In this section, you’ll find content all about theatre created with young people in mind. Dive into the conversation with this panel about writing TYA or this series on Latinx and Latin American TYA.
The Latest
Podcast
MENA Theatre for Young Audiences
by Marina Johnson, Nabra Nelson, Heather Rastovac Akbarzadeh
23 April 2026
Podcast
Youth, Truth, and Applied Documentary Theatre
by Ash Marinaccio, Peter Hussey
18 November 2025
Essay
Junior Programs, Inc. Taught Kids About Democracy and Racial Equity. Can It Teach Us to Use TYA to Build a Better Future for the United States?
Ash talks with Peter Hussey of Crooked House Theatre about the ways interviews and personal stories shape their youth and documentary theatre, and how intergenerational projects connect people across age and experience.
Junior Programs, Inc brought the values of democracy and racial and ethnic diversity to children across the United States through an innovative, decentralized model that featured comprehensive educational partnerships. Joan Lancourt offers their approach as a potential inspiration for the contemporary moment.
Unlike most artistic events geared towards young people, the Youth Producer Program (YPP) in Austin, Texas produced a festival for teens that was also led by the youth. The YPP team reflects on the event, and shares what is needed to facilitate youthful production experiences.
Carmen Salvador shares about Fundación Quien Cuenta Eres Tú’s Children’s Participative Theatre program in Chile and the way they used Playback Theatre to facilitate a space for under-resourced children’s creativity and reflection on their experiences.
Spurred on by the National Theatre production of James Graham’s Dear England, verity healey discusses the notion that theatre in the United Kingdom might have a few things to learn from football.
When filmmaker Thomas Chibambo founded the Blantyre Arts Festival in 2009, it was Malawi’s first multi-disciplinary arts festival. He joins host Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to discuss the Blantyre Arts Festival’s current plans to better support theatrical performance and his own work to establish an Arts Council in Malawi.
Jack Msumba, creative director of Youth Developers Collaboration Theatre, has big ideas for the future of Malawian theatre. In this interview, he shares his plans to eventually build Malawi’s first theatre house by producing work consistently in schools, communities, and commercial settings.
Lydia Deborah Banda infuses theatre into community initiatives that work toward gender equality, educate girls about menstruation, and provide leadership and support opportunities in schools and prisons. In this interview, she shares her experiences conducting these initiatives in Malawi and touring internationally to Germany.
Access Through The Arts Panel Discussions Exploring the Theme of Roots and Wings
Saturday 10 September - Sunday 18 September 2022
United States
Sandglass Theater presented events from the Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival 2022 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 10 September, Saturday 17 September, and Sunday 18 September 2022.
Bringing Middle Eastern Storytelling to Young Audiences
Friday 24 June 2022
United States
Golden Thread Productions presented NO SUMMARY: What Can the Wise Fool Nasrudin Teach Us? livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 24 June 2022 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Artistic identities can be complicated, and many theatremakers work equally within two or more disciplines simultaneously. The most interesting work is rarely created in a vacuum. These multidisciplinary artists create diverse projects in all senses of the word, broadening our idea of what theatre can and should be. Today, two such multihyphenate artists, Denmo Ibrahim and Sarah Fahmy, converse about their multiple identities, how they reconcile and manage their myriad expertise, and the role of multihyphenate artists in today’s theatre landscape.
From the “Gentleman Freak” to the “Rage-Filled Recluse,” simplistic tropes limit popular representation of disabled individuals. Ben Ranaan explains these tropes and advocates for more complex portrayals of disability in theatre and other media.
With REACTIV Festival: a laboratory of experiences and experiments in which we aim to rediscover ourselves as individuals and groups
Friday 3 September 2021
Targu Neamt, Romania
The Educational Centre of the Performative Arts CEVA in Targu Neamt, Romania presented a performance of Hey neighbor, hey you! with the REACTIV festival livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 3 September 2021.
LA Writers Center presented a performance of Them's Ponies! by Rebekah Chang as a part of Home: Asian Voices Reading Series on Saturday 7 August 2021 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Young Europe Festival To:gather | The Week of New European Drama
Monday 7 June 2021
Europe
The European Theatre Convention presented the panel New Formats & Spaces for Young Audiences happening within the context of Young Europe Festival To:gather and The Week of New European Drama. This panel will livestream for the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Monday 7 June at 10 a.m. CEST (Berlin, UTC +2) / 11 a.m. EEST (Bucharest, UTC +3) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1).
A Black Artist and Arts Educator’s Exploration on Challenges for Kids of Color in Arts Spaces
12 April 2021
Ilasiea Gray looks at the many challenges kids of color face in the performing arts, including access and exposure, the lack of educators of color, and more.
Robert Barry Fleming, executive artistic director of Actors Theatre, and Courtney Sale, artistic director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre, converse about structural racism and systems of oppression, what can be learned from theatre for young audiences, the possibilities in a post-COVID world, and more.
A Conversation with Malaysian Theatre Artist Sabera Shaik
17 November 2020
Jennifer Rodrigo sits down in conversation with Sabera Shaik, the artistic director of Malaysia’s Masakini Theatre Company, about the country’s fragmented arts community, shadow theatre, and more.
Online conversations with artists that don’t fit in a box
Friday 6 November 2020
United States
Golden Thread Productions presented NO SUMMARY with Golden Thread Fairytale Players livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 6 November 2020 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Playwright Lauren Gunderson presented Writing Incredible Theatre for Young Audiences (as well adults) live-streamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 29 April 2020 at 12 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7) / 2 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 3 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).
Tiffany Vega-Gibson shares information she gleaned from seven theatre companies around the United State about how to best work with young artists who may be struggling in their personal lives.
For the premier episode of the Adventures in Audio Fiction Podcast, host Tamara Kissane discusses writing audio fiction for young audiences with Dania Ramos and Michael Aquino, the producers and creators of Timestorm, a series in which twins travel through time to preserve their culture’s true history.
Keeping Daring Depictions of Eating Disorders Safe for Actors and At-Risk Young Adults
26 November 2019
Clare Hennessy discusses the challenges of developing a play that sheds light on eating disorders—depicting them accurately, avoiding triggers—and offers suggestions for other writers in a similar position.
Presented by ASSITEJ - International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People
Tuesday 3 September - Friday 6 September
Kristiansand, Norway
ASSITEJ presented The ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2019 livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network from Tuesday 3 September to Friday 6 September.
Alex Ates reflects on the Toddler Takeover at Atlanta, Georgia’s Alliance Theatre and shares what the growing field of theatre for the very young can teach adult theatremakers about their craft.
