Playwriting Sprints

Course Description

Summary

If you want to learn playwriting, you should write a lot, write quickly, and write inspired by great plays. Think of this class as your weekly playwriting workout. 

Each week, students will be assigned 1-2 contemporary plays to read, drawing from work recently seen or soon-to-be-seen Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. We will spend the first half of class discussing the assigned plays, with attention to questions of style, structure, and content. In the second half of class, we will do in-class writing -- a sprint -- based on a prompt arising from the reading. Writing will be due at the end of class. 

I will give notes to each student on each piece of writing, and there will be opportunities for in-class sharing, but this class is  primarily designed to practice two skills: 1) critical reading, and 2) writing with total focus at a speed that outpaces the conscious mind. There are no more important skills for anyone interested in writing as a vocation. 

This class is ideal for beginning playwrights as well as more experienced playwrights looking to sharpen their craft. Students will end the course with increased confidence as writers, a portfolio of bold and experimental theatrical writing, and exposure to a wide variety of plays that are defining the future of the theatre. 

Readings will likely include Nazareth Hassan's Practice and Bowl EP, Lloyd Suh's The Far Country, Nathan Alan Davis' Eternal Life Part One, Kallan Dana's Lobster, Nia Akilah Robinson's The Great Privation, Malaprop Theatre's Hothouse, and others. 

Assignments will include weekly in-class writing, critical responses, and a short (10-20 pages) final play .