Choosing a play for young adults can be daunting.

This age group may encompass a wide range of theatre abilities, from beginners to experienced. They also passionately want to do things that matter – to explore and answer the whys of their world, and discover what being human is all about. Plays produced for or by young people have to satisfy a variety of needs.

The Theatre Alberta young adult collection is here to help! The collection includes plays written for, by, and about young adults that will help them express their unique world view. Plays in the Connections series deal with many contemporary issues and are taken from the National Theatre festival. Young adult playwrights are published in Dramatics magazine. Collections like I Was a Teenage Playwright contain plays written by  young Canadians. There are also well-known plays that could be performed by young adults – titles like The Aberhart Summer, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Unity(1918). Works by Mieko Ouchi, Jordan Tannahill, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Agatha Christie can also be found in the young adult section.

Take some time to explore the collection – start by searching the subject term ‘young adult’ – it holds many surprises!