Instructor: Heidi Schreck
Monday, 3:00pm - 5:45pm | Location: TBD
Enrollment: Limited to 12 students
Course Site
This workshop-based class explores the pleasures of writing for the stage through in-depth readings, class discussions, and writing exercises designed to guide students through the process of creating their own one-act play. We will investigate the fundamental principles of dramatic writing through texts such as Aristotle’s Poetics and Elinor Fuchs’s The Death of Character, and explore how some of the greatest playwrights have embraced or deviated from these principles. Readings will also include the work of contemporary playwrights such as Clare Barron, Aleshea Harris, Amy Herzog, Sam Hunter, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, as well as established playwrights María Irene Fornés, Caryl Churchill, Lisa Kron, Harold Pinter, Adrienne Kennedy, Lorraine Hansberry, and Tennessee Williams. Students will be expected to attend two live theater events during the semester, or watch two filmed productions if in-person attendance isn’t possible.
Supplemental Application Information: No experience in writing in the dramatic form is necessary. Please submit a 5–10 page writing sample (preferably a play, but all genres are acceptable and encouraged). Also, please write a few sentences about a significant theatrical experience (a play read or seen) and how it affected you.
Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)