YouthPLAYS

There is a wonderful new online publisher of plays for the youth market, appropriately named YouthPLAYS. They have a wealth of excellent material by excellent writers that keeps growing on a daily basis. If you have not checked out their website, please do so by clicking on their logo below.

Not only do they have terrific plays to offer, but you can read lengthy excerpts of each and every one online. And if you like what you see in the preview, you can order a PDF copy of the complete script for free. That's right. Free! You're not able to print these perusal scripts (although for a nominal fee, you may), but just getting the chance to read plays in their entirety before committing to a production means that school groups with limited budgets now have a much larger pool of material to choose from. And what wonderful material it is!

YouthPLAYS was co-founded by two wonderful playwrights, Jonathan Dorf and Ed Shockley. Jonathan is the author of the popular one acts 4AM and After Math, among many others. I've seen several of his plays at various festivals and they are always warmly received by actors and audiences alike. He writes extremely vivid characters that pop right off the page. My personal favorite is Dear Chuck, a touching and funny play told in short scenes and monologues. As well, Ed wrote a nifty play that I have never seen, but am dying to, called Bedlam Moon. It's a hilarious Bronx tale, written in a style akin to Neil Simon.

What I also appreciate is their growing selection of plays that deal with LGBT issues. About a year ago, writer Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Project, which encourages gay youth to stay strong in spite of the bullying and prejudice they may be facing in high school. There are already a couple of plays in the YouthPLAYS catalog that deal specifically with this topic, which is so awesome. It's an important topic that should be addressed in schools, and I'm happy to report that now there is material out there for brave teachers and administrations to tackle.

So you can imagine how delighted I was to hear this morning that YouthPLAYS has offered to publish my play Twinkle Toes. It's a dramedy about a gay teen as he prepares for his dance audition at Julliard, and it is very near and dear to my heart. I'm honored that it will be now be made available to students and teachers who are willing to take a risk.

It really does get better and I'm honored to have a play out there that proves it.