In July 2016, YPT held our first-ever multidisciplinary arts camp: the Lincoln Heights Arts Camp! Led by YPT staff and local artists, campers explored the faces and places of Northeast DC through photography, playwriting, audio design and visual art. The camp culminated in a final showcase, where campers read excerpts from their plays and showed off… Continue reading Reflections on the Lincoln Heights Arts Camp
Sam Burris was a student in YPT’s In School Playwriting Program at Swanson Middle School last semester. His play, The Stranger, deals with a young war veteran battling his demons after returning to the United States. Sam gives this tale a unique twist through his personification of Fear as the protagonist’s opponent. Below, Sam talks… Continue reading Spotlight on Sam Burris: YPT Featured Playwright
In 2011, YPT students wrote more than 700 new plays. That’s a staggering number! And just like literary managers at theaters across the country, we’re overwhelmed with more amazing work than we could possibly put on stage. That’s why we send actors directly into the classroom, so all of our playwrights can hear a selection… Continue reading Celebrating a Season of New Plays
This Wednesday evening, a group of very special guests dropped by our YPT Board meeting. Five members of YPT’s Young Playwrights' Workshop and new Student Advisory Council shared pizza and cookies with our Board of Directors and talked about their experience working with YPT. They had participated in YPT programming in a variety of ways –… Continue reading What’s So Great About YPT? Ask the Students.
As we wrapped up another exciting year and wondered how it was already 2012, I read a lot of year-end lists. Albums, documentaries, political blunders, celebrity breakups… December was filled with lists meant to sum up the best (and worst) of the year. Well, how did YPT fare this past year? You decide! Here are… Continue reading YPT’s Top 10 of 2011
Today is Cyber Monday – the biggest online shopping day of the year. You have probably already received dozens of emails from online retailers with exclusive, one-day-only deals. As you work off your turkey hang-over and get a head-start on holiday shopping today, I urge you to consider making a meaningful gift that will wow… Continue reading A Meaningful Gift for Cyber Monday
Reflections from a YPT Board Member A few weeks ago, I spent time at the Canadian Embassy with some of our YPT students and fifteen students from Suchitoto, El Salvador, and it was fabulous! With our Program Manager Nicole Jost acting as their teaching artist, the two groups of students worked together to develop four… Continue reading A Day at the Canadian Embassy with YPT
I grew up in the era of computers and technology. I order pizza online, take pictures with my phone and post them on Facebook, text instead of calling, and use Google as my go-to. But despite this, I sometimes still feel hopelessly behind the times, as technology, gadgets and social media continue to explode. Confession:… Continue reading Ready…Set…Give to the Max for YPT!
I started working with the after-school Young Playwrights’ Workshop last spring. Our students inspired me. (It was not surprising – our students inspire me constantly.) Here was a group of people that were so supportive of one another, so courageous with their art form, so happy to share their thoughts and dreams. Basically, they were a… Continue reading What We Value: The Young Playwrights’ Workshop
YPT is excited to announce our first ever t-shirt design contest! We are looking for designs that capture the idea of “Innovation through Arts Education.” The winning design will be announced on November 7, 2011. Innovation through Arts Education, huh? So what does that mean? As President Barack Obama said in his 2011 State of… Continue reading Calling All Designers: Innovate for YPT
Theater Educates 