About This Show
Playmaking for Girls is a two-day workshop. On the first day, professional women artists perform excerpts from a play with relevant social context to help the girls understand the power and meaning of drama. This performance leads to a conversation with the girls about issues including violence, life choices, sex and self-image. The girls are then paired up to write their own short plays. They work together to learn about teamwork, and to help them validate and understand each other’s experience.
On the second day, the artists return to work with the same group of girls to rehearse and perform their plays. All of the girls act in a play other than the one they wrote. This gives the girls first-hand exposure to the ideas and creative impulses of the other girls in the group and also validates the creative self-expression of all the girls involved. By seeing her own play performed, each girl understands that her ideas and insights are being taken seriously. This second session of the workshop includes a performance for peers and parents, which often allows the first opportunity for parents to see their children doing something positive. This public performance allows Atlanta audience members to hear and experience these original, poignant and hard-hitting plays which are intimately based on the teens’ lives.
