2024-25 Young Playwrights Program

Young Playwrights Festival 2024, The Promise by Lauren Wagner

The Young Playwrights Program(YPP) is an opportunity for high school students to develop their voice and write new theatre pieces.

YPP meets young playwrights where they’re at! In YPP, Theatre professionals visit select local classrooms to lead workshops on playwriting and story development. Regardless of their participation in these workshops, young playwrights are invited to submit their own short play for consideration to be produced at Town Hall Theatre by professional directors and actors. Submissions are read by theatre professionals and select finalists will be chosen to have their pieces performed at the annual Young Playwrights Festival at Town Hall Theatre.

YPP is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Lafayette.

Submit Your Short Play

Submissions Due By:

December 31st, 2024

Playwright Submissions

    • All submitting playwrights must live in Contra Costa or Alameda County.

    • Playwrights must be currently enrolled in high school or an equivalent youth schooling program

  • Submit to: ypf@townhalltheatre.com

    • Submissions must include your full name, age, and name of your school (if applicable).

    • Submissions must be shared in either Word Documents, Google Documents, or PDF format.

    • Submissions should be unpublished original plays on any subject. Adaptations or original stories welcome!

    • Submissions must require 4 or fewer actors and may not exceed 10 minutes (approximately 10 pages) in length.

    • Playwrights can submit up to 3 plays per playwright or playwright team.

  • All submitted plays will be read and scored by local theatre professionals. Each play will be read by a minimum of three separate theatre professionals and have the opportunity to score points based on the following categories: Development of the Story, Characterization, Dialogue, Originality, and Writing Mechanics.

    Finalists will be chosen from the highest scoring submissions and announced in early January 2025.

Writer Resources

  • Check out these suggested tips for getting your play on the page from Dramaturg Kathryn Ash.

  • A space with resources on all the construction of storytelling, such as building scenes, unique characters, and themes.

  • Howl Round is a free and open platform for theatremakers worldwide with a focus in amplifying progressive and disruptive ideas about theatre and facilitating connections between diverse practitioners for the past decade. New work is the future of theatre, and this is where you’ll find in-depth content about best practices for its development, as well as pieces about specific work. This is a great resource for upcoming playwrights to see what current theatre makers are up to.

  • The New Play Exchange is the worlds largest digital library of scripts by living playwrights. Reading other new works can be a great way to explore new themes, see how other writers tackled ideas and conversations on stage, or to gain inspiration from other creatives. Join today to gain access to over 53,000 plays and see how other playwrights are building their work.

YPF is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Lafayette.

Bring YPP to Your School

All YPP workshops are free for schools and students thanks to grant support by the Community Foundation of Lafayette.

  • The Young Playwrights Program (YPP) and Festival (YPF) is an opportunity for high school students to develop and produce new theatre pieces. We bring theatre artists to your classroom for a one day workshop to teach students more about the creative development of playwriting. Students will discuss ideas and practice scene writing with theatre artists and have the opportunity to submit their work for production in our Young Playwrights Festival coming up in early 2025. Submissions in the Festival are not required, but suggested.

    This workshop is free for schools and students thanks to grant support by the Lafayette Community Foundation.

  • In-School workshops: 50 minutes or one class period

    Please let us know if you are interested in multiple workshops or longer combined class workshops.

  • Writing Standards: W.9-10.3.a, W.9-10.3.b, W.9-10.3.d, W.9-10.3.e, W.11-12.3

    Speaking and Listening Standards: SL.9-10.4, SL.11-12.4

    Theatre Standards: Prof.TH:Cr1.b, Acc.TH:Cr1.b, Prof.TH:Cr3.a, Adv.TH:Cr3.a, Prof.TH:Pr4, Acc.TH:Pr4, Acc.TH:Re7, Prof.TH:Re8.b, Acc.TH:Cn11.2.a

  • Ready to bring a YPP workshop to your students? Contact us here:

    Erika March, Education Director: Erika.March@TownHallTheatre.com

One report, Critical Links, demonstrates that arts education helps close the achievement gap, improves academic skills essential for reading and language development, and advances students’ motivation to learn. The Young Playwrights Program helps close that gap, bringing theatre makers and students together to bring new voices to the stage.

This program is supported by the Lafayette Community Foundation. This support helps us bring arts programming to local schools and to all students for free.

Arts Education Matters

Past Winners

  • Olives and Oafs by Nate Wayne, Miramonte High School

    No Bullets Ill-Gotten by Amelia Soong, Miramonte High School

    The New Girl by Alvera Bamorya, Acalanes High School

    The Promise by Lauren Wagner, Miramonte High School

  • It’s Not a Heist by Ella Bradley and Colin Perusse, Miramonte High School

    May Lilies Do Die by Amelia Soong, Miramonte High School

    Not For Myself by Hannah Johnson, Miramonte High School

    The Three Surgeons by Ivan Smith and Hannah Shagan, Miramonte High School

  • For the Best by Addison Gates

    What Do You Want by Miriya Huie

    Romeo & Juliet: The Documentary by Minda Jenab

    Math Class by Alana Ruesga

    Da Tempest by Heather Shinn

    Therapy Session by Nadia Torpey

    Roommates by Lindsey Villamor

  • A Day Will Come by Chloe Starczewski

    Float by Ka’Nayah Landers-Daniels

    Three Worms by Phoenix Flum

    Sleeping Beauty by Valentina Navarro-Marsili

    Carrot’s Duck Diaries by Syrine Cherifi, Rebecca Whelan, and Erik Peterson

    Ollie and Eve by Jeffrey Biggers

    Ponte by Scarlett Mosher