3 Weeks at Northwestern University
June 29 – July 19, 2025
Tuition: $4,500
Tuition price includes room & board. Financial Aid is available for students with need. We also encourage students with financial need to apply for an Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative Training Scholarship
Surround yourself with students and faculty that share your passion.
Receive focused attention and feedback from experienced faculty.
Develop your scripts into a final staged reading performed by professional actors.
Applications Now Closed
Admission decisions sent in May 2025
In this 3-week summer intensive, a select group of students craft their plays in a professional and educational environment. Every morning, the students work on their writing in seminars led by a professional playwrights/educators. In the afternoon, students participate in classes along with the NHSI Theatre Institute as well as a Television Pilot Class. Weekends and evenings will be filled with field trips to see Chicago theater, as well as film screenings, master classes and other fun activities. The program culminates in a staged reading open to friends and family directed and performed by professional theatre artists.
Eligibility: Any student who has attended a workshop with John Corwin, Ian Merrigan, or Marcus Folmar, and has a completed first draft of their 10-minute play. Students who have not attended in-school residencies will need to submit a sample of their own draft of a 10-minute play, at any stage, in order to be eligible. Please submit the play you plan on workshopping during the program. If you have not written a play, you can consider enrolling in our online Playwriting Workshop; you will leave that workshop with a first draft. This program is available to students who are currently in their sophomore or junior year of high school.
Daily Schedule for Playwriting Intensive Summer 2025:
Times and structure are subject to change for future institutes.
7:30 – 8:30 BREAKFAST
9:00-10:30 Writing Room – Student playwrights work with faculty in a writers’ room-like setting to learn to craft 10 minute plays –
10:45 – 12:00 Writing/Revisions – Students work to edit their plays
12:00 – 1:00 LUNCH
1:00-2:30 TV Pilot Elective – Ever had have an idea for a TV series? That’s great! Now all you have to do is turn that idea into a pilot. This elective will help. While we discuss TV basics and tricks of the trade, we will watch and discuss the first episodes of hour-long dramas and half-hour comedies, dissecting them, finding out what makes them work, how they succeed and how they fail. Students will then take what they’ve learned and apply that to their own ideas, assembling an outline for the pilot and even writing the teaser and first act.
2:45 – 4:15 Theatre Institute Electives – Playwrights join the Theatre Institute students in their afternoon electives. Playwrights choose from a number of electives ranging from directing to Shakespeare to movement to design classes.
5:30 – 6:30 DINNER
Evenings – Evenings are spent attending live theater events, watching films or other fun activities, and in rehearsals in the final week.
Weekends – Weekends will be spent taking field trips, master classes, and rehearsing for their final play readings.
- “Thank you for the most positive experience I’ve ever had!!!!!” – 2025 Playwriting Cherub
- “After this program, applying to Northwestern is very important to me. The campus life, arts programs and opportunities I’ve seen have further interested me in this school.” – 2025 Playwriting Cherub
- “I already anticipated loving the program due to its singularity/unique concept and my love for both theater and writing, but the campus atmosphere, incredible instructors, and the wonderful dorm/social experience exceeded my expectations.” – 2025 Playwriting Cherub
- “I think it was so magical to watch my piece come to life.” – 2025 Playwriting Cherub
- “The staged-reading was an incredible experience. Seeing how a staged reading works for the first time, I thought it would not be able the full effect of my play, but when I heard the actors perform, I was deeply astonished by how impactful words are. It was also very fulfilling to hear my own work performed out loud by actors on stage.” – 2025 Playwriting Cherub
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[My experience with the staged reading was] amazing. It’s rare for [high school] students to have that kind of experience, and the actors brought my play to life.”– 2022 Playwriting Cherub
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“I truly had a blast with my peers in the program, and enjoyed every moment of daily life on campus.” – 2022 Playwriting Cherub
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“This was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much about what it means to be a writer, the process of writing a play, and I also met so many new friends that I will stay in touch with for a very long time.”– 2022 Playwriting Cherub
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“I never thought about being a professional writer in my life but this program showed me all the possibilities there are to write as your profession. Now I’m definitely considering it.” – Playwriting Student, 2020
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I would tell [future Cherubs] to get ready for the experience of their lives. It is a ton of work and dedication. But it pays off. I came out of the Cherubs program a different person. It completely changed my life.” – 2016 Playwriting Cherub
“The NHSI playwriting program was an incredibly valuable summer experience for our daughter. She loved being immersed in college studies, made lasting friends, and flourished under the outstanding instruction at Northwestern.
This program is an amazing opportunity for any HS student to develop their writing and get a glimpse into what it’s like to be a student at Northwestern. Our daughter learned so much about playwriting from her teachers in the weeks that she was there! Her teachers offered her new perspectives and technique that enriched her writing.
In addition, NHSI provided an opportunity for our daughter to live and learn among other creative, like minded students. It felt like she had finally found “her people” among the NHSI cohort.
As parents, we couldn’t have asked for a better summer experience for our daughter.” – 2025 Parent
