Group Online Tuition (12 students)
10 weeks 
START DATE: Sunday 19th of June 2022
17-19:00 BST (12-14:00 EDT)

 

Playwriting is a fun, dynamic, and communally minded form of storytelling. The intimacy and immediacy of live theatre allows for a connection between actor and audience not possible in film or TV. Around the world and across time, playwrights have wielded that connection to show their audiences the human condition both as it is and as it should be. If you have ever felt that you have a story to tell, please join this course.

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In this ten week course, we will:

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1. Explore the essential craft elements of playwriting: Scene structure, dramatic action, character voice, and setting.

 

2. Read and analyze the work of master playwrights: such as Lorraine Hanesberry, Bertholt Brecht, Maria Irene Fornes, Wole Soyinka, and others.

 

3. Develop a writing practice: writing a new scene each week, revising and editing those scenes, and by the end of the class,   finishing a one act play.

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4. Read aloud new scenes by students every week: practicing offering and accepting constructive criticism in a workshop setting.

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5. Hear from several contemporary playwrights and theatre-makers: they will share with us how they are using theatre to create a more just world.

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Over the ten weeks, we will explore not only the form and content of the plays we read and write, but also their function in a social context: What statement is the play making to its audience? How is it showing this idea using the essential craft elements of playwriting? Is it presenting this idea effectively?

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By the end of the course, you will have all the tools you need to strike out on your playwriting adventure!

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This course will be taught by Ruth Geye, who is a playwright, producer, and teacher. She is a founding member of NYU’s variety comedy group, Friends With Dads, a frequent collaborator of Northampton, MA-based theatre collective Theater Between Addresses, and a member of the PlayGround-NY Writers Pool.