Theatre Production students, according to Theatre Production teacher Jim Peterson, will be submitting plays to the Young Playwrights in Progress (YPiP) on Dec. 16. YPiP, sponsored by the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT), is an annual playwriting contest for Indiana students from grades 6 to 12. Participants are required to submit 15-page, one-act, original plays to the YPiP website, which will then be reviewed by judges from the IRT. These judges will choose six semi-finalists who will win cash prizes and the opportunity to attend a workshop to fine-tune their plays with professional IRT actors. The IRT will then award two finalists $1000, a full scholarship to the IRT Summer Conservatory and the opportunity to have their play produced by the IRT. In preparation for the competition, Peterson said he has invited professional IRT playwright Andrew Black to work with students on the fundamentals of playwriting.

“I just wanted to inject some new ideas and approaches into the students’ playwriting education,” Peterson said. “Having a professional come in will allow students to understand playwriting at a deeper level.”

According to Peterson, this experience has already helped students with their playwriting skill. 

“I’ve already seen great improvements in their writing,” Peterson said. “Their scripts have a stronger sense of plot. They’ve gotten better in character work too. They’ve also gotten a better writing style, a stronger voice in their writing, so I think Mr. Black’s influence on these kids has been really helpful to their playwriting skills. I’m hoping this new knowledge will carry through in their individual pieces.”

Remington Bastien, Theatre Production student and senior, said he plans on pursuing a playwriting career and agrees that Black’s influence has improved his playwriting ability.

“I can feel myself improving in playwriting because of this experience with working with a professional and entering this contest,” Bastien said. “It’s taught me to focus on the things that I thought would be simple and common sense, but, in reality, is really hard to do. Mr. Black taught us that it’s harder than it looks and helped us do these tasks that are actually really important in writing a play more effectively.”

Black said that though this experience will benefit students like Bastien who plan on becoming professional playwrights, it can also be beneficial to students who plan on pursuing other career paths.

“The ability to construct a good narrative and tell a good story is an important quality that applies to a lot of different fields. Playwriting is just one form, one outlet for a student’s narrative voice, but the principles that are included in it, the elements of storytelling, apply to so many different places,” Black said. “Also, there’s something about live theatre that captures the imagination of the writer and the audience in a way that is unique. It fosters peoples’ imaginations, and imagination is the key to everything in this world. To do anything and accomplish anything, you’re going to need an imagination and theatre helps facilitate that.”