HartBeat Ensemble’s Youth Play Institute (YPI) brings together urban and suburban high school students for intensive play creation residencies. By teaching youth to communicate with each other through theater, the project breaks down racial and economic stereotypes and exposes participants to new friends, collaborators, and audiences.  Past plays that have been created through YPI have been about youth violence, the media’s influence on youth, social stratification in schools and commonalities in family dynamics. Each session culminates in a free, public performance of the group’s one-act play.

HartBeat conducts three five-week long YPI sessions each school year.  Participating districts include Hartford, Farmington, Glastonbury, West Hartford and the CT Technical High School System. Click here to read the Youth Play Institute featured in the January 2011 issue of Hartford Magazine.