Mission Statement

Philadelphia Young Playwrights taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting.

In executing our mission, Young Playwrights focuses on:

1. improving students’ writing, thinking and interactive skills
2. enhancing students’ sense of agency, responsibility and self-esteem
3. reaching students of diverse backgrounds and abilities
4. stimulating awareness of, and building new audiences for theatre with students, their families and communities.

Young Playwrights promotes literacy, creativity, problem solving, academic skills, motivation and self-empowerment for students with varying backgrounds and abilities in grades K-12. Students care about their stories, grow excited about the playwriting process and assume ownership of their writing. When students write about their lives, they are empowered to change them.

Young Playwrights shapes the way teachers teach by incorporating arts education into classrooms and across curricula. Introducing playwriting and theatre to new constituencies, Young Playwrights improves arts accessibility, fosters community, and develops diverse, aesthetically aware new audiences for the future.