Young Playwrights' Theater Students to Premiere Original Play at 2013 Source Festival, 6/17

On June 17, at 7pm, at Source Theater (1835 14th St. NW), Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) will premiere Young Playwrights' Workshop Presents, an original play written and performed by the nine DC-area middle and high school students of YPT's award-winning after-school Young Playwrights' Workshop.

In their original play, the Young Playwrights' Workshop asks the question, "Do people change?" Set on New Year's Eve, this play delves into the lives of diverse characters, from a spoiled socialite to a hardworking waiter. Workshop members bring these unique characters to life in order to explore New Year's Eve as a catalyst for change and self-discovery. These students met once a week throughout the 2012-13 school year to build a foundation of theater skills to allow them to create, develop, rehearse and perform their own original play.

"These developing artists created characters whose self-discovery and vulnerability on stage is relatable and inspiring," says Nicole Jost, YPT Artistic Director and lead teaching artist of the Young Playwrights' Workshop. "They peeled back the masks people wear every day to show the connection and isolation we all feel when we meet someone who teaches us about ourselves. We are proud of the work they have done and can't wait to show their original play to the Source Festival audience."

The Source Festival is an annual showcase of new work that features full-length and ten-minute plays over three weeks in June. It brings together Washington-based artists and the work of playwrights from across the country, allowing seasoned veterans and early career artists to work side by side to create this new work.

On October 20, 2010, the Young Playwrights' Workshop received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The award, which was presented to YPT by First Lady Michelle Obama at a private White House ceremony, honors arts and humanities programs that make a marked difference in the lives of their participants by improving academic scores and graduation rates, enhancing life skills and developing positive relationships with peers and adults.

"I want the audience to see that we worked together to make characters and the connections between them," says Workshop member Morena Amaya. "YPT let us be creative and free, and we made something bigger from that."

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