It provides interactive in-school and after-school programs presenting and discussing student-written work to promote community dialogue and respect for young artists.

Now a Helen Hayes Award-winning Playwright-in-Residence at Arena Stage,[2] Zacarías began volunteering her time teaching playwriting workshops in DC classrooms after returning to her hometown with a M.F.A.

[8][9] The young authors work with a dramaturge to polish their scripts, attend rehearsals, and offer input to actors and a director during their plays' development and production.

Since 2008, YPT has hosted an after-school Young Playwrights' Workshop at its facilities in the Josephine Butler Parks Center, aimed at developing students' creative expression and collaboration by exploring theater as an ensemble.

Each fall, YPT's professional acting company tours the Greater Washington, D.C. area performing student-written plays at schools, nursing homes, hospitals, community centers and theaters, free of charge.

Written literacy evaluations and self-assessments are conducted during initial and final workshop visits at program sites, and assessment results are judged via a specific rubric developed by YPT's outside evaluator, faculty and staff, aimed at showing the changes in students' literacy, their abilities with language and addressing District of Columbia Public Schools and national English Language Arts Standards, as well as measurable changes in attitude/engagement in their own education.