Newspaper Article

Felicia Green
Newspaper


How to write a play


“To be or, not too be” is really not a question… Okay, Okay, so we are not really writing Shakespeare here, we are young playwrights… is a program that was created to inspire students literacy learning and creativity. It’s a program where students can express their creativity and certain topics or issues. Adele Magner created Young Playwrights in 1986. Young Playwrights has more than 50 sites with over 60,000 students joining the program a year. With each site they are assigned Playwrights, professional writers, and actors to help the students create a play.

Steps to writing a play

• In order to write a play you must have an idea
• Plan out how you want the play to go but remember that your plan can change as time goes on.
• Think of a setting, characters, conflict, maybe a solution, a great way to grab your audience, and maybe you want to have your character change by the end of the play.
There is no real way to write a play. In a since “You are the GOD in your play.” You can write your play anyway you want to. Good suggestions for inspiring playwrights:
• When you are stuck find a place that inspires you
• Ask for help
• Read it out loud and have your class tell you what they like or don’t like o you can make changes to it.
• Always write down what ever you think of during the day. Sometimes the scenes you write you may keep it and you may not keep it.
When the play is done you can send it in to the Annual Playwriting Festival. When the plays are send in they have professional writers and actors reading over each play and giving comments on each play. After that they will send you a letter telling you if you won first, second or third place. First, second and third place winners are picked from the elementary school level, middle school level, and the high school level. The first place winners have their plays preformed by professional actors.


Interviews

I have interviewed two students from the young playwrights program one from the tenth grade and one from the ninth grade. I also interviewed McMillan. One of the students by the name of Shakyra Wilson 9th grade was interviewed. During the interview I was told that she likes being in the program and she will continue to participate in this program. Shakyra said, “Being in this program she learned a lot of things like: how to write a play, how to create emotional characters, how to put scenes together, how to put emotions down on paper, and how to separate characters.” She said, “When she came to Young Playwrights she thought that it was going to be corny, but she changed her mined as time went on.” While in this program she was helped by other students and the teachers. She also said, “The teacher was very quiet and it was like she really wasn’t in the room at all.”
I also interviewed Jada Walton 10th grade. During the interview she told, me that “Being in Young Playwrights she learned how to write a play, to be creative, to be more persuasive and expressive with words.” She also told me, “ she doesn’t like being in the program sometimes because its stressful and it gets in the way of school, but it can be vary fun. Jada is working on a play with Doriean Jackson and they are thinking about smiting their play this year and joining the program again next year.
I also wanted to get a teachers point of view on this topic so I interviewed Ms. McMillan. M. McMillan loves the program and looks forward to every meeting. She loves how it gives students the freedom to express themselves with few rules. Young Playwrights is a more creative than your average class. It also gives students a new experience, encourages the freedom of expression, and gives students a chance to build something and have it seen live or on stage. These are the words of Ms. McMillan.

Doing this article I have learned a lot about the program and how people feel about this program called Young Playwrights. If you are interested in joining the club next year talk to Ms. McMillan. This is a very fun club to be apart of. It is a lot of hard work but it pays off at the end.