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Book now for a
performance at your school! 
The Express Tour hits the
road again this May with fresh plays straight from the classroom.
Book now so that your students can: - pick a fight with a piece of broccoli... - save the day with Magnet Dude!... - duel for the Queen's Honor and their own... There will also be two public performances on April 30th and May 7th. | ||||||
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YPT is proud to introduce
our Advisory Council. This group of accomplished dramatists celebrates and
supports the work of Young Playwrights’ Theater.
As leading voices in the theatre community, they endorse our mission to cultivate the next generation of playwrights. We are grateful to these trailblazers for their example and their support. | ||||||
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March 26,
2007 
Those of you who have
attended New Writers Now! know that it is a singular
experience...
Bold young voices... Delicious food.... A glowing, intimate venue... Great things are happening monthly on the Busboys and Poets stage. In January, student Daisy Zuniga revealed how the play writing process has inspired her writing in other areas - "I realized I had to find a personal perspective on essays and other stuff too." In February, a member of Busboys' waitstaff was so moved by the students' plays that she felt compelled to join in the talkback session and personally commend the playwrights. What revelations will March's New Writers Now! bring? You have to join us to see. | ||||||
We are pleased
and proud to present these students' works to new audiences and grateful
for the support of the Humanities Council of Washington DC, Busboys and
Poets and Target for making New Writers Now! possible.
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Promising
Playwright 
(Rubble-strewn streets. Six
soldiers are cautiously moving through the debris, guns raised. Explosions
can be heard in the background. A block of cinder falls off a building and
slams into the ground next to one of the soldiers.)
This is how Kyle Sumner’s play Impasse begins. A tale of friendship and war in Iraq, it is exceptional not only for its emotional candor and depth but also for the specific detail with which Kyle vividly renders the world of his play. When he received the assignment to write a play on a social justice issue Kyle's choice was unique. “The other students were picking things like drugs and teen pregnancy. Those things don’t affect my life. I decided to choose war,” he said. “Then I based the characters on my friends. After I had the characters it all just kind of flowed out.” Friendship is important to Kyle. Having moved to Washington, DC from Yorktown, VA – he knows all too well what a precious commodity friendship can be in a new setting. Kyle misses the days he would spend with friends, playing video games late into the night. “Not just shallow and violent games. Games with a story line that’s good, detailed – emotional.” He asserts that it was this experience, immersing himself completely in an imaginary world, that helped him to learn how to create such vivid worlds in his writing. He called upon his knowledge of war scenes in the video game Metal Gear Solid as well as research on Wikipedia to create the detailed scenes in Impasse. Kyle still has feelings of isolation but his selection by YPT to represent his class at the New Play Festival has gained him some respect among his classmates. They selected him to create a script out of their acting class improvisations. “That made me feel special.” | ||||||
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