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.
Congratulations to the 2025 Winners
|
Saved by the Strudel |
Daniella Lent |
Bak Middle School of the Arts |
|
A Magnolia in Spring |
Dayla Christensen |
Bak Middle School of the Arts |
|
Mom Swipes Right |
Luna Wilson |
Bak Middle School of the Arts |
|
The Museum of Things Before Our Time |
Giulianna Apolinario |
Eagles Landing Middle School |
|
Camping |
Sarah Esmail |
Eagles Landing Middle School |
|
Sonnet & The City |
Mariana Troshyna |
Eagles Landing Middle School |
|
Musical Madness |
Leyah Binns |
Loggers' Run Middle School |
|
A Random Stranger |
Kaylani Lisker |
Loggers' Run Middle School |
|
Get Off Your Phone in the Theatre |
Larissa Oliveira |
Loggers' Run Middle School |
|
The Devastating Fact |
Tigerlily Winslow |
Loggers' Run Middle School |
|
A Taxing Relationship |
Rohan Rodriques |
Palm Beach Day Academy |
|
Nature's Miracles |
Peyton Resnick |
Unity School |
|
Spaghetti Wars |
Dary Graham |
Pace Center for Girls |
|
We Can Face This Together |
Abigail Crowley |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
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The Lucky Pair |
Julia Harvey |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
|
Let's Ex That Out |
Beckett Hess |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
|
I Don't Want You |
Nyla Matthews |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
|
I Heard |
Khanh Nguyen Le |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
|
Perfect |
Alexandra Pena |
Watson B. Duncan Middle School |
|
The Invitation |
Megan Shearn |
Watson B. Duncan Middle Schoo |
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.
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.
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 |
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.
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