PlayGround’s 2022 Young Playwrights Contest

PlayGround has announced and officially opened the submission window for their 14th 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 the theme “LORE,” a favorite from the 2020-2021 Season of Monday Night prompts. Bay Area High School students are invited to write an original, 10-minute play that is a retelling of a myth or legend drawn from their culture and/or identities. For more information and the complete guidelines, visit https://playground-sf.org/ypp-guidelines. All applications must be submitted via google form at https://forms.gle/VLJvzFnDQfLYVTBB7

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 and virtual playwriting master classes for Bay Area high schools to help students become more familiar with playwriting in the theatrical short form. 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 either in person or virtually should contact Jim Kleinmann at jim@playground-sf.org. Classes will be offered until the end of March, are first-come first-served, and will directly prepare students for an April 2022 submission deadline.

Submissions for the 14th annual Young Playwrights Contest are due by 11:59pm on Monday, April 25th, 2022. Four finalists will be announced on or before May 2. The finalists will each receive a professional staged reading of their play as part of the PlayGround Festival of New Works at Potrero Stage and simulcast on Friday, May 13, 2022. Young Playwrights Project alumni include: Lucy Urbano (Oakland School for the Arts), Cicely Henderson (SOTA), Jake Rosenberg (JCHS), Alona Bach (Berkeley High), and Lucas Baisch (SOTA), among others.

Those planning to submit are encouraged to attend our upcoming free Playwriting Masterclass via zoom on April 2nd, from 12pm-1:30pm. Facilitated by Artistic Director Jim Kleinman, this class is for high school-aged students interested in learning how to write plays, with an emphasis on the ten-minute play. For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/youth-playwriting-masterclass-2022/.

In addition to the Contest, through the 14th 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, virtually or in-person, including the Festival of New Works at Potrero Stage and Monday Night readings at Freight & Salvage. For more information on tickets and accessibility, schools can contact ypp@playground-sf.org.

For more information, visit playground-sf.org/ypp-guidelines or call (415) 992-6677.