Broadway Bound: Spotlight on Teen Plays

Move over Mama Rose, it’s time for teens to take center stage! To celebrate 2019 as the Year of Chicago Theatre, check out these plays that feature teens in the lead roles.

In She Kills Monsters, Tilly creates Dungeons & Dragons adventures to escape the real world of high school. After Tilly dies in a car crash, her older sister Agnes journeys through those quests, and the sisters become closer than ever before. This play is packed with epic battles! It's perfect for anyone who enjoys D&D, video games and strong female characters.

No matter where life takes them, Doug and Kayleen keep running into each other. Gruesome Playground Injuries is about the physical and emotional scars we accumulate over time and the way friendship can heal our wounds. 

#46 joins The Wolves to make friends. #00 is the best goalie around but throws up from stress before every game. #25 is the de facto coach and might be lesbian. #7 has been pregnant and #2 has much to learn about her changing body. This 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominee revolves around the nine players of an indoor soccer team, and we're on their turf. 

Eugene Morris Jerome just wants to write and play baseball, but family, puberty and the Great Depression always throw a wrench in those plans. Brighton Beach Memoirs is a classic work by Neil Simon, one of the funniest Jewish playwrights in 20th century theatrical canon.

If you're looking for audition material, check out our Year of Chicago Theatre for Teens booklist. Do you have a favorite play (or musical) with teen characters?