Our History
Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) was founded in 1995 by Karen Zacarías. Today, Karen is a popular, award-winning playwright, but in 1995 she was just returning from Boston University to her hometown of Washington, DC with an MFA in playwriting and a deep desire to use her art to positively impact her community. Karen began volunteering her time teaching playwriting workshops in DC classrooms, and, by 1997, her workshops were so successful that she incorporated YPT as a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Now, sixteen years later, with Producing Artistic Director and CEO David Andrew Snider at the helm of the organization, and six full time staff members, eight professional teaching artists, and dozens of professional actors, directors and designers supporting YPT's work on-stage and in the classroom, YPT has expanded to serve over 7,000 students and community members annually with free in-school and after-school theater arts workshops and professional performances of student-written plays.
YPT is creating the community impact that Karen dreamed of—empowering thousands of young people each year with a platform to discover the value of their voices and stories, engage deeply in their own learning and transform their schools and communities with the power of their ideas.
