Liz Swados has devoted much of her thirty year career to making shows with, for, and about children and adolescents. These shows are issue-oriented and often tour public and private schools as well as running in professional theaters. Liz's mission is to create engaging theater that is deeply connected to kid's thoughts and feelings, producing a repertoire that reflects the opinions and issues of the young performers she works with. In extensive workshops lasting from three months to a year, she trains a diverse group of adolescents (aged anywhere from 11 to 20) in acting, movement, voice and writing skills. Through company exercises and improvisation, a group of disparate individuals coagulates to form an ensemble as each person joins in the creative process, adding their own monologues, scenes and songs.

Liz believes that children are misrepresented, condescended to, and made to participate in theater that has nothing to do with their day-to-day concerns. By approaching theater from the point of view of the children involved, a new theatrical form is born that truly is young people's theater. Due to Liz's unique, exciting and engrossing educational methods, her ensembles perform at an extremely high level. Many of Liz's plays for and about youth are available on the Plays page. Liz is currently writing a memoir/text book for Faber & Faber about creating theater with adolescents. The book includes sample exercises and descriptions of the techniques she has developed over 25 years. Through theater education, Liz strives to give children the skills they need to create theater they can make their own.