In a partnership between Vermont Stage Company, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and the Young Writers Project, Vermont Young Playwrights helps young people to unleash their unique voices through the medium of short plays. At the annual VYP Festival, professional actors and directors have brought over 400 of those funny, moving, thought-provoking and surprising plays to life over the years. Through the VYP program a professional playwright/ teaching artist visits the middle or high school classroom for a 2- or 3- day residency, introducing students to the fundamentals of playwriting, and using writing prompts to inspire ideas. On the later visits, students support and critique one another in a moderated feedback process, and refine their plays further. Teachers then select and submit four plays for Festival consideration. A panel of theater artists read and ranks these plays at the Flynn Center for successful application of playwriting principles, and then passes the top two along to Vermont Stage Company who cast professional actors and assigns directors to bring the plays to life at the VYP Festival in May. Each school sees one of their plays fully staged, and hears another in a cold reading and moderated feedback session.