform people about their experiences, the response is often, "That's not true. You're telling stories." Telling Stories participants examine the challenges they've faced, celebrate the personal strength that has helped them persevere, and communicate their stories to encourage community involvement in improving the child welfare system.

 

Seniors

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 guide groups of seniors to reflect on moments from their lives and craft their experiences into theatre; professional actors perform scripts at the end of the program. Reflections brings performances of the seniors' writing to community sites and local schools, bringing history to life for younger generations.

 

Immigrants Living in the U.S.

Border Lines/Líneas de la Frontera creates fictional plays based on real life experiences along the U.S.- Mexico border to break down barriers, demystify common stereotypes, honor cultural traditions, celebrate the joy of living, inspire hope, and build sensitivity to the challenges faced by immigrants struggling to adapt to a different culture and language.

 

Active Military and Veterans

About Face engages service people and their families in creating theatre about their military experiences. By fictionalizing specific moments from their lives, we gain a deeper understand of the meaning of war, freedom, loyalty, duty and honor. The program helps nonmilitary to gain a better understanding of the bravery, sacrifices, challenges, and life-affirming discoveries specific to service in the armed forces, and helps fellow military identify shared themes and recognize that they are not alone.

 

Programs for Adult Playwrights

Playwrights Project aspires to support adult playwrights in the development of new plays through its Play by Play program, which is a dramaturgical process designed to further the development of new plays and strengthen the skills of adult playwrights. The program offers playwrights the opportunity to hear their plays read by actors, engage in discussion with an audience, and work one-on-one with a theatre expert to further develop their script. The program culminates in a community reading of the revised scripts.