The Mission of Playwrights Project is to promote literacy, creativity, and communication through drama-based activities, with an emphasis on inspiring youth and seniors.

Playwrights Project is a nonprofit organization devoted to arts education. Founded in 1985, Playwrights Project reaches approximately 20,000 people annually through programs proven to:

• Teach the power of spoken and written language
• Nurture promising young writers
• Develop theatre artists and audiences
• Honor older individuals by dramatizing their life stories

Along with classroom programs, Playwrights Project conducts the annual California Young Playwrights Contest for writers under the age of 19, and professionally produces the winning scripts.

Collaboration
Playwrights Project collaborates with many organizations in San Diego County. We have created major programs with Anaheim Union High School District; Escondido Union High School District; San Diego City Library; San Diego City Schools; San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services; San Diego Youth and Community Services; and Sweetwater Union School District.

Board of Directors Gwyn Enright President Lisa Kirazian Vice President David A. Carr Treasurer Ann Briggs Addo Secretary

Linda Castro Kevin Davidson Pat JaCoby Karen Ladner Sheila Lipinsky Ernie McCray Craig Noel William Pardo Gwen Small Sylvia Tiersten Ann von Gal

Founder Deborah Salzer with Artistic Advisor Edward Albee, 1985 "We have to begin the creative education of young people very, very young, far younger than most people think and that's why an organization such as this one is so terribly important." ~Edward Albee

Staff Bios
Edward Albee, Artistic Advisor, is one of the greatest American playwrights. Among his 32 plays are The Zoo Story, A Delicate Balance and the groundbreaking Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, almost always in production somewhere in the world. His numerous awards include three Pulitzer Prizes, a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts.

Deborah Salzer, Founder and Artistic Mentor, is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Bank Street College of Education. Before moving to California from New York, Ms. Salzer taught elementary school, trained teachers, and directed an inner-city arts program in Harlem. Ms. Salzer founded Playwrights Project in 1985. In addition to creating curriculum and training teaching artists for Playwrights Project, Ms. Salzer has produced the premieres of over 100 plays, along with the award-winning television production of Simply Maria, or the American Dream by Josefina López. Ms. Salzer is the author of Stage Write a curriculum unit which introduces playwriting to middle and high school students.

Cecelia Kouma, Managing Director, has a BFA in Theatre Arts, from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She has worked as an arts administrator since 1987, including 11 years as the Associate Director of the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. She provided accounting services through the firm of Quigley & Miron. As Managing Director since 2000, Ms. Kouma shares leadership of Playwrights Project with the Artistic Director. She has taught theatre and playwriting to students and teachers in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties and has presented at conferences on the topics of arts education strategies, evaluation techniques, and best practices for nonprofit accounting.

Maria Glanz, Artistic Director, is a playwright, performer and educator with a BA in Drama and Theatre from the University of Hawaii. She served from 2003 to 2007 as Producing Artistic Director of Rainier Valley Youth Theatre in Seattle, where she was responsible for playwriting residencies in schools, a young playwrights contest, productions and summer arts camps. As a writer and solo performer, Ms. Glanz has received an Artist Trust Theatre Fellowship; a Richard Hugo House Best New Play Award; and numerous honors from the Seattle, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal Fringe Festivals. Her produced plays include the full-length scripts Rapunzel, commissioned by UMO Ensemble, and VIC (Spirit Made Flesh).