June 23, July 7, 14, 21, 28, August 4, 11, 18

Mondays from 6:00 – 9:00pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE $480

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $440

Performance can be made and written in all types of ways, and sometimes you need to bypass your preconceived notions to open up your writing. In this 8-week class, you will interrogate what it means to make material that challenges the audience without being exclusionary or pretentious. This class isn't an argument against story or plot based work, just a reminder that there are a plethora of ways to communicate and express our human condition. Theatre is an experience, not a Cathedral. Let's get a little CRAZY!

This class might be for you if you:

• Feel limited by traditional dramatic structure when starting to write a play. 
• Are interested in emotional trajectory as opposed to plot based or episodic structure in your work.
• Have an open mind and are willing to try things outside of your comfort zone.

In this class you will:

• Explore different ways to subvert and restructure preconceived notions of how plays are made and put together. 
• Discuss how nonlinear work appears in modern plays.
• Do warm up exercises in the first few classes to get to know each other, and then complete short writing exercises throughout the semester to broaden the ways you create work. 
• For the first part of the semester, bring in 10-15 pages to share each week, with structured feedback led by William.
• As the semester moves forward, schedule slots for bringing in larger pieces of text to share in order to dive even deeper into each work.
• Be given a small reading list with an additional list of optional reading from William, as well as an observational environmental scavenger hunt project to complete throughout the semester to supply the class with writing content and icebreakers. 

By the end of the class you will have:

• A set of fresh, non-traditional tools and exercises to open up your writing.
• A working draft of a play in process, generated from the lessons learned in class.
• The courage to break out of your preconceived notions of playwriting and experiment with form.

Learn more about William here.

July 7, 14, 21, 28, August 4, 11, 18, 25

Mondays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm ET

In-Person at ART/NY South Oxford Space, located at 138 S. Oxford St. in BROOKLYN

NEW STUDENT RATE: $520

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $480

STUDIO FEE: $40

Due to the increasing cost of studio space, our in-person classes will now include a $40 studio space fee to help us offset these costs.

Whether you're writing your first play or your hundredth, it's not always easy to set the creative wheels in motion. This 8-week class will guide you through the development of your first draft.

More about class with Iraisa Ann: In this class, writers should be ready to take the work seriously, but not themselves seriously. Be open to closing your eyes and thinking of a character, or coming up with a story from magazine cut-outs and random google searches. Be ready to write a lot. Be ready to make a mess. Be ready to show up for other students. Be ready for feedback and realize your play was not at all what you thought it was going to be. Be ready to surrender preconceived ideas you had about your characters. 

Before the first class, you’ll answer a series of questions provided by Iraisa Ann so she can get to know you and your point of view. You will spend the first couple of classes completing exercises and reading assignments that will help guide you toward your first draft. In the remaining 6 weeks, class time will be focused on sharing pages and hearing work out loud. By the end of class, you’ll have an understanding of your characters’ wants, needs, and desires that you then can begin shaping in a rewriting process. 

Iraisa Ann’s plays are tragi-comedies. She believes that sad things are funny and funny things are sad. She’s not a linear thinker, and therefore her plays often play with time and spiritual worlds. As an educator, she believes her job is to give a student notes that align with their personal style and goals as a writer. Most of her plays are bilingual (in English and Spanish) and often deal with the Latine experience in the US. A lot of plays take place in New Jersey because she grew up there and is proud of it (unironically). 

Learn more about Iraisa Ann here.

Learn more about First Draft here.

This class will be fully digital for sharing and reading pages. All pages will be shared via a class Google Drive folder, and we will use devices in class to read each other’s pages. Please come to class with a device (laptop, tablet, etc) and a charger/power cord for your device. If you are unable to bring your own device, please contact ESPA Administration