Young people are often told to “find their voice.” The Playwrights Project is one of San Diego’s institutions that actually hands them a microphone, dims the lights, and pays professionals to make the city listen.

This week, the nonprofit presents its 41st Plays by Young Writers Festival (sponsored by the Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky Family Fund). The annual showcase of winning scripts from the California Young Playwrights Contest is a program that has been running since 1985. Over four decades, it’s staged public performances of more than 200 student-written plays and served as an early launchpad for writers who went on to major careers, including Annie Weisman, Jim Knable, and Lauren Yee.

If that sounds like a neat trivia fact, it’s actually a civic one. San Diego’s Playwrights Project has become part of the local infrastructure, year after year, inviting California students (ages 13–18) to submit, with adjudication and feedback by theatre professionals, and winners receiving a full production team. It’s not “youth theatre.” It’s professional theatre written by youth.

This year, one of the festival’s most exciting through-lines is who’s at the helm. Directing all five plays is Jacole Kitchen, La Jolla Playhouse’s 2025/26 Directing Fellow. At LJP, she has been the associate director on recent Broadway-hopeful musicals The Heart and Cyndi Lauper’s Working Girl: The Musical, among other work.

Before that, Kitchen has been LJP’s Director of Arts Engagement and In-House Casting, the Artistic Associate and Casting Director at San Diego Repertory Theatre, and abi-coastal talent agent at Kazarian/Spencer/Ruskin. Kitchen’s directing credits, too, signal range: from regionally produced plays like An Iliad (New Village Arts), Cardboard Piano (Diversionary), and Iron (Roustabouts), to theatre for young audiences such as The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen (Seattle Children’s Theatre). Her roles demonstrate an eye for fresh voices and an experience shepherding a new work through its developmental life. Altogether, her résumé is both a roadmap for these emerging playwrights—proof that a wide-ranging body of work can build a durable career—and a reminder to our industry that backing young theatre also means actively shaping our future.

Kitchen says, “Programs like Plays by Young Writers and the work of the Playwrights Project spotlight the possibility for these young playwrights and helps the foster the next generation of theatre-makers, which is essential to the longevity and vitality of theatre as a medium.”

On Saturday, all five winning plays—three full high-school productions plus two staged readings by middle-school writers—will be presented in one program at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre, with receptions and a conversation with the playwrights.

If you care about the future of San Diego theatre, this is one of the most direct ways to show it: buy a ticket and be the kind of adult who takes the next generation’s stories seriously, too.

PLAYS

FULL PRODUCTIONS

Company by Enrique de Castro (age 18, San Diego)
A medical student helping a friend’s elderly father learns to be present.

Invisible by Audrey Vecchio (age 17, Yucaipa)
Milo wants to help his sister navigate high school. One problem: he’s a ghost.

A Reckoning of Emmas by Harper Williams (age 17, Simi Valley)
11-year-old Emma’s parents are getting divorced. Future Emmas to the rescue?

Staged Readings

Purple & Prejudice by Mikaela Lee (age 14, Poway)
A bold purple ladybug fights discrimination to find her place in the world.

Family Love by Kaylynn Tran (age 13, San Diego)
With support from the family dog, Ralph connects with his workaholic father.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Cecelia Kouma, Executive Producer
Aria Proctor, Producer
Kandace Crystal, Festival Director
Jacole Kitchen, Director
Jason McIntyre, Kroc Staff
Anthony “Ginger” Garcia, Technical Director
Madison Mercado, Stage Manager
Michael Wogulis, Scenic Designer
Marni Fullington, Costume Designer
Mashun Tucker, Lighting Designer
Gerilyn Brault, Sound Designer
Andy Lowe, Dramaturg – “Company”
Danielle Ward, Dramaturg – “A Reckoning of Emmas”
Patrice Amon, Dramaturg – “Invisible”
Marjorie Treger, Dramaturg – “Family Love” and “Purple & Prejudice”
Mary Sutton, Box Office Manager

PUBLIC PERFORMANCES

Saturday, February 28 – 7:30 PM – NIGHT OF CELEBRATION

Order of Events
6:30 PM – Reception
7:30 PM – Festival Performance
9:00 PM – Dessert and Coffee

One Ticket: $50 per individual (Pay-What-You-Can options are available to make the Festival accessible to all.)