Florida Studio Theatre (FST) recently received a $37,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, a key partner in FST’s efforts to provide its award-winning WRITE A PLAY program, entirely free of charge, to schools in Sarasota County. FST’s WRITE A PLAY program is an arts-in-education initiative, giving students the example, inspiration, and the skills to write their own plays. WRITE A PLAY has impacted over 1 million young playwrights around the world since its inception in 1991. 

This grant is provided by the EdExploreSRQ Fund for Florida Studio Theatre, which was created by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and The Patterson Foundation in order to raise awareness of and increase access to programming offered by Sarasota’s artistic, cultural, and scientific organizations, like WRITE A PLAY.  Because of this support, the Community Foundation and FST will, for the first time ever, provide WRITE A PLAY at no cost to schools in Sarasota County. The three-part program is designed to connect with students and educators multiple times throughout the school year, WRITE A PLAY features a unique blend of streamed online productions, new digital educational resources, and virtual interactive workshops. “As opportunities continue to shift to all things digital, the connective power of the arts and their impact on student experiential learning remain as important as ever,” says Nicole Light, Education Officer at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. “That is why The Community Foundation is proud to support Florida Studio Theatre in developing virtual programming that will not only be free for teachers and students, but also serve as a way to increase access to these invaluable cultural learning experiences. Whether the stage is virtual or otherwise, that deserves a standing ovation.”

All students are encouraged to submit their work to FST’s Young Playwrights Festival playwriting competition, which receives submissions from more than 6,000 playwrights each year. Every script is read at least twice by FST staff and community volunteers, ultimately selecting a dozen plays for a full-scale production. Sarasota County teachers interested in FST’s WRITE A PLAY program should contact FST’s Director of Children’s Theatre, Caroline Kaiser, at ckaiser@floridastudiotheatre.org or call 941-366-9797.