Plays for Young Audiences
Perform The Shows You See at Children’s Theatre Company
A play is like a train; it takes many great minds to build the body and set it in motion. It runs around the track a few times and then comes home to rest.
But, trains reload and run many different routes, which is why Children’s Theatre Company has Plays for Young Audiences — to license scripts of its productions to theatres, schools and community groups all over the world.
Plays for Young Audiences (PYA) is the script licensing program of CTC, but also represents a canon of sophisticated, high-quality plays and musicals for young audiences created by respected playwrights nationally and internationally. PYA encompasses around 300 scripts, with about a third of the represented work being CTC original shows.
Any time a copyrighted piece of theatrical work is presented in front of an audience, a performance license and royalty fees are required, regardless of the size of the audience and whether or not an admission fee is charged. A little known fact is that performances taking place without a license actually violate Federal Copyright Laws. Groups can apply for rights at www.playsforyoungaudiences.org.
Shows for Theatres of All Sizes
Plays for Young Audiences has a collection of shows fit for every venue. From school theatre programs to in-class readings, community theatres, professional theatres and even church groups and libraries, PYA productions have been popular and successful.
Just last spring, Sheyenne High School in North Dakota took home the championship title in the Class “A” One Act State Play Competition with their rendition of Reeling. They were not the only school to triumph with a PYA play: Kemp High School won the Texas University Interscholastic League One-Act Play Competition with The Book of Everything.
Plays for Young Audiences Internationally
PYA reaches further than North Dakota and Texas though; Sheyenne High School will be performing Reeling at the Edinburgh, Scotland, Fringe Festival in August! Schools in China have obtained classroom reading licenses to teach English, while theatres in Mexico have been granted permission to translate some shows. Theatres in Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil and India regularly pick PYA productions for their stages. Plays for Young Audiences represents high profile international playwrights from Holland, England and Australia that offer diversity to the script selections.
Though the options are vast, there are popular titles that frequent the stage more often than others. Schools usually look for musical productions with larger casts and well-known titles. Alice in Wonderland and Pippi Longstocking remain widespread favorites, but when it comes to community theatres or professional theatres, Greg Banks’ productions prove to be a hit. With stunning scripts like The Jungle Book and Pinocchio, they never disappoint.
Perfect Scripts for Halloween and the Holiday Season
Plays for Young Audiences also has a variety of holiday productions. With Halloween on the horizon, spooky shows will start appearing on stage. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a CTC classic first produced during the 1969–1970 season, is full of superstition and terror as the headless horseman haunts the town. The Canterville Ghost is a perfect Halloween piece about an American family who refuses to be frightened. A favorite in France, Electric Darkness is a comedic tale of a little boy cautioned by his mother and sister about a carnival where ogres abduct children and get cooked by clowns.
The holidays carries its own collection of scripts including the classics A Christmas Carol, The Night Before Christmas and The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats, a CTC production that was produced in the 2015–2016 season.
Hop on the train, and find the perfect show for you by visiting Plays for Young Audiences’ website.
