In January, Marfa High School students participated in the 15th annual Marfa Live Arts (MLA) Playwriting Program. The program was taught by Cal Poly University playwright professor Ramón Esquivel, who shared his thoughts on teaching Marfa’s youth. “It was exciting to talk playwriting with high school students who all had experience writing plays before,” he said. “Some students even wrote sequels to plays that they had written in previous MLA residencies. So many students wrote dialogue for characters that spoke and listened like real people, and that reflects good communication skills. I was touched by how interested students were in each other’s ideas and work. Some even based characters on their friends in the classroom. It reflects how making theatre is about creating shared experiences.”
On the students’ writing styles, Esquivel noted, “A common thread running through most plays was the need for individuals to stand up to a danger or threat to protect themselves of others, like family or friends. Sometimes, that threat was coming from a family member or friend, and that takes a special kind of courage to resist. It was inspiring to see so many young protagonists, often teenagers themselves, standing up and resisting and protecting. The most common style was realism: sometimes, it was just friends hanging out, but then something dramatic happens. A few scripts tapped into horror and supernatural elements. Some students wrote historical dramas. I was heartened by the range of styles because I encouraged students to write plays that they were interested in, about characters and topics that were meaningful to them. And they did!”
He continued, “It is extraordinary that Marfa Live Arts has developed a program to work with all high school and middle school students in Marfa, and that the teachers and administrators are committed to this program and have been for over 15 years. At a time when standardized testing drives many decisions, and when AI is becoming such an inescapable factor in education, giving students the time and space and trust to imagine and write a play about characters and topics that are important to them is a gift. Theatre is about humans experiencing stories together. ”
Award-winning 2026 student playwrights were: freshmen first place–What Moves in the Dark by Seth Nuñez, honorable mention to The Backflip by Liliana Zubia; sophomores first place–Tornado Warning in Mississippi by Ora Webb, honorable mention to The Appalachian Woods by Diego Sanchez; juniors first place–Chasing Scrubs by Itzel Urrutia, honorable mention to The Legendary Boxer by Jose Muñoz-Bueno; seniors first place–The Quiet After by Christopher Huerta, honorable mention to Only the Moon by Piper Donaldson.
The first-place winners will have their works staged and brought to life by local adult actors at the Crowley Theater on Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m. The community is invited to this annual feel-good event.
The Playwriting Program is supported by Texas Commission on the Arts and Marfa Education Foundation. In its 15th year, the annual Marfa Live Arts program has resulted in over 1,150 one-act plays written by Marfa students. For more information see www.marfalivearts.org.