In some ways, the project which the author's class had undertaken--creating collaborative plays about issues important in students' lives--was going very well. The students, 20 high school seniors, seemed engaged and invested in the work, from brainstorming and improvising to writing and revising. The class had read and watched a variety of dramatic pieces, and students had already written and performed some excellent monologues and short scenes. For this unit, she and her class had started by generating an exhaustive list of themes and issues that interested students in the class. In this article, the author discusses how her class explores such themes, creates original plays, and demonstrates one of the foundational concepts in playwriting--conflict.