In 1964, Patricia Forrest founded New Plays for Children (later changing the name to New Plays). It was her conviction that a wider variety of material should be made available to teachers and directors of children’s theatres. Believing, as she did, in contemporary and sometimes controversial themes meant taking calculated risks in a field that, at the time, was highly conservative. Many of the plays she published are based on children’s classics. Yet scripts like The Ice Wolf, Medea’s Children and The Tingalary Bird, for example, shocked audiences in the beginning. Today these plays are accepted and admired as among the best. The handful of plays with which she began has now grown to well over one hundred titles. She also published a number of texts on teaching, puppetry and other relevant topics.
Ms. Forrest was also the first editor of Outstanding Plays for Young Audiences published by ASSITEJ/USA. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States, frequently teaching and lecturing in colleges and universities. Her honors include Distinguished Book Awards for Pioneer Journeys: Drama in Museum Education and Making Performance Art, a Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation, and membership in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.
Prior to founding New Plays, Ms. Forrest received her bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa, and her master’s degree from City College of New York. She was a playwright in residence at the Barter Theatre for eight years and subsequently taught at Hunter High School College in New York.
We are pleased to announce that Patricia Whitton Forrest has been retained by Dramatic Publishing as an editorial consultant.
