Pictured: The Last Acorn 2: Jeric Gutierrez, Storm Tracy, Gemma Vodacek, and Athena Jean-Étienne in The Donut Adventure by Mrs. Buchoffer’s Class. Photo by FST.

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce the winning plays of this year’s annual youth playwriting competition. Now in its 32nd year, FST’s WRITE A PLAY program is an arts-in-education initiative, providing students with the example, the inspiration, and the skills to write their own original plays. Over the course of the 2022-2023 academic year, FST received submissions from more than 4,000 playwrights.This year, the WRITE A PLAY experience culminates on Florida Studio Theatre’s five-theatre campus with Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) Day, an annual celebration of children’s imagination and creativity. On Saturday, May 20, participating students, teachers, and families from across the state of Florida will come together to enjoy live performances of the year’s winning plays brought to life by professional actors. This year’s compilation of winning plays is titled The Last Acorn & Other Winning Plays. Following these live performances, playwrights are honored in an awards ceremony and are presented with certificates and medals on stage. The 2023 Young Playwrights Festival Day is a private event, reserved for the winning playwrights, their families, and educators who participated in this year’s WRITE A PLAY program. Thanks to generous support from individual donors, WRITE A PLAY continues to inspire the next generation of playwrights. Support from the Community Foundation of Sarasota, Manatee Community Foundation, The Patterson Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Suncoast Credit Union Foundation, Publix Super Markets Charities, Wells Fargo Foundation, Embracing Our Differences, Sister Cities Association of Sarasota, and the Greenfield Foundation also made this year’s WRITE A PLAY program possible. WRITE A PLAY is also sponsored in part by the Bank of America Client Foundation and by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, contact FST’s Education and WRITE A PLAY Manager, Shelby Lynhall, at SLynhall@floridastudiotheatre.org.

Pictured: The Last Acorn 2: Jeric Gutierrez, Storm Tracy, Gemma Vodacek, and Athena Jean-Étienne in The Donut Adventure by Mrs. Buchoffer’s Class. Photo by FST.