City Theatre Playmakers extends the influence of the Young Playwrights program by providing additional opportunities for area youth in the art of playwriting. Current initiatives include the production and broadcast of radio dramas written by Pittsburgh youth, and an interactive lobby installation as part of the annual Young Playwrights Festival.
Radio Drama Project
Since 2005, City Theatre has teamed with National audio Theatre Festivals, AAM Studios, and The Saturday Light Brigade to work with local students as they write radio dramas. Our 2006 collaboration featured the work of students from Sterrett and Rogers CAPA Middle Schools. Three classes worked with a City Theatre Teaching Artist to explore basic elements of playwriting and the specific elements of radio drama. Each class collaboratively wrote an original radio drama, which was professionally recorded with local Pittsburgh artists, and directed and produced by a national audio theatre specialist. The dramas also featured manual sound effects created by the students themselves! The dramas – Amphibious Attack, A Knight at the Movies, and Mission Improbable – were given their world premiere broadcast here in Pittsburgh on The Saturday Light Brigade (88.3 FM) on Saturday, January 20, 2007.
City Theatre Playmakers is made possible by a grant from the Giant Eagle Foundation.