Philadelphia Young Playwrights

Congrats to all the playwrights, actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs, crew members, producers, and staff for an incredibly successful #NewVoicesDigital 2020 festival! And thank YOU, the audience, for supporting our young artists. If you missed the festival, stay tuned for more information on how you can watch.

Tomorrow night is the first night of streaming for #newvoicesdigital! All productions are Pay-What-You-Decide. Make sure to reserve your tickets here: https://www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org/newvoices.html

And finally, our Bill One Untitled play by Gwyneth Jones! Bi Jean Ngo is an Actress, Director, Educator, and dog-mom who loves working with Philly Young Playwrights. She is excited about creatively crafting this New Voices workshop production with Temple University students through Zoom!

Congratulations to our amazing Executive Director Lisa Nelson-Haynes on her appointment to the Advisory Board of the Arts and Business Council for Greater Philadelphia!

Meet the playwright and director for our Bill One show Plants and Other Growing Things by Kira Wiener! Kira is a senior at Springfield Township High School. Her favorite childhood book is also The Mysterious Benedict Society. #greatmindsthinkalike Shamus (he/him) is celebrating his 4th year with New Voices! Vote! Vote! Vote!

Next up, the playwright and director for the Bill 2 Untitled play! Mya is a senior at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush. Her favorite childhood book is Little Sister for Sale by Morse Hamilton. Erlina Ortiz is a Dominican-American playwright, performer, and theatre maker based in Philadelphia. Her heartfelt and timely plays on gentrification, domestic violence, and cultural preservation have been produced with Power Street Theatre where she is proud to be Resident Playwright. In 2018 Her play Las Mujeres received The Bonaly Award for Creation of Community Joy and in Spring 2019 her play Morir Sonyando was nominated for six Barrymore Awards including Outstanding New Play.

First up, our playwright and director for the Bill 3 show, she was your steering wheel! Jordyn Flaherty is a senior at the Charter School of Wilmington. Her favorite childhood book was The Mysterious Benedict Society. Charlotte is a director, actor, producer, educator and a proud parent of a 9-year old boy. She has worked all over Philly and is pleased to be back at PYP after directing Speak Your Mind by Malcolm Ford last year. You can follow her adventures at www.charlottenortheast.com.

We are so excited to announce the 2020 #NewVoicesDigital festival! Our amazing playwrights will be working with Temple student actors and professional directors to create unique virtual productions of their winning plays, streaming live on YouTube October 20th-24th. Stay tuned for introductions to each of our playwrights, directors, and more behind the scenes content, and visit https://www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org/newvoices.html for more information, including how to reserve Pay-What-You-Can tickets to receive a link.

Brenden is a writer, theater artist and producer from Philadelphia. He was introduced to PYP through a class taught at his high school, and has since been a New Voices Playwright, Resident Playwright, Intern, Assistant Dramaturg, Quarantine Challenge Coordinator, and now the new Social Media and Communications Manager.

Join a community of imaginative students in grades 3-5 interested in telling stories together using words, visual images, and sound. Each workshop will consist of a blend of games, learning about important life skills like kindness and important literacy skills like descriptive language, and community building. This elementary school residency will be held online from November 7th - December 12th from 11:00 - 12:00 EST on Saturdays. ... The deadline to register is October 12th, 2020. For more information click the link here: https://www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org/classes.html

Please welcome to the PYP family Marsha Wesley Coleman, Director of Learning & Development, Friends Services Alliance

Please welcome to the PYP family Marcia Gelbart, Senior Communications Director for Community Impact, Comcast Corporation

Join a community of writers in grades 6 - 8 interested in exploring playwriting and theater-making. Whether you’ve never written a play before, or you’re an experienced playwright, this program is for you! This middle school residency will be held online from October 27th - December 10th from 4:00 - 5:30 EST on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The deadline to register is October 12th, 2020. For more information click the link here: https://www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org/classes.html

Please welcome to the PYP family Amy Bartosh, Vice President & Senior Investment Advisor, PNC Bank