This spring, Program Director Jared Shamberger had the pleasure of meeting the students of Magruder Park Recreation Center’s after-school program. Located in Hyattsville, Maryland, the recreation center serves as a place for youth to play and learn. Through two introductory workshops, Jared showed the students the power of storytelling through plays.
“At first I thought it was going to be a lot of talking,” says 10th-grade Northwestern High School student Kayla, “but then we got up and did skits, and I liked it.”
The students were introduced to playwrighting by reading aloud short plays before beginning the process of writing their own. Some of the students had never written in this way before, and some, like 6th-grade Nicholas Orem Middle School student Emily, hadn’t written creatively outside a classroom since early childhood.
Kayla, on the other hand, was ready to go! Having written stories at home, ideas for what to write in a play were flowing. “It wasn’t really hard for me to write,” she told us.
From stories about fantastical universes to family drama to powerful superheroes, the students at Magruder Park Recreation Center have a lot in store for us when YPT officially begins the After-School Playwriting Program in Fall 2019!
Want to learn more about how to bring YPT to a school or education program? Contact Jared Shamberger at jshamberger@yptdc.org or complete the YPT Program Request Form.
