One of the ways the Great Plains Theatre Commons uses the arts to strengthen our community is through the mentorship of young people.  

Through our Young Dramatists program, aspiring teen playwrights submit original scripts to GPTC’s annual New Play Festival. Each year, one young playwright sees their own work presented alongside scripts by top professional playwrights at the Festival. 

The 2026 Young Dramatists play, The Last Meeting, was a brave, deeply felt story centered around gender-identity. The young writer’s courage was rewarded by an unusually high number of teens in the audience. The Director of New Stages from the Goodman Theatre in Chicago told this recent graduate of Omaha Northwest High School, “You can really write.”  

It was a moment that those who were there will never forget. More importantly, it encouraged a room full of adolescents to share their stories without fear. Please help us make sure that continues.

When you make a gift to GPTC, you support creative conduits for everyone in our city, from teenagers struggling to find their own voices to newly arrived refugees to the person who lives next door.  

And you support the advancement of important new scripts being written in every corner of our country, representing every aspect of our nation. 

Your gift supports the sharing of stories that show us the world as we want it to be. A world where every voice matters. 

Please make a year-end donation to GPTC today.