Established in 1965, the Children's Theatre Company (CTC) of Minneapolis earned its reputation as the flagship theater for young people in this country by staging plays that both entertained and challenged children and their families. Around the age of twelve, however, young people tended to stop coming to CTC, perceiving that they had outgrown what the theater could offer them.

In an effort to reach out to and engage these young people, the CTC began to commission and produce plays aimed at a twelve- to eighteen-year-old audience, focusing on the complexities, idiosyncrasies, and epic dilemmas in the lives of young people. Fierce and True collects four of these critically acclaimed plays: Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka, The Lost Boys of Sudan by Lonnie Carter, Five Fingers of Funk by Will Power, and Prom by Whit MacLaughlin and New Paradise Laboratories.

Professional, full-length works not about teens so much as they are written for them. Ambitious, surprising, and complex, these plays speak directly to teens without pandering to them; they engage, challenge, and respect teenage minds. Diverse and utterly unique, these playwrights are bound together by the excellence of their craft and the power of their storytelling. Fierce and True both redefines the field of theater for young people and provides an invaluable resource for theater professionals, educators, and the teens they serve.

Peter Brosius is the artistic director of the Children's Theatre Company.
Elissa Adams is the director of new play development at the Children's Theatre Company.

"Each of these selections has a distinctive voice, honoring adolescents as both actor and audience capable of understanding and engaging in today’s complex issues. This collection should be a welcome addition for drama and English teachers, as well as for their student." —School Library Journal

"Fierce and True is just that: a bold new anthology of work for teen audiences created by four distinctive theatrical voices. Each has brought their own unique theatricality to explorations of a whole range of questions that MATTER to teens today. In so doing, they have offered us the opportunity to blow open our thinking about what important and meaningful theatre for this audience might look like. Each is both a celebration and challenge to the artistry of our field." —David Saar, Artistic Director, Childsplay Theatre