“Adults will talk about anxiety and things like that, but they’ll kind of talk around what it is, and they’ll use words that make it sound like this cute little thing and not a big issue that you should worry about.”— Oliver Kokai-Means, age 11
Although the landscape of plays for youth is still mired in overly didactic, creatively uninspired, or simplistic plays, it continues to evolve to include a greater diversity of voices and artistically challenging work. That said, most plays for young people are created by adults for children. Writers admirably speak about wanting to reflect children’s concerns and perspectives onstage, representing diversity in all its forms. However, as adults, they generally write at a remove. I believe theatre for young audiences (TYA), both professional and educational, should decenter adults and actively involve children throughout the creation, writing, and dramaturgical refinement. Doing so will result in much better and braver work.
My perspective on this was crafted through my own experience co-writing a play with my son. I’m a playwright by trade, and in 2015 I was commissioned by Plan-B Theatre in Salt Lake City to write a play for their Free Educational Festival (FEST). Although Plan-B is not known for children’s shows, in 2012 the artistic director Jerry Rapier and managing director Cheryl Cluff had begun adding a touring show for young audiences—alternating between K–3 and 4–6—into their season. Over the last six years, Rapier and Cluff have grown this tour to reach roughly eight thousand students at over sixty schools across Utah.
Having never written a play for young audiences before, and daunted by the task, I turned to my then-nine-year-old and asked if he was interested in writing with me. Even though he had never written a play, I suspected he had a better idea of what upper elementary students would want to see onstage. He agreed. Both of us felt pretty sure we had no idea what we were doing.
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Thanks for sharing your story and beautiful development path for Zombie Thoughts. May it have a long, rich life with audiences.
And I agree about developing work with young people as part of the process. Many theaters do this as a matter of course now -- it makes sense. And many writers writing for younger audiences are writing plays that are kid-centered, respectful, challenging, theatrical, playful, and complex. Those plays are often harder to get widely produced -- much like theaters producing for adults, TYA is still driven by titles and well-known stories. But that hasn't stopped writers from stretching/pushing producers to deepen and widen the canon of plays produced for younger audiences.
Wishing you and your son all the best -- what a beautiful process the two of you created for your play!
Thank you so much for reading! I completely agree that there is a divide between amazing work that people are writing and the tendency to produce works with names that might not be quite as inventive. Like most theatre, where you live and what money you have dictates what is accessible to you (and I certainly experienced this as a parent taking my son to plays). On a personal note, I think I met you many years ago when you came and spoke to us at Butler Theatre. Thanks for taking the time to talk to young playwrights!
I love that you two connected here James & Jenny!
I have never thought of this before. Its very interesting. I have adapted some some short stories into children's plays but never thought of involving them. And in Malawi we are also doing some works using plays to end the bad behaviour of abducting people with albinism but we develop the plays and include those that are directly affected only at performance stage. I think it would make a huge difference to involve them. Thanks Jennifer for your article
Thank you so much for your response! I am glad this was thought provoking for you. I know this experience was profoundly important to my son as he felt he had a voice and mattered in a way he hadn't before. I am glad you are doing that important work in Malawi!