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Full Schedule How to Enroll Member Discounts Refund And Cancellation Policy Mailing List Directions
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ACTING 101 - For Playwrights Only This two-day workshop (held on two, consecutive Monday nights in Chicago Dramatists' theatre), introduces writers to the actor's process. Through exercises, games and beginning scene work, playwrights will experience the needs of and demands on actors, in a fun, non-threatening, actor-free environment. They will get a sense of what it's like to live inside of a script. This special workshop is intended for playwrights with no or very little acting experience. For the first session, participants should wear loose-fitting clothing they can move in and bring a short poem written by them or someone else that makes a statement that is important to them and that they can read to the group. This Course is offered at the following times: ANNUAL WEEKEND MASTER CLASS Created by Chicago Dramatists' Resident Playwrights to serve members of The Playwrights Network, this annual weekend workshop is team-taught by two Resident Playwrights. It is offered free to our Network Playwrights - first come, first seved. The Master Class will provide writers with time, space, and resources to create new work and explore new methods. Over the two days, playwrights will move through a series of writing exercises and discuss issues of author's voice. Network Playwrights will hear segments of their work read by professional actors, followed by supportive group discussion. The Master Class is an opportunity for Network Playwrights from Chicago and around the nation to come together for a summer weekend and share their diverse experiences and skills. This Course is offered at the following times: DEVELOPING A PLAY-IN-PROGRESS This workshop is for writers who want to develop a script on which they have already begun work. This may include anything from a short scene to an entire draft of a play. The class will explore the skills and qualities of effective dramatic writing by reading and discussing participants' scripts in a supportive environment, with the goal being to ready their plays for production. Writers should bring the first scene (or any short scene) from the play they want to develop to the first session, with as many copies needed to read aloud. This Course is offered at the following times:
DIALOGUE WORKSHOP - Working with Actors The ability to write vibrant, believable, character-based dialogue is one of the key elements that separates good playwrights from mediocre ones. Intended for both beginning and more experienced playwrights, this workshop is designed to strengthen writers' skills in scene work and dialogue. Participants will receive feedback on their work in a supportive environment, and complete between-class assignments that will help them solve common problems such as: avoiding clunky exposition-clogged beginnings, creating viable subtext, dramatizing exposition through conflict, and differentiating among character voices. The workshop also offers writers the unique opportunity to hear their work read by professional actors every other week. Writers should bring two copies of a two-character scene to the first session. This Course is offered at the following times:
DISCOVERING THE SOUL OF YOUR STORY At the core of every great work of dramatic fiction lies its soul - the ineffable thing that motivates its characters' actions and speaks to the world with their voices, saying, "Let me tell you something you need to know." The writer who aims for greatness must ask: "How do I find that soul, and where do I look?" Discovering the Soul of Your Story answers both. Through lecture, discussion, group exercises, and between-class assignments, participants will learn to apply two new and original techniques for uncovering the deeper meaning of their story and charting its truest course. One technique will help writers identify what their main character truly wants and how the nature of that want affects the structure of their story. The other technique will help writers discover the underlying meaning of their story and express it with utmost clarity through the plot. Participants will also learn to combine the techniques to generate new stories from scratch. This class is designed for all levels of playwrights: beginning, intermediate, and experienced. Participants should come to the first class prepared to share and work on an active personal project (any stage of development, length, style, or genre). This Course is offered at the following times: HOW TO MARKET YOUR PLAY How do you get a theatre to produce your play--or even to consider it? Between the writing and the production is the critical step, which many playwrights procrastinate over or can't figure out: the marketing. This class is intended to help playwrights get produced. It is sometimes taught as a weekend seminar. Learn How To: > make initial contact > create the best impression, in person and on paper > prepare a resume that will work for you > write an effective synopsis > develop contacts within the theatre community > figure out the most viable markets for your play > seek out contests and awards > use playwright organizations, directories and other tools > prepare a manuscript for submission > negotiate a production contract > attract and secure the services of an agent. This Course is offered at the following times:
