40th Annual Young Playwright’s Festival 10:00am-2:00pm

I Love My City, I Love Myself

The Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) is our longest running learning program that encourages expression and creativity in students all across the state.This year we received so many wonderful play submissions from participants in our residencies, and many more from students across Maryland, and we’re beyond excited to present this year’s winners!

This year’s “I Love My City, I Love Myself” Young Playwrights Festival theme is all about encouraging the youth to think intentionally about what community means to them and how they exist within their own communities – real or imagined. 

Schedule 

10:00am – Festival Begins at Baltimore Center Stage 

12:30pm – Performance of Winning Plays in Pearlstone Theatre

2025 Winning Plays 

• BeMORE by Aamir Snead
  • • A young artist experiences self-doubt and is supported; encourage and inspired by his community and city.

• Flash Finds Herself  by Garrett King, Dylan Barron, and Kayden Onyewu 
  • • Flash is a young girl who lost her true self when acting on a tv show. She comes to Baltimore, and the other characters help her find her true self

• BMore Yourself  by Alice K. Reid 
  • • A young girl named Avery wants to become non-binary and finds comfort in their community.

• Baltimore: As It Was, So It Is by Quinn Guilfoyle

• • • A girl struggling with the issues inside her city has a realization that Baltimore is a beautiful place when she talks to her mom and other city residents.

• The Sleepover by Aveson Smith

• • • At a sleepover, five teenage girls find themselves entangled in conflict as hidden tensions about boys, drugs, and relationships resurface. One reflects on her actions and chooses to speak up, sparking understanding between them drawing them together.

• Monsters Anonymous by Nalani Simpson and Maddy Hahn

• • • The Yeti, Frankenstein, Dracula and The Boogeyman are rounded up in a church’s basement in order to talk about their non-human emotions with Jimmy, the group leader of Monsters Anonymous.