Eight Plays for Children: The New Generation Play Project

The New Generation Play Project was a daring experiment in American children's theatre. Begun in 1989 by a consortium that included the Seattle Children's Theatre, The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Stage One: The Louisville Children's Theatre, and the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the NGPP raised half a million dollars to commission major American dramatists to create new works for young people and to produce these plays over a several-year period.

This book provides the full text of the plays produced through the NGPP:

Constance Congdon, Beauty and the Beast

Velina Hasu Houston, Hula Heart

Tina Howe, East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Len Jenkin, The Invisible Man

Mark Medoff, Kringle's Window

Eric Overmyer, Duke Kahanamoku vs. The Surfnappers

Michael Weller, Dogbrain

Y York, The Witch of Blackbird Pond




In his introduction, Coleman Jennings describes the work of the NGPP, some of the controversies surrounding its selection of playwrights who do not ordinarily write for young audiences, as well as the playwrights' reactions to the project, and the critical reception of the plays. Suzan Zeder, one of the nation's leading playwrights for family audiences, supplies the foreword.