WRITE A PLAY
Florida Studio Theatre is proud to present the 30th year of its award-winning WRITE A PLAY program.
WRITE A PLAY is a year-round comprehensive arts integration program providing students with the example, the inspiration, and the skills to write their own original plays. Through participatory learning, with a special emphasis on literacy, this program reaches over 47,000 students annually across the state of Florida; nationally as far as Camden, NJ and Woodstock, IL; and internationally as far as Russia, Scotland, and Israel.
Thanks to generous support from individual donors and foundational support from organizations like The Community Foundation of Sarasota, we were able to continue to inspire the next generation of playwrights this past school year at no cost to schools. During the 2020-2021 school year, WRITE A PLAY was adapted into a virtual theatre program, streaming directly in to classrooms and at-home learning stations across the state and around the world.
Now, we are excited to celebrate the hard work of our participating students with The Brave Princess & Other Winning Plays, a theatrical production featuring two-years of winning plays by young playwrights. This year’s performance will be streamed online. For more information or to register for this special streamed performance, click here.
Register for 2021-2022!
To reserve your classroom’s WRITE A PLAY experience for the 2021-2022 school year, contact Caroline Saldivar, Director of Children’s Theatre at (941) 366-9797 or by email at [email protected].
Annual Playwriting Competition
All students are encouraged to submit their work to FST’s Young Playwrights Festival, which celebrating the students and teachers whose plays show a strong understanding of the theatrical process and reveal a budding creative talent that deserves congratulations!
The deadline for submissions to the 2020-2021 youth playwriting competition has passed. Please stay tuned for next year's competition!
WRITE A PLAY: ELEMENTARY (Kindergarten - Fifth Grade) is a three-part program, providing the example, the inspiration, and the skills for students to write their own original plays. This award-winning program is designed to have multiple interactions with each student and educator throughout the school year.
To book your classroom’s experience for the 2021-2022 school year, contact Director of Children’s Theatre Caroline Saldivar at (941) 366-9797, [email protected]
PART 1: The Play That Sets the Example
In this introduction, students will see a professional theatrical production that serves as an example of a play. Past plays include Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and The Velveteen Rabbit.
PART 2: The Play That Inspires
Students are inspired while watching performances of award-winning plays by former participating students. Then, performers lead an in-class lesson, introducing the four fundamental elements of a play: Character, Setting, Conflict, and Dialogue. Following this lesson, the teaching artists lead the class in writing their own play together as a group. Finally, performers will improvise all-new plays incorporating the children’s ideas. All students are encouraged to submit their own plays to FST’s Young Playwrights Festival playwriting competition. FST receives submissions from more than 6,000 playwrights each year, and about a dozen plays are selected for a full-scale professional production.
PART 3: The Play That Celebrates Young Playwrights
(Streaming Spring 2021)
Students see the winning plays brought to life in a full theatrical production performed by professional actors, this year titled The Brave Princess and Other Winning Plays. The program culminates with FST’s Annual Young Playwrights Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 5, where students, their families, educators, playwrights, and dignitaries come together to celebrate the outstanding plays created over the course of the year.
For the 2020-2021 school year, The Brave Princess and Other Winning Plays and FST’s Annual Young Playwrights Awards Ceremony will be streamed virtually. For more information or to register to stream The Brave Princess and Other Winning Plays, click here.
Register for 2021-2022!
To reserve your classroom’s WRITE A PLAY experience for the 2021-2022 school year, contact Caroline Saldivar, Director of Children’s’ Theatre at (941) 366-9797 or by email at [email protected].
WRITE A PLAY: Secondary (Grades 6-12) offers in-classroom workshops led by our professional teaching artists. These workshops will reinforce your teaching methods and use arts integration tools to motivate your students to unleash their creativity through writing.
Participating students have the opportunity to submit their plays to FST’s annual Young Playwrights Festival playwriting competition. Each student will be recognized for their participation and achievement. Winning writers will be honored by FST on the day of the festival in Sarasota, FL.
Register for 2021-2022!
To reserve your classroom’s WRITE A PLAY experience for the 2021-2022 school year, contact Caroline Saldivar, Director of Children’s Theatre at 941) 366-9797 or by email at [email protected].
PLAY SUBMISSION FORM
For guidelines on how to submit your play to the 2022 Young Playwrights Festival playwriting competition, click here.
HELPFUL GUIDES
For a step-by-step playwriting guide (recommended for grades 6-12) click here.
For a playwriting brainstorm (recommended for grades K-5) click here.
Teachers Tips - Coming Soon!
WATCH
Elementary Playwriting Video Tutorials:
Character Lesson | WATCH
Setting Lesson | WATCH
Conflict Lesson | WATCH
Dialogue Lesson | WATCH
Final Steps | WATCH