IT HAPPENED ONE WEEKEND - Write a One Act on Saturday and Hear It Performed on Sunday Taught by Resident Playwright Will Dunne, this unique, creatively focused, weekend intensive offers simple theme elements, step-by-step writing exercises, group feedback, and actor support to trigger and guide the development of a new short play. Arrive on Saturday morning with absolutely nothing prepared and take a creative leap into the blank page. By late Sunday afternoon, writers will have not only written a new play but heard it performed by professional actors! Perfect for out-of-town writers, this workshop is designed for writers with some playwriting experience or confident beginners. It also offers a boost for those who feel blocked, rusty, or just want a writing change of pace. This Course is offered at the following times: LEARNING FROM THE MASTERS This class will study a variety of outstanding established plays, mining them for their rich playwriting lessons. Each week participants will study a different play, analyze its language, structure, craft and themes, then hone their own writing skills through exercises inspired by the study. The goal is to enrich playwrights' knowledge of dramatic literature and learn playwriting skills from the modern masters. Plays to be read may include such works as "Wit," "The History Boys," "Frozen," "Yellowman," and "Pillowman." Plays to be read will be announced at the first session and will be plays currently available at bookstores and libraries. Participants will be expected to acquire copies of the plays on their own. Participants are asked to read John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer and Tony-winning play "Doubt" before the first class session This Course is offered at the following times:
MASTER CLASS WITH ACCLAIMED PLAYWRIGHT SARAH RUHL
This Course is offered at the following times: PAULA VOGEL - A ONE DAY PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP A one day workshop with Pulizter Prize and Obie Award winning playwright and Brown University professor Paula Vogel. Space is limited and will be reserved on a first come, first serve basis. This Course is offered at the following times:
PLAYWRIGHTS' SWIM PLAYWRIGHTS' SWIM Spend a weekend diving into the art and craft of playwriting. First we'll focus on exploration: What kinds of stories do you want to tell and how do you want to tell them? The second day will cover execution and process: How do you craft those initial impulses into a theatrical form? How about rewriting? And what do you need to know about collaboration when you move from the page to the stage? This Course is offered at the following times:
PLAYWRITING FOR BEGINNERS Got a story you think would make a great play, but have no idea where to begin? This class is designed to introduce the novice playwright to the art and craft of writing for the stage. (No previous writing experience is required.) Participants will explore the basics of working on a stage (including what makes theatre different from film and TV), learn the building blocks of theatrical storytelling (which all playwrights need to know), and acquire the basic techniques to get them from a good idea to a complete script. There will be lectures, discussions, demonstrations, fun in-class playwriting exercises, and some take home writing assignments. By the end of the course, participants will have written several short scenes, and acquired the basic skills necessary to transform their ideas and scenes into full plays This Course is offered at the following times:
PLAYWRITING FUNDAMENTALS This class is designed for beginning playwrights as well as more experienced writers looking to hone their skills. Through a variety of in-class writing exercises, at-home writing assignments, class discussions, and in-class readings of participants' work, writers will learn the essentials of good playwriting, including character motivation and development, plot structure, dialogue, and dramatic conflict. Writers will have the opportunity to share their work in a supportive and challenging environment. The class also will cover practical elements of the craft such as proper formatting, script presentation, and the submission process. This Course is offered at the following times:
REWRITE Do you have a play that needs an overhaul, but you have no idea where to begin? This class is for writers with a completed draft of a play who would like to do some serious work revising their script. Participants will discover the strengths and weaknesses of their scripts, and find the inspiration to not only begin a rewrite, but complete it. The elements of structure, plot, character, conflict, and dialogue will be examined in each play. Writers will bring in reworked scenes each week to be read and discussed by the class in a supportive setting. Participating playwrights should mail or deliver a current draft of their play to Chicago Dramatists two weeks prior to the first session. One-acts and full length plays are both welcome, but plays should be at least 40 pages. Writers should bring copies of the first scene or the first 10-15 pages to the first session, with as many copies as needed to read aloud. This Course is offered at the following times:
SCENE SHOP - Working with Actors This workshop is designed for playwrights with at least some level of experience and a couple of scripts under their belt who are currently working on a play or about to begin one. Each weekly three-hour session offers a guided writing exercise to explore character and story ideas, and the opportunity to hear individual scene work read by professional actors and discussed by the group in a supportive setting. As a result, writers don't have to wait until they complete a whole draft of a play to hear their characters off the page and to get input from other writers. Like a scene-by-scene version of Chicago Dramatists' Saturday Series, this workshop acts as an ongoing playwrights' salon for writing or revising new work. This Course is offered at the following times:
