February 4, 2026
Story by Joe Vinduska
Barton Community College’s Theatre Department will launch its first High School Playwrights Festival in spring 2026, offering area high school students the opportunity to write and showcase original theatrical works.
Students interested in submitting a play to the festival are invited to work directly with Barton's Theatre Faculty at a creative forum and workshop from 7-8:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Cavanaugh Room of the Barton Library (room L-116). Students are encouraged to bring ideas for a play to the creative forum. Once drafted, students can submit a 10-minute play for inclusion in the festival. Submissions will be accepted Feb. 26 through March 12.
Six plays will be selected for staged readings, to be performed live at 7:30 p.m. on April 18 in the Barton Fine Arts Auditorium, as a collaboration between Barton Theatre and the greater community. The staged readings will be open to the public. Following the performance, one student will be named the festival’s first-ever champion playwright and receive a prize.
Barton Theatre instructor Jack Greenwood said the festival is designed to introduce high school-aged writers to the theatrical process while empowering them to tell their own stories on stage.
“I have always been a believer that theater can heal and change hearts and minds, and that’s what the world needs more of,” he said. “By providing the tools for writers to create their own works on the stage, I am hoping they will be empowered to go on their own journey with theater and see their stories in a new light.”
Greenwood said he wanted to provide the creative forum and workshop for the playwrights to adjust their scripts and plots in real-time and to foster a true sense of how this can happen in real life.
“This part of the festival is key because it serves as an introduction for students ahead of the inaugural festival, and it gives them hands-on experience in play development, collaboration, and performance, as well as allowing them to network with other playwrights and anybody else in attendance who is an enthusiast or in the industry,” he said.
For more information on the High School Playwrights Festival, contact Greenwood at greenwoodr@bartonccc.edu. Scripts can be sent to this email from Feb. 26 through March 12 with the subject line “Barton Playwrights Festival.”