2021 Young Playwrights Project & Contest

Posted by on February 5, 2021

PlayGround has announced and officially opened the submission window for their 13th annual Young Playwrights Contest, a showcase celebrating the best of budding new voices for the stage. Four finalists will be selected from plays submitted by high schoolers from any of the 9 Bay Area counties, inspired by this year’s theme, “Justice”, a relevant favorite from the Monday Night reading prompts. For complete guidelines, visit https://playground-sf.org/ypp-guidelines.

In their continuing efforts towards inclusion, accessibility, and fostering new work at all stages of creation, PlayGround is offering a limited number of complimentary in-school/online playwriting master classes for Bay Area high schools to help students become more familiar with playwriting in the theatrical short form. In addition to this, PlayGround will host several online classes open to all students as well. Led by distinguished PlayGround alumni and staff, these classes are designed to complement existing creative writing and playwriting education within the schools, while opening up the opportunity of the Young Playwrights Project for budding/aspiring dramatists. Programs interested in hosting a master class should contact Jim Kleinmann at jim@playground-sf.org. Classes will be offered until the end of March 2021, are first-come first-served, and will directly prepare students for an April 2021 submission deadline. For schools unable to host master classes, students are also welcome to attend two complimentary Master Classes held online via Zoom, March 6 & March 7, 12pm-1pm PT (sign up via the Master Class Google Form).

Submissions for the 13th annual Young Playwrights Contest are due by 11:59pm on Monday, April 19, 2021 (EXTENDED DEADLINE). Four finalists will be announced on or before April 30. The finalists will each receive a professional staged reading of their play as part of the PlayGround Zoom Fest on Friday, May 28. Young Playwrights Project alumni include: Katherine Ioffe (Design Tech High School), Lucy Urbano (Oakland School for the Arts), Cicely Henderson (SOTA), Jake Rosenberg (JCHS), Alona Bach (Berkeley High), and Lucas Baisch (SOTA), among others.

In addition to the Contest, through the 13th Annual Howard & Lenore Klein Foundation Young Playwrights Project, PlayGround also offers free or discounted tickets based on financial accessibility for high school students in the Bay Area to attend PlayGround’s public performances, including the 2021 Solo Fest, Festival of New Works, and Monday Night readings. For more information on tickets and accessibility, schools can contact ypp@playground-sf.org.

For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/youngplaywrights/ or call (415) 992-6677.