Vermont Young Playwrights Festival 2024:
TUESDAY, MaY 21.
The Festival
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In April, the best plays from each school are selected by a panel of writers, directors, educators, and actors. These selections are then presented in staged and cold readings performed by professional theater artists at our festival in May, hosted by Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center at the waterfront in Burlington. Up to 600 students participate in this live event annually.
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"The most amazing part of the experience is how the actors and directors take the students' work so seriously. It changes the way students look at their own work and provides them with an authentic audience." |
See highlights from previous years on our "celebrate" page
workshops
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The festival also offers the opportunity for all the students to take part in a host of popular theater workshops. These are physical, funny, challenging and encourage active engagement with the body, mind, and other festival participants.
Students can develop their communication skills in “Critical Response Process” or “Text to Subtext.” They can generate new access points through “Incorporating Sound and Music”, or find new passions in “Stage Combat”, “Radio Plays”, or “Improvisation: Making Something from Nothing.” The workshop offerings at the festival immerse students in multiple avenues of theater making: the process of creating original work, dissecting text, performance techniques, and ultimately, collaboration with others. |
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"This program offers a unique enrichment experience. The students feel empowered, valued, and engaged in this art form.
Many of the students have had experience acting in school plays, and writing little plays for their "team" productions, but this experience with the Young Playwrights opened their eyes to professional drama.
This experience sparked many of the students to pursue more opportunities with staged productions.My advice to other schools interested in participating in the Young Playwrights is to DO IT! You will not be disappointed, and the benefits to you and your students is well worth the time away from core curriculum."
- Carol Huntington, Williston Central School
