Annual Young Playwrights Festival
March 5th & 6th 2027
Join us for a night of youth-led theatre. Enjoy six 10 minute plays written by youth playwrights, directed and produced by our teen ensemble, and performed by actors of the community of all ages.
This project is partially funded by the City of Tempe – Community Arts Grant
Hosted by The American Association of Theatre Education (AATE), Young Playwrights for Change is a national playwriting competition for students in 6th- 8th grades. Students write and submit a ten-minute play based on a theme. Each hosting organization will select and submit one script for this national competition.
Childsplay Academy is proud to be one of the hosting organizations, and we look forward to submitting a play that represents our community and the voices of young people. We are intentionally selecting students as adjudicators, and this group of peers will select Childsplay’s entry for the competition.
To help students develop and write a ten-minute play, we’re offering playwriting workshops with Published Playwright, Director, and former Artistic Director of Childsplay, Dwayne Hartford. The four workshop sessions meet online from Mid- January to late February.
Important Dates for 2027:
- January 19th: Online Playwriting Workshop at Childsplay begins
- February 12th: Play submitted to Childsplay for Adjudication
- February 13th: Childsplay adjudication results announced
- February 20th: Table Read & First Rehearsal at Childsplay
- March 1st: Childsplay’s selection submitted to AATE- Each entry submitted by host organizations will receive feedback from AATE and an opportunity for revision before final adjudication.
- March 5th & 6th: All scripts are performed at the Young Playwrights Festival host by YETi
- May 5th: AATE announces the winning play
2027 Theme: Creating Community
Creating Community is the intentional process of bringing people together around shared interests, needs, values, or goals while fostering belonging, trust, inclusion, and mutual support. It turns a group of individuals into a connected community where members can participate, contribute, and take shared responsibility for one another and the group’s purpose. It allows people with a common purpose to disagree respectfully and understand diverse viewpoints and experiences within that community.
Guidelines at a Glance:
- Playwrights must be currently in the 6th – 12th grade.
- Playwrights must have permission from parent or guardian to enter.
- Plays must be original work and not an adaptation of a previous work
- Plays must incorporate the theme
- Plays may be no longer than ten-minutes when read aloud.
- Plays may have up to but no more than six characters.
- Plays man not be co-authored