Young Playwrights Project
2025 YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS CONTEST
PlayGround invites Bay Area high school students, grades 9-12, to create a new first-person (not autobiographical) solo piece inspired by the prompt “The American Experiment” for consideration in the 2025 Young Playwrights Contest (submission deadline: April 21, 2025). The top four playwrights will be announced on or before May 1st. 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 23, 2025.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Through the Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation PlayGround Young Playwrights Project, PlayGround and Bay Area high schools partner to enable young writers to find their own expressive voice through the creation, development, and production of short plays. Each year, Bay Area high school students, grades 9-12, are invited to submit short plays for consideration in the Young Playwrights Contest. The top four playwrights receive professional public staged readings of their winning short works as part of the annual PlayGround Festival of New Works.
PlayGround offers Bay Area high school students free tickets to its Monday Night PlayGround series and PlayGround public programming at Potrero Stage, including the PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, PlayGround Festival of New Works, and the PlayGround Innovators Showcase. For more information or to reserve student group tickets, contact us at ypp@playground-sf.org.
In addition, PlayGround provides free playwriting workshops, both in-school and off-site, to assist students in preparing for their Young Playwrights Contest submission. Educators interested in arranging an in-school playwriting workshop can contact us at ypp@playground-sf.org.
MARCH 1 PLAYWRITING MASTER CLASS
In preparation for the 2025 Young Playwrights Contest, Bay Area high school students, grades 9-12, are welcome to sign up for a free playwriting master class, Saturday, March 1, 2025, 12pm-2pm PT, in-person at the PlayGround PlaySpace (3286 Adeline St #9, Berkeley, CA 94703) or via Zoom. To register, click the button below.
PREVIOUS FINALISTS
2024 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Take Charge by Hiu Chu (Galileo Academy of Science & Technology ’27)
Where I’m From by Shannon Floyd Jr (Galileo Academy of Science & Technology ’27)
2100 by Oona Haskovec (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts ’25)
Curtain Speeches by Alexis Tuchinda (The Nueva School ’24)
2023 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Pleased as Peach by Arisa Sky Krueger (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts ’24)
The Rouge Shoes by Grady Fleming, Clifton Chiang, Josslyn Grover, Julia Satterley and Annika Svahn (Bentley Upper School ’25)
American Magpie by Brian Guan (Dublin High School ’24)
When One Cries Wolf by Linnani Simpson (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts ’23)
2022 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Moon Eater by Christopher John Dela Cruz (Galileo Academy of Science and Technology ’22)
Bamboo by Sky Krueger (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts ’24)
The Mitten by Emily Maremont (San Francisco University High School ’25)
The Woman Who Refused to be Beaten by Aleeza Zakai (California High School ’23)
2021 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Late by Sky Krueger (SOTA ’24)
Between Pigs and Sheep by Finn Liu (Galileo Academy of Science and Technology ’21)
How An Ice Cream Truck Can Damn You to Hell by Jane Palladino (Aragon High School ’23)
Bread and Circuses by Anna Vanderford (Hillsdale High School ’21)
2020 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Aren’t You Clever by Katherine Ioffe (Design Tech High School ’22)
American Dinner by Leela Kiyawat (Oakland School for the Arts ’21)
If Only We Were Humen by Tiffany Liu (Cupertino High School ’21)
Safe Way by Sarah Schecter (Oakland School for the Arts ’21)
2019 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Behind the Trance by Ashlee Nguyen (Galileo Academy of Science & Technology ’19)
Lizzy in the Room by Jennifer Xiang (Mission San Jose High School ’20)
Princess and the P.E.A. by Cicely Henderson (SOTA ’19)
Snip Snip! by Lucy Urbano (Oakland School for the Arts ’19)
2018 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
True Colors by Nicholas Wong (Galileo Academy of Science & Technology ’18)
Shorter Than Fiction by Trey Harris (SOTA ’18) & Oliver Paddock (SOTA ’19)
We Don’t Have Day Jobs Anymore by Lucy Urbano (Oakland School of the Arts ’19)
Highly Qualified by Penelope Gould (Oakland School of the Arts ’18)
2017 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Crash by Annais Guerroro (SOTA ’19)
Parliament by Cicely Henderson (SOTA ’19)
Assumptions by Chava Novogrodsky-Godt (SOTA ’20)
Bear All, Bear Arms by Camilla Dwyer (SOTA ’17)
2016 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Apartment Number Four by Cicely Henderson (SOTA ’19)
Coming Around by Isabel Rose Aks (SOTA ’19)
In Black and White by Camilla Dwyer (SOTA ’17)
My Name Is by Max Itsikson (SOTA ’18)
2015 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Home Front by Camilla Dwyer (SOTA ’17)
Darling on the Nickel by Rocko Bauman (Berkeley High School ’15)
Man’s Work by Neil Binnie (Miramonte High School ’17)
Different Pieces of Oppression by Rebecca Shalliker (Albany High School ’16)
2014 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Who Wants the Moon by Eliza Mantz (Tamalpais ’14)
Occupi by Jake Rosenberg (JCHS of the Bay ’14)
Walk A Night in My Moccasins by Christine Lim (SOTA ’15)
Somnambulism by Tessa King (Tamalpais ’15)
2013 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Ariadne’s Thread by Hilary Buffum (SOTA ’14)
Marriage, On the Rocks by Louise Newlin (Urban ’13)
Pitch Slap by Jake Rosenberg (JCHS of the Bay ’14)
Flowershop by Carly Van Liere (Redwood High ’14)
2012 Young Playwrights Project Finalist:
Roundabout by Ayelet Schrek (JCHS of the Bay ’13)
2011 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Act After Curtain by Alona Bach (Berkeley High ’11)
You Wanna Refill? by Rebecca Leiner (SOTA ’11) and Madison Worthington (SOTA ’11)
Secrets in a Backstage Box by Pavla Berghen-Wolf (JCHS of the Bay ’13)
Shakespeare in an Airport by Caety Klingman (Miramonte High ’11)
2010 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
Eden by Hannah Sears (Urban School ’12)
Pandora by Lucas Baisch (SOTA ’10)
Family Values by Nathan Forster (Berkeley High ’11)
Blankie by Caety Klingman (Miramonte High ’11)
2009 Young Playwrights Project Finalists:
The Toyshop by Sophie Becker (Tamalpais ’11)
How To Make A Clean Get Away by Tanea Lunsford (SOTA ’09)
Before the Once Upon A Time by Jose Villegas and Melanie Manzana (Acad. of Arts & Sciences ’11)
Bear by Reese Adams-Romagnoli (SOTA ’11)