Photos: Pegasus Theatre's 38th Annual Young Playwrights Festival

Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s 38th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, is now playing through January 26 at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen. The performance schedule is Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.  Tickets are $15 - $30 and are on sale at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Educators may schedule school group matinees via YPF@PegasusTheatreChicago.org. 

For nearly four decades, the Young Playwrights Festival, the oldest such festival in the United States, has engaged and inspired high school students across Chicago by teaching them to craft one-act plays. More than 300 submissions are received annually with the winning teen playwrights’ productions being work-shopped, staged by industry professionals and receive a premiere under the auspices of Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s Young Playwrights Festival. 

“The 2025 Young Playwrights Festival brings some exciting new works for the new year from new voices to Chicago,” said Executive and Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan.”For 38 years, Pegasus has produced new plays as an outlet for the young writers’ creativity. We look forward to sharing these playwrights’ stories inspiring the next generation of writers and audiences.”

The 38th Young Playwrights Festival includes:

Family Fishing Trip by Lydia Vodopic

(Lane Tech College Prep High School, Teacher: Kirsten Hanson)

Directed by Ruben Carrazana

Sal takes his kids Jenny and Mike on a family fishing trip that takes a turn for the worse. When secret schemes are uncovered and possible criminal activity is involved, this family has to put their differences aside and work together to make it back home.

Love & Gyros by Lily Zhang

(Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Teacher: Elizabeth Danesh) 

Directed by Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke

After decades apart, James and Cecelia, two former high school sweethearts, bump into each other at a restaurant on a faraway island in Greece. Throughout the evening, fragments of the past are revealed and revisited in this recollection of youth, time and memory.

Superheroes Anonymous by Carolina Boss

(Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Teacher: Elizabeth Danesh) 

Directed by Ilesa Duncan

A group of undercover superheroes gather at a special support group for the opportunity to discuss their problems. But the meeting organizer turns out to be a wealthy teenage tech genius, who has ulterior motives for bringing the group together.

The cast of the 38th Annual Young Playwrights Festival includes Lexi Alioto,  Shenise Brown, Collin Callahan, Jacob Coggshall, Ben Izlar Jr, Noelle Oh and Diego Rivera-Rodriguez with understudies Emma Fulmer, Lawrence Green, Jake Jones and Benjamin Jouras.

The current production team for the 38th Annual Young Playwrights Festival includes: Ruben Carrazana (director, Family Fishing Trip); IIesa Duncan (director, Superheroes Anonymous); Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke (director, Love & Gyros); Harrison Ornelas (scenic designer); Josh Wroblewski (lighting designer); Marquecia Jordan (costume designer); Cecelia Chan (props designer); Alex Albrecht (sound designer); Adi Davis (production manager) and Jessica Minogue (stage manager).

Photo Credit: Oomphotography

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