Every year, Circle Theatre hosts an annual High School Playwriting Project to benefit local student playwrights. We invite all DFW Metroplex high school teachers to enter 10-minute scripts, written by their students, for evaluation by an experienced panel of judges. All who enter scripts receive a complimentary ticket to a Circle Theatre show.
• The top 20 scripts move on to the next round where they are evaluated by TxWes University's playwriting class.
• All 20 scripts receive written feedback.
• Scripts which place between 5th-8th place are our semi-finalist plays.
• Scripts that place in the top four are read by professional actors as a part of our FINALIST READING SERIES.
• The semifinalist and finalist plays all receive trophies, stipends, and theatre tickets to theaters around DFW.
LINKS TO SUBMIT MATERIALS | SCROLL DOWN
THE HSPP PROCESS
2025 RESOURCES
Resources for incorporating the High School Playwriting Project into your curriculum
The best way to help students become playwrights is to make the HSPP a part of your curriculum. We have broken down the pipeline to inspire and encourage students during the process! We have included a sample curriculum you can seamlessly flow in your semester planning as well as broken out pieces you can mix and match to suit your individual classroom!
Our HSPP curriculum breaks out exercises week by week that will build on top of one another to lead your students on the right path for writing a successful play!
We are also offering a limited number of in classroom
visits to help kick off the program.
Inquire more about this by emailing hspp@circletheatre.com
2025 GUIDELINES & MATERIALS
SAMPLE PAGES
FILE #1
TEACHER'S LETTER OF SUPPORT
This document let's us know the names of all the students who will be submitting a play. It helps us make sure we 've received all the scripts.
Please write the names of co-authors on the SAME line
FILE #2
TITLE PAGES | IDENTIFYING
This document ensures that we can connect the writers back to their plays. Please see the examples for how to craft your title pages
Please SAVE your title page PDFs as
"NAME OF PLAY _ TEACHERS NAME _ "TITLE PAGE" "
"OurTown_MsKateJones_TitlePage"
FILE #3
SCRIPTS | ANONYMOUS
This is your play! The firt page will be your Title, characters, setting, and content warnings. There is NO identifying information on this document except for the name of script.
Pages 2 on is the body of your script.
Please save your PDF as JUST the title of your script.
Email to hspp@circletheatre.com
INSTRUCTIONS
SCRIPT | PAGE 1 SAMPLE
TITLE PAGE SAMPLE
SCRIPT | BODY SAMPLE