SCREENWRITING FUNDAMENTALS In a city glutted with expensive and over-hyped screenwriting classes, Dan Conway's has long been regarded as the best, most affordable, nuts-and-bolts class for both beginning and experienced writers. A student of the famed John Truby, Mr. Conway teaches the practical, step-by-step methods most popular with Hollywood feature writers. Through lecture and discussion, participants will learn how to move any idea, no matter how nebulous, from concept to finished, sellable screenplay. The class also will critique feature films in current release and address how to market scripts. This Course is offered at the following times:
SOLO SHOW - Writing the 1-Person Play This class is designed for actors, playwrights, solo artists, and storytellers of all levels - from those who are thinking about writing a one-person play to those who are in the final stages of polishing their own solo show. This hands-on workshop will focus on: > The ten styles of solo pieces > Finding your voice and the Voice of the story > Designing the solo story plot structure > Techniques to manipulate the storyteller/audience relationship > Character development and writing multiple character scenes > Creative and nontraditional use of timelines, plotlines and stories. Tools and techniques are applied during individual work sessions. All classes are conducted in a supportive, fun environment. Participants may bring to the first session: 5-7 minutes of their solo show, or a story they think may become part of a solo show, or even just an idea for a solo show. (SOLO SHOW is sometimes offered as a weekend workshop.) This Course is offered at the following times:
SUSTAINING YOURSELF AS A WRITER The thing that separates the writers from the dabblers is not the ability to write a good play, but the ability to create a body of work. Playwriting is an art of endurance and this one-day seminar will explore both philosophical and practical approaches to maintaining consistent creative output, not only from day to day, but year to year. The first part of the day will deal with such topics as how to keep yourself inspired, how to avoid burn out, how to recognize the ways you sabotage your own writing, and how to deal with rejection. After a lunch break, the discussion will shift to the endurance involved in writing a single play, both the first draft and the rewrites. Again, participants will be asked to examine their own process, and hopefully glean new possibilities from the writing habits of others. A 1-day, weekend seminar for anyone who is dissatisfied with and wants to improve their writing process. This Course is offered at the following times:
THE PLAYWRIGHTS' GYMNASIUM Working out makes you stronger. It works with our writing muscles just like our other muscles. The problem is, when we focus on writing plays, we tend to only use those muscles that get us from the beginning to the end, and neglect those that add color and style to the journey. This class will use a combination of homework and in-class exercises, giving participants the opportunity to develop these underutilized writing muscles, free from the confines of preexisting work. Playwrights will warm up their creativity, jog their inspiration, loosen up their writing inhibitions, and build new writing skills. The fun and practical writing exercises used in this class will also provide resources the writer can draw on years later to unlock writers' blocks and free the imagination. (This is not a class for works-in-progress.) This Course is offered at the following times:
THE SHORT PLAY - Writing One Acts and 10-Minute Plays Have a great idea for a play but feel daunted at turning it into a full-length piece? Learn how to distill dramatic action down to its most precise form: the short play. Using a variety of exercises, writers will apply their basic principles of dramatic structure to writing ten-minute plays and one acts. Short play productions, festivals and contests are abundant, locally and nationally, and can be the playwright's most accessible resource for first productions. Participants' work will be read aloud in class and workshopped in a supportive environment. Playwrights will leave the class with at least one completed ten-minute play. This Course is offered at the following times: THE STAGECRAFT OF PLAYWRITING - The Collaborative Process In this one of a kind class, playwrights will get an opportunity to experience the collaborative theatrical process from the perspective of multiple artists. In addition to a discussion of the production process, special guest instructors (including set designers, lighting designers, directors, producers, and technicians) will illuminate the process of mounting a professional theatre production. This Course is offered at the following times:
THE SUBMISSION PROCESS - How to Present Your Work - with EDWARD SOBEL - Director of New Play Development, Steppenwolf Theatre This seminar will present an overview of the play submission process and provide strategies for effectively navigating the steps to get your script into the right hands so it can be developed or produced. Specific topics to be covered include composing effective cover letters and synopses, and the "dos and don'ts" of communicating with theatres from an insider's perspective. This Course is offered at the following times:
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