Location

Founded in 1995 by award-winning playwright Karen Zacarías, Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) is the premier educational theater of Washington, DC that inspires children and youth in the inner-city to write plays as a means of fostering literacy, arts education, communication, and conflict resolution. YPT then shares their original works with the greater DC community through professional productions and tours utilizing the area's finest actors, directors, and designers.

Through interactive in-school and after-school programs and collaborative projects, YPT connects students, teachers, families, actors, playwrights, and professional theaters in order to create new plays that reflect the intimate voices of their communities, with a particular focus on the diversity of voices that make up the American experience. By presenting student-written plays free of charge throughout the region, YPT encourages a local appreciation of young artists and serves as a forum for communication between youth and the wider community.

YPT presents workshop readings of new plays throughout the year and staged readings of recent student works monthly, as part of its New Writers Now! program. Performances occur regularly at the Josephine Butler House and Gala Hispanic Theatre in historic Columbia Heights.