Last week, Francesca Duffy of Education Week Teacher attended a launch event for a collection of plays written by Washington, D.C., students and published late last year. Write To Dream (Young Playwrights’ Theater, 2012) is an anthology of dramatic work produced through an in-school program connecting students with playwright mentors. The event featured a performance, presentations, and conversations with participants in the program. Students and teachers attested to the impact of Young Playwrights’ Theater on their classrooms—and, for students, their career goals.
Not only can publishing their own work be empowering for students, but writing plays and seeing them performed can be exceptionally powerful. Liana Heitin’s popular article on the bicoastal troup Story Pirates highlighted some of the ways theater can unlock children’s creativity.
Read Francesca’s article to learn more about Write To Dream and the student voices it captures.