MPAACT is planning the launch of a summer Playwriting & Performance Program in partnership with Victory Gardens Theatre (VG). The goal of the program is to introduce high school students to the primary processes of creating theatre, allowing them to develop practical and critical theatre skills. This program builds on the reputation of VG as the place where writers are nurtured and given an artistic home, and the history of MPAACT as an artistic organization with extraordinary success in the field of arts education. Designed specifically around the needs of Chicago (Public School) teens, the Playwriting and Performance Program will merge the best of both companies in the development and implementation of a four-week summer experience for 20 local students.