They worked in groups of five to create a dozen 20-minute original plays based on given keywords in eight days. Those plays explored multiple themes, including education, relations and the future.

A total of six plays entered the final for the top three prizes during the competition that concluded on July 28.

The competition aimed to bring together teenagers from all educational backgrounds and enable them to express their ideas, says Yang Ruoran, the event's initiator.

"Many children are from distant mountainous regions and some of them went out of their city for the first time, but their performance was nothing but sincere and complete," she notes.

"I cried several times when watching them perform," Yang says, adding that many drew inspiration from their hometown experiences.

Yang got full measure of theater's charm in her middle school in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.

"We did many original plays, as well as some classic ones, and in the process of preparation and performance, I found we actually recorded and conveyed many of our ideas and got them across to a broad audience," Yang says.

It prompted her to do a national event and spread the charm of theater among her peers.

She then approached stage experts who she met during her theater engagement, including playwright and theater director Stan Lai and his wife Ding Nai-chu, theater producer and CEO of Theater Above, who readily agreed to join her cause.

With approval and support of professionals, Yang called upon like-minded classmates and friends and launched a carpet search of schools, looking for candidates.

"For example, we might look for a school with very distinctive art education or the one with the least emphasis on art education. We hope to identify schools that represent different education systems," Yang says.

The goal is to have teenagers receive professional theater training, such as play appreciation, preparation, performance, stage design and theater history and culture.