Childsplay Invites Kids to Share Their COVID Stories to Be Published & Performed

Young people have experienced monumental shifts in their lives over the past year-yet most stories about young people come from the perspective of adults. Childsplay, along with several partnering theatres, is ready to change that tendency.

With the belief that young people's voices should be honored, heard, and remembered, Childsplay launched a project called "I Have a Story." In the project, Childsplay and its affiliate, Write Now, are collecting stories from young people (up to age 18) about specific moments, events, people, and more from the past year. Stories can come in almost any format, whether written, audio recording, videos, and even drawings. Prompts and guiding interview questions for families to use are also available on both Write Now and Childsplay's websites.

Stories will be shared on Childsplay's social media platforms (@ChildsplayAZ on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), with online story gathering events for these young storytellers to tell their tales to one of Childsplay's artists.

The project doesn't stop there. Up to 40 stories will be chosen for inclusion in an anthology of monologues and short plays for young performers and young audiences. If chosen, each young storyteller will be paired with a professional playwright. After talking through the story, they will turn it into art-a short play or monologue. The youth participants will be considered a co-author and even receive royalties from future productions.

Childsplay is thrilled to have the support of several participating arts organizations across the country, such as Orlando Repertory Theatre, Seesaw Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre and Imagine University-with even more joining the project.

Associate Artistic Director and visionary for the project, Jenny Millinger says, "When we think back on our lives, each and every one of us will have a story from 2020. It is a space in time (and apart from time) where we lived and lost, and mourned and protested, and created and connected in ways unfathomable just a year ago. Young people have also experienced monumental shifts in their lives, in ways large and small, that deserve to be honored and remembered. We believe that moments like these-moments of heightened stakes and seismic change-create great art and will inform the tapestry of TYA storytelling for years to come. So...we are starting a project called 'I Have A Story.' We are inviting young people from across the country to share their stories from the past year, plus."

In considering I Have a Story, playwright and Childsplay Artistic Director Dwayne Hartford explains, "What drew me immediately to the project was the idea of honoring and lifting up the experiences of children and teens. Their unique perspectives on the events of this past 18 months will be recorded and preserved through the I Have a Story process. The monologues and scenes created from these stories will become a time capsule of this moment, and at the same time, art that will be shared by children and teens in the future."

Deadline to be considered for the anthology is June 30th. Stories will be accepted throughout the summer to be shared online, even if not included in the anthology.

Learn More At Childsplay. Submit Nationally With Write Now.

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