This article offers playwriting and other arts-based literacies as dynamic and multifaceted alternatives to the traditional high school research paper. The authors present an analysis of what happened when a teacher asked students to conduct research on a human rights issue and represent their research in a five-scene play. They contend that creating opportunities for students to use rigorous research processes in the service of a creative production has implications for deepening students' capacities as researchers and integrating the arts into classrooms that are increasingly limited by test-driven pedagogies.