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Celebrate
Local History through
New Writers
Now! - From
Civil
War to Civil
Rights |
|
 Join
Young Playwrights' Theater for an exciting evening
celebrating local history! How
can drama help us understand the personal experiences
behind the history? What can our past teach us about our
future?
Come
explore history through original student plays I am
a Slave by Jack Brotman of the Maret School and
Mercy, Mercy Me by Ellen Hubbard of Bell
Multicultural High School. The
evening will also mark the premiere of Woodlawn,
a stirring new play created collaboratively with
residents and organizations throughout Ward 7 in
Washington, DC.
The play examines the history and
heritage of Woodlawn Cemetery, the final resting
place of 36,000 extraordinary Americans, many lost to
history, until now. Woodlawn
explores the value of knowing our
history and how learning our history can help us to
learn about ourselves, where we've been and where we may
be going.
As a special treat for the DC
community, YPT is excited to announce that
Sam
Ford, reporter for ABC7/WJLA-TV, will
be the Welcoming Speaker for this event!
We
can't wait to see you there!
New
Writers Now! - From Civil War to Civil
Rights
February 7, 2011
6:30pm
Reception, 7pm Performance
GALA
Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW
FREE
ADMISSION
Click here to view a preview and read
more about Woodlawn.
|
| Meet the Winner of
YPT's "Friend-raising" Challenge! |
|
 This
holiday season, we asked you to donate to YPT to
help us raise $50,000 to meet the ever-increasing demand
for our programs in 2011. More than three
hundred community members have already responded to our
request and given generously to support our students and
programs this spring. One of these community
members, Michelle Tang Jackson, not only gave to YPT,
but decided to participate in YPT's first-ever
Friend-raising
Challenge
...and she won! We sat down with Michelle this week to
talk about her experience participating in the Challenge
and how she feels about her big
victory.
When
YPT Teaching Artist Michelle Tang Jackson learned of the
Friend-raising Challenge, she jumped at the opportunity.
"I see the effect that YPT
has on students firsthand in the classroom and the
thought of YPT programming getting cut breaks my heart!"
Michelle says.
Though she had never participated
in a fundraising campaign of any kind before, she was
excited to share her love of YPT with her friends,
family, and community. "Usually it's hard to ask people
for money, especially in this economy. But I told people what I had
seen in the classroom and why I thought YPT's
programming was so important and I was really surprised
at people's willingness to
donate!"
To thank her for her efforts,
students in
our Young
Playwrights' Workshop will be writing an original dramatic
piece inspired by Michelle's life. Michelle hopes
to share the following details about her personal
history when she works with YPT students to develop the
new dramatic piece this spring: how she ended up in
Washington, DC, how being an "odd kid" helped her to
become a teaching artist today, why she loves her home
state of California, and what she wanted to be when she
grew up (a clown, veterinarian, movie star, or
poet).To read
Michelle's entire interview, click here.
To
all who gave to YPT this year, Michelle says,"Y'all are
amazing - thank you for helping keep YPT alive and
students writing!"
Deepest thanks to all who
participated in YPT's Friend-raising challenge and to
the hundreds of donors who have given to YPT so far this
year.
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YPT and SMYAL Tackle
Bullying during
No Name-Calling Week
|
|
|
 In
2010, YPT established an exciting new partnership with
the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), the only Washington, DC metro
area service organization solely dedicated to supporting
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning
(LGBTQ) youth.
Through this growing
partnership, YPT Program Manager Nicole Jost acts as a
guest Teaching Artist in
SMYAL's Youth Arts Program, helping participants unlock
their own stories while deepening
YPT's connection with local LGBTQ youth and Eastern
Market. As students in YPT's
In-School Playwriting Program
write
increasingly about issues important to the LGBTQ youth
community, including anti-bullying, acceptance and
understanding, friendship and family, we are excited to
have the opportunity to bring more of these stories to
life through our new partnership with
SMYAL.
On
Saturday, January 22, as part of the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network (GLSEN)'s No
Name-Calling Week, SMYAL is hosting a day of
performing arts workshops at the Academy for Educational
Development's
Greely Hall (1825 Connecticut Ave. NW),
open to all young people ages 13-21. Young
Playwrights' Theater will be leading
a workshop to help young
people express their thoughts and experiences
through
playwriting. In this setting, young people will
experiment with new ways to talk about anti-bullying as
they prepare to perform their work on Tuesday,
February 8th,
from 5-7pm, at the GALA Hispanic Theatre. All
are invited to attend this free performance.
Read
more about YPT's growing partnership
with SMYAL
and Nicole Jost's experience here.
|
| Joneya
Simpson |
|
 Promising
Playwright
"Just believe in
yourself. You know you can do it," Joneya Simpson says.
This is her advice for other young playwrights who may
feel nervous about writing their first play. Joneya
experienced playwriting for the very first time when
Young Playwrights' Theater brought the
In-School Playwriting Program into her 6th
grade classroom at the Evans Middle School campus of the
Maya Angelou Public Charter School.
"I was inspired to
write my play by my best friend Dasia," Joneya says.
"She wants to work at the Rainbow City Mall when she
grows up." In the play, Joneya's protagonist disagrees
with her mother over whether a job at the mall is a good
idea. "Her mother doesn't want her to leave school. She
wants her to be a success in life," Joneya
explains. Her play ultimately has a happy ending,
with the main character deciding to stay in school but
work at the mall over the summer. The mother character
says, "You are old enough to make your own
decisions."
When Joneya is old
enough to make her own decisions, she hopes to become a
veterinarian. "I love animals," she says. "I have two
baby turtles and a cat named Sasha." Joneya is the
oldest of her mother's children. "It's a whole lotta
work being the oldest," she reports. When she's not
looking after her younger siblings, she likes to read
books and write book reports, go shopping, and play
double dutch.
"The most important
thing to know about me," Joneya says, "is that I'm
nice." For more Promising
Playwrights, click
here. |
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Young
Playwrights' Theater
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