Middle School Students
APRIL 30, 2025 at 7PM
For grades 6-8. Everyone has a story to tell!
The mission of PBD’s Young Playwrights 1-Minute Play Contest is to motivate young people to learn about themselves and discover their individuality, and to inspire their creativity by giving them a voice in crafting their own unique story. Each play submitted is read and adjudicated by professional theatre practitioners using a carefully constructed rubric. Students progressing to the finals are given constructive suggestions for strengthening and revising their plays, and up to 20 students will have their plays professionally developed and performed onstage at PBD.
Lesson Plans
PBD provides detailed lesson plans with supporting documents and benchmarks that were piloted in district middle schools in 2022. However, educators are not required to use PBD’s lesson plans, and are encouraged to use, adapt, or modify any plans that work best for their students.
Lesson Plans
Playwrighting Rubric
Submission Information:
Please note that all plays must be submitted by a teacher or school administrator. We do not accept submissions from individual students.
- The contest is open to all Palm Beach County students in grades 6 – 8. Play submission deadline is Friday, February 14, 2025 at 5pm. All plays must be submitted by an educator or school administrator. All plays must be 1-minute in length. We do not accept longer plays.
- Plays must be submitted as Word or PDF documents.
- Educators submitting multiple plays should organize them in a folder and submit by email, Google Drive, or Dropbox to Gary Cadwallader:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Please be sure all plays have a separate title page with the following: Title of Play, Author, School, Teacher’s name, Teacher’s email address, and school phone number.
- All entries will receive a confirmation after submission. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact Gary at 561/514-4042, ext. 123.
Winners of the 2024 Young Playwrights 1-Minute Play Contest
Bak Middle School of the Arts
The Breakup That Never Happened by Emma Betancur
Your Royal Majesty by Skye Davis
One Last Moment by Maggie Douglas
Out by Devin Jackson
Morning Mayhem by Daniella Lent
Christa McAuliffe Middle School
Thanatophobia by Zunayra Erisha
The Owl and the Fiends by Colton Shortell
Eagles Landing Middle School
All Aboard byGiulianna Apolinario
Where Is It? by Sarah Esmail
Watson B. Duncan Middle School
The Girlfriend by Christina Bontrager
Shine a Light by Brooke DiTommaso
The Last Black Friday by Berrak Erkuloglu
A Very Social & Definitely Enjoyable Family Reunion by Callahan Fernandez
It’s About Time by Beckett Hess
The Doctor’s Room by Karina Jacobs
He’s Mine by Nyla Matthews
Unexpected by Alexandra Peña
Woodlands Middle School
The O’Clock Stop Shop by Olivia Jada Clitus
The Room by Dresly Pierre
Contest Details:
- Up to 40 finalists will be selected. All finalists will be given one week to revise and resubmit their plays.
- Up to 20 winners will be chosen by a panel of professional playwrights and theatre practitioners using a carefully constructed rubric.
- Winning plays will be assigned a professional director, and revisions will continue throughout the rehearsal process.
- Each winner will receive a $100 cash prize and a beautiful anthology that includes their play.
- Winners will be announced on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Performance: Wednesday, April 17 at 7pm.
High School Students
March 12, 2025 at 7PM
Our goal is to introduce the joy of writing for live theatre to young people, and to give teens a creative voice in expressing their thoughts and ideas. Our program encourages students to write about subjects that are meaningful to them, and to give educators tools to incorporate playwriting into their theatre or language arts classrooms. Detailed lesson plans and helpful resources are found below.
Lesson Plans
PBD's lesson plans and documents can be accessed here:
PBD offers a detailed five-day lesson plan with supporting documents and benchmarks that give educators a clear, strong sequence for creating a 10-minute play. However, educators are not required to use PBD's lesson plans. Please feel free to use any lesson plan that complements your process. Educators may also choose to incorporate a portion of PBD's lesson plan into their curriculum.
Submission Information
- The contest is open to all Palm Beach County students in grades 9 – 12.
- Submissions for the 2025 contest are now closed.
- All plays must be submitted by an educator or school administrator.
- All plays must be 10 minutes long. We do not accept one-act or full-length plays at this time.
- Plays must be submitted as Word or PDF documents.
- Educators submitting multiple plays should organize them in a folder and submit by email, Google Drive, or Dropbox to Gary Cadwallader:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , - Please be sure all plays have a title page with the following: Title of play, Author, School, Teacher's name, Teacher's email address and telephone number.
- All entries will receive a confirmation email after submission.
Congratulations to the 2025 Winners
|
Oliver Shane |
12 |
William T. Dwyer High School |
Alison Ferrucci |
|
Zepplyn Berry |
11 |
Dreyfoos School of the Arts |
Kristina Leljedal |
|
Fredericka D'Loughy |
12 |
The Benjamin School |
Jason Peck |
|
Namah Horton |
11 |
Donna Klein Jewish Academy |
Zoraida Adams |
|
Rachael Rotter |
12 |
The Benjamin School |
Jason Peck |
|
Sean Sheehan |
12 |
The Benjamin School |
Jason Peck |
|
Ford Cash |
12 |
The Benjamin School |
Jason Peck |
|
Yair D. Roman |
12 |
G-Star School of the Arts |
Gretchen Porro |
|
Hudson Reynolds |
11 |
G-Star School of the Arts |
Gretchen Porro |
|
Atlas Saavreda |
11 |
Dreyfoos School of the Arts |
Kristina Leljedal |
Contest Details:
- 20 finalists will be selected. Each finalist will be given professional feedback for improving and revising their play.
- Each finalist will be given one week for revisions.
- Up to 10 winning plays will be chosen by a panel of professional playwrights and theatre practitioners using a carefully constructed rubric. The rubric is found in the PBD lesson plans.
- Winning plays will be assigned a professional director and actors, and revisions will continue throughout the rehearsal process.
- Each winner will receive a $250 cash prize and a beautifully published anthology that includes their play.
For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions