Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) is a not-for-profit

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

-based

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

in Northwest

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It provides interactive in-school and after-school programs presenting and discussing student-written work to promote community dialogue and respect for young artists.

History and leadership

Young Playwrights' Theater was founded in 1995 by Karen Zacarías. Now a Helen Hayes Award-winning Playwright-in-Residence at

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

, Zacarías began volunteering her time teaching playwriting workshops in DC classrooms after returning to her hometown with a M.F.A. in

playwriting A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

from Boston University. By 1997, her workshops were so successful that she incorporated YPT as a

501c3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit organization. In 2005, when Zacarías transitioned to Arena Stage, David Andrew Snider took over as Producing Artistic Director and CEO. Since then the organization has grown to employ six full-time staff members, eight professional teaching artists, and dozens of professional actors, directors and designers supporting its work on-stage and in the classroom. YPT provides thousands of students and community members annually with free in-school and after-school theater arts workshops and professional performances of student-written plays, and has created a continuum of programming at the Columbia Heights Education Campus through programming for students of Bancroft Elementary School, Lincoln Middle School and

Bell Multicultural High School Bell Multicultural High School is a public school located in the neighborhood of Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C., United States. Bell Multicultural is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools. , the principal is Maria Tukeva.

to gauge the long-term effects on students as they progress. Snider followed Zacarías to Arena Stage in July 2012 as Director of Artistic Programming. Former Deputy Director Brigitte Pribnow Moore stepped in as Acting Executive Director and former Program Manager Nicole Jost assumed the role of Associate Artistic Director. YPT's staff operates out of the Josephine Butler Parks Center, adjacent to

Meridian Hill Park Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, is a structured urban park located in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Columbia Heights; it also abuts the nearby neighborhood of Adams Morgan. The park was designed and built between 1912 ...

in the Columbia Heights neighborhood and regularly stages performances at nearby Tivoli Theatre, a renovated 1920's Italian Renaissance Revival theater, now home to GALA Hispanic Theatre. The organization receives federal and private sector funding, as well as individual donations.

Programs and performance series

''In-School Playwriting Program''

YPT's flagship program integrates the art of playwriting into the classroom in order to enhance student literacy, creative expression and communication. During 12 in-class workshops led by teaching artists, students explore the mechanics of language, drama, and self-expression, culminating with each student writing his or her own short play. Professional actors and directors visit the classroom throughout the process, reading students' plays and helping to bring their words to life. The most dynamic plays are chosen by a reading committee composed of professional playwrights, directors, and actors, to be performed at Tivoli Theatre by YPT's acting company in the ''New Play Festival'' and at satellite locations during the ''New Writers Now!'' series. The young authors work with a dramaturge to polish their scripts, attend rehearsals, and offer input to actors and a director during their plays' development and production. In 2012, YPT published some of the best student works.

''Out-of-School Time Programming''

Since 2008, YPT has hosted an after-school ''Young Playwrights' Workshop'' at its facilities in the Josephine Butler Parks Center, aimed at developing students' creative expression and collaboration by exploring theater as an ensemble. Students have written plays and performed them at the Capital Fringe Festival, Intersections at Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Source Festival and Tivoli Theatre. The workshop hosted arts delegations from China and Russia in 2012. Several schools host YPT's ''After-School Playwrighting Program'', providing a similar collaborative, explorative writing and performance experience. Additionally, the ''Summer Playwriting Series'', a series of playwriting workshops for local youth, is conducted at partner schools, camps and community centers, culminating in community sharing and staged readings.

''Express Tour''

Each fall, YPT's professional acting company tours the Greater Washington, D.C. area performing student-written plays at schools, nursing homes, hospitals, community centers and theaters, free of charge. Plays are selected from the previous school year to align with an overarching theme chosen for that year's tour. Audiences participate with actors in post-performance interactive workshops to develop their own artistic interpretations and customized storytelling experiences. The tour usually concludes with a public showcase performance at Tivoli Theatre.

''Special Projects''

YPT has received commissions and enjoyed partnerships with regional and international institutions including the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...

, Smithsonian Institution's Discovery Theater,

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...

Woolly Mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...

, Carnegie Institute,

Theater J Theater J is a professional theater company located in Washington, DC, founded to present works that "celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy". Organization Hailed by ''The New York ...

Round House Theatre Round House Theatre is a nonprofit theater company based in Bethesda, Maryland. History Round House began life in 1970 as “Street ’70”, a program of the Montgomery County Department of Recreation that provided educational outreach in th ...

, African Continuum, Busboys and Poets, Washington Parks and People, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), the

Canadian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Canada. Canada has an extensive diplomatic network maintained by Global Affairs Canada. Overview As a Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth country, Canada's diplomatic missions in the capitals of other C ...

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of Suchitoto, El Salvador, and a Youth Village in Israel.

Evaluations and assessments

Written literacy evaluations and self-assessments are conducted during initial and final workshop visits at program sites, and assessment results are judged via a specific rubric developed by YPT's outside evaluator, faculty and staff, aimed at showing the changes in students' literacy, their abilities with language and addressing

District of Columbia Public Schools The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter ...

and

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

English

Language Arts Language arts (also known as English language arts or ELA) is the study and improvement of the arts of language. Traditionally, the primary divisions in language arts are literature and language, where language in this case refers to both lingu ...

Standards, as well as measurable changes in attitude/engagement in their own education. The

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the White House on cultural issues. It worked directly with the Administration and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Art ...

and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

have called on YPT to share their successful evaluations and assessments to advance the field of arts education on a national level.

Recognition

YPT has received several regional and national awards, most notably the 2006 District of Columbia Mayor's Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education, a 2009 Helen Hayes nomination for Best New Play fo
Chasing George Washington: A White House Adventure
the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundatio
2009 Exponent Award
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(formerly the Coming Up Taller Award), the HandsOnbr>Greater DC Cares
Essence of Leadership Award in 2011 and Community Impact Award in 2012, recognition in the 2009-2010 Catalogue for Philanthropy, and most recently an honorable mention for

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

br>2012 Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management
YPT is a member of the

League of Washington Theaters This list of theaters and entertainment venues in Washington, D.C. includes present-day opera houses and theaters, cabarets, music halls and other places of live entertainment in Washington, D.C. Current theaters Producing theaters *Adve ...

and the

Theatre Communications Group Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is a non-profit service organization headquartered in New York City that promotes professional non-profit theatre in the United States. The organization also publishes ''American Theatre'' magazine and ''ARTSEA ...

References

External links

Young Playwrights' Theater official websiteCatalogue for Philanthropy on YPT
{{authority control Theatre companies in Washington, D.C. Arts organizations established in 1995 1995 establishments in Washington, D.C.