12th on 13th:Touchstone Young Playwrights’ Festival celebrates its 12th year as local students, community members, and professionals showcase new plays written by elementary, middle, and high school students, May 13, Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Cente. Young Playwrights’ Lab is an eight-week arts and literacy residency developed by Touchstone Theatre and the Bethlehem Area School District. Through improvisation, writing exercises, and collaborative critique, each student writes an original one-act play. Above, a scene from one of last year’s plays. “For the past twelve years, the Young Playwrights’ Festival has stood apart from any other local stage performance, bar none. There’s simply no other night that shines the spotlight on literary and theatrical expression the way this evening does,” says Louis Cinquino, Festival Committee Chair. The preshow “Meet the Playwrights” party begins at 6 p.m., Lehigh Univerisity Black Box Theatre. Doors to Baker Hall open at 6:40 p.m. for the 7 p.m. performance. The Gala follows until 10:30 p.m. Tickets: touchstone.org; 610-867-1689

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A play with heart:Global ImpACTORS Group (GIG) presents its latest play, a comedy-drama, “The Tin Woman,” written by Sean Grennan and directed by Eric D. Hersh, 8 p.m. May 12; 2 and 7 p.m. May 13; 8 p.m. May 19, and 2 and 7 p.m. May 20, Macungie Institute, 510 E. Main St. (Rt. 100), Macungie. The storyline follows Joy, a recent heart transplant recipient, as she explores her second-chance with a new heart and the donor’s family. The cast includes, above, from left, Ryan MacNamara, Trish Cipoletti, Brian Wendt, Bill Joachim, Marian Barshinger, and, sitting on steps, Rachel Williams. A “Talk Back” takes place after the May 13 performance, with cast, crew, and a heart transplant recipient and a donor family. Tickets: GIGtheater.com; GlobalimpACTORS@gmail.com; 484-891-1314

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