Previews: PSYPF ANNOUNCES MENTOR GREG COLE WHITE at Palm Springs Young Playwright Festival

The Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival (PSYPF), which promotes and encourages theatrical creative writing for elementary, middle, and high school students throughout Riverside County, proudly announces that Greg Cope White, co-executive producer and writer of Netflix’s BOOTS, will serve as Mentor for the Festival’s 9th Season.

PSYPF is currently accepting submissions for the 9th Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival. Submissions will be accepted through March 6, 2026, from students enrolled in any school within Riverside County. When the submission window closes, a selection committee will review all entries and choose the most outstanding plays. Each selected playwright will receive professional mentorship with Greg Cope White to further develop their script, a public staged reading by professional actors, and a $500 scholarship to help further their career in the arts. Winning plays will be announced by March 20, 2026. 

The 9th Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival will be held in June of 2024 at The Palm Springs Cultural Center. More information may be found at www.psypf.org.

“I have had the honor of calling Greg my friend for over 40 years, and I have watched him grow into a fearless storyteller with an extraordinary generosity of spirit,” said David Youse, Executive Director of the Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival. “What makes Greg such a perfect mentor for PSYPF is that he never forgets what it felt like to be a young writer finding their voice. His journey—from the theater classroom to Netflix—embodies exactly what we hope our students can imagine for themselves.”

As mentor for the Festival’s 9th Season, Greg Cope White will work directly with the winning student playwrights, guiding them through the development and refinement of their work while sharing insight into the creative process from page to stage—and screen.

“Mentorship is how stories survive,” said Greg Cope White. “When we invest time, honesty, and encouragement in young writers, we’re not just helping them improve a script—we’re telling them their voice matters. Theater was my safe place growing up, and being able to give that same sense of possibility to the next generation is both a responsibility and a privilege.”

About Greg Cope White

Greg Cope White is a former sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, an author, and an accomplished film and television writer and producer. His bestselling memoir, The Pink Marine, was adapted into the hit Netflix series BOOTS, where he serves as a writer and Co-Executive Producer.

Growing up, the theater and drama department were Greg’s safe spaces. He recently rediscovered the very first project he wrote at age 16—Every Living Thing Don’t Grow, billed as a three-act play but, in reality, only two. Like life itself, his work evolved—and got better.

An avid cook, Greg’s writing led to contributions for The Huffington Post and hosting a show for the Food Network. His screenwriting credits include three Netflix original films and projects developed for HBO, CBS, NBC, Disney, Fox, and Sony. He is a bi-coastal, polo-playing, sixth-generation Texan with a voracious appetite for life.

The Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival maintains an active Advisory Board made up of previous festival winners. The Advisory Board includes Kayla McCarty (2025), Abigail Alldredge (2024), Anthony Banuelos (2024), Erik Evans (2024), George Sandoval (2023), Brooklyn Rutledge (2022), Yamani Scoggins (2021), Cal Vaughan, (2020 & 2021), Ava Hemstreet (2020), and Xuan Anh Ly Biggs (2020 & 2023).

PSYPF partners with the Riverside County Office of Education to expand outreach beyond the Coachella Valley to include all of Riverside County, and is funded by: Anderson Children’s Foundation, Western Wind Foundation, Cherry Lane Alternative, City of Palm Springs, John P. Monahan, Jason Smith and Tom Valach, Tom Hartnett and Paul Reid, Joe Corner and Kevin Stotts, and Eddie Nestlebush and Scott Poland.

PSYPF is sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education, Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs (Peggy Trott, General Manager), and the Palm Springs Cultural Center (Michael Green, Executive Director).

About PSYPFThe Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival promotes and encourages creative writing in the theatrical form for elementary, middle, and high school students throughout Riverside County, California. The Festival provides professional mentorship and public staged readings of selected plays. More information is available at www.psypf.org.