February 18, 25, March 4, 18, 25, April 1, 8, 15

*Please hold Thursday, April 17 as a potential make-up date

Tuesdays from 5:00pm – 8:00pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $520

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $480

This is a dramaturgically-inspired playwriting class. While forging ahead on your own works can be very fulfilling, sometimes the best way to forward your writing is through studying the work of others. Over the course of 8 weeks, Winter will guide you through play analyses and writing exercises, looking at great works from the outside in order to strengthen your own writing.  

This class might be for you if you are: 

• A writer who wants to employ the principles of dramaturgy to strengthen your scripts and engage with your collaborators more effectively. 
• Interested in sharpening the components of your writing rather than diving into a full-length play.
• Curious about how genre and style define the parameters (or don't) of your own play.

In this class you will:

• Read a play each week that Winter chooses, which you will discuss in class.
• Break down each play to examine structure, plot, character development, and dialogue from the outside in, looking at existing works and seeing why they succeed.
• Actively participate in the play discussion with prepared observations.
• After discussing each play, you’ll have an in-class writing prompt to write a scene in that writer's voice, perhaps a scene that was never in the play, but could have been. You will share your new pages inspired by our playwrights every other week.

By the end of this class you will: 

• Confidently approach a broad range of plays with an ability to identify a play's fundamental components and what makes it successful.
• Have a deeper understanding of your own writing through analyzing and emulating the writing of others.
• Break out of your patterns and habits and explore new facets of your own writer's voice.

Learn more about Winter here.

February 19, 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9, 16, 23

Wednesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm ET

In-Person at ART/NY Studios at 520 8th Ave.

NEW STUDENT RATE: $580

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $560

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.

If you’re curious about stepping into the world of playwriting - welcome! In this 10-week class, playwright and performer Iraisa Ann Reilly will help you build a toolbox of the fundamentals, so your first play (and each play you write after that!) can be built on a strong foundation.

This class might be for you if you are:

• A budding playwright who wants to explore an idea that you've been trying to write forever.
• A theater artist boldly crossing the line from one discipline to another and ready to start writing!
• A novelist or poet searching for a new form.

In this class you will:

• Build a toolbox of the fundamentals, including discussions on character, Western dramatic structure, and dialogue.
• For the first half of the semester, generate new work through in-class writing exercises, using these to connect with your subconscious and tap into the characters that are in your heart. 
• In the second half of the semester, focus on workshopping and revising your own short play, bringing in 10 pages each week to share with the class. 
• Share your pages and exercises aloud as a class and have feedback sessions led by Iraisa, learning how to share and receive creative feedback with your peers.
• Read a full length and short play at the beginning of the semester to understand fundamental concepts and have a shared vocabulary.
• Throughout the semester, Iraisa will give non-mandatory reading and viewing suggestions tailored to each playwright to help you on your writing journey.Find community and motivation through and with your fellow artists.

By the end of this class you will:

• Have an understanding of playwriting fundamentals and the workshop process.
• Have written (and re-written) your own ten-minute piece and feel empowered to take your writing into the world, whether through expanding your characters into a full-length play or submitting your short work to festivals.
• Feel inspired and ready to create!

Learn more about Iraisa Ann 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.

February 19, 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9, 16, 23

Wednesdays from 7:30pm – 10:30pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $580

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $560

As soon as you finish your last line of dialogue, the need for rewrites begins. This 10-week class will help you tackle the revision process and develop a stronger version of your play. Open to new and returning students located anywhere in the world, this class will be run just like a real-life writing room, interacting with your instructor and classmates live via Zoom. 

More on taking class with Stefanie: This class is geared toward empowering writers to guide their own play development process. Writers will begin by articulating their goals for their new draft. Then, writers will present sections of their plays (20-30 pages) every other week. Writers receive feedback and responses to the work from the group, filtered through a series of prompts given by Stefanie. These prompts are designed to respect the process of new play development, so each writer develops the tools and confidence to solve the problems of their play, and empowers them to steer conversations that are productive and helpful. Occasionally writers will be asked to complete writing exercises to help support, scene by scene, imagery and themes that emerge in their work.

Learn more about Stefanie here.

Learn more about Rewriting Your Draft here.

February 20, 27, March 6, 13, 20, 27, April 3, 10

Thursdays from 7:00pm – 10:00pm ET

via Zoom

*Please note that this is an 8-week class

NEW STUDENT RATE: $520

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $480

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. Open to new and returning students located anywhere in the world, this class will be run just like a real-life writing room, interacting with your instructor and classmates live either in person or via Zoom.

More about class with Calamity: This course is designed for writers looking for a supportive, enthusiastic, and collaborative environment to put their playwriting fundamentals to the test. Being run as a true writer’s workshop, this course asks that playwrights enter the space with an idea for their new play. Together with Calamity, you’ll develop living documents for each of your works that will help you navigate your way through your individual creative processes along with developing road maps for your dramatic works. Playwrights will be expected to complete weekly writing exercises for character development in addition to generating new pages for your first draft. By the end of this course, you will have a better understanding of your individual process, the confidence to enter a workshop space within the industry itself, and most importantly - a complete first draft.

Learn more about Calamity here.

Learn more about First Draft here.

February 24, March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, April 7, 14, 21, 28

Mondays from 6:00pm – 9:00pm ET

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

NEW STUDENT RATE: $580

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $560

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 10-week class will guide you through the development of your first draft.

More about class with Michael: This class is run in the spirit of a dramaturg running a workshop for playwrights. The class relies on students generating pages outside of class and attending each class. You will read each other's pages out loud and follow that with structured feedback led by Michael. Peer-to-peer conversation is central, along with hearing from Michael each week about your writing. Playwrights will be encouraged to write as many pages each week as they feel inspired to, and you'll commit to actively reading and discussing around 12 minutes of writing per student per week (typically 10-15 pages). The feedback Michael leads aims to illuminate what the pages have already accomplished, and not predict what you should do next. Weekly participation will keep you on the path toward a complete first draft. Michael will help you articulate the style and structure that your particular play wants to be told in by meeting you on your own turf and reflecting back to you what he sees in your writing—where it may want to push ahead, where it may be losing steam or clarity, and where certain playwriting tools (such as character, reversals, language, song, and physical action) may push a scene to the next level.

Learn more about Michael 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

February 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1, 8, 15, 29, May 6

Tuesdays from 2:00pm – 5:00pm

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $560

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $540

“I deeply believe radical imagination is a vital part of creating a future in which the marginalized and the subjugated are free; and so, I dare to create with all the audacity of my ancestors and with all of the joy of their resistance.” –AriDy Nox

The job of a theatermaker is to transport audiences to another world. When artists use this skill set in service of social change, they can utilize imagination as a transformative force. In this 10-week class facilitated by AriDy Nox, you will use methodologies rooted in visionary fiction to imagine beyond our current reality - and in doing so, start building towards the world we want and collective liberation. 

This class might be for you if you:

• Are a theater artist or creative of any kind—playwright, director, deviser, dramaturg, or any type of generative artist—looking to use world-building as a tool to imagine a better future.
• Want to reimagine what theater can be.
• Are invested in liberation and want to channel your drive into a piece of creative work. 

In this class you will:

• Ask what kind of new worlds you can create in your storytelling, and work to actively take away traditional constraints to generate from a blank slate.
• Discuss the work of activist writers such as Lorraine Hansberry, adrienne maree brown, and Toni Cade Bambara to better understand collective liberation and world-building.
• Be given context and expertise by AriDy for imagining and engaging with radical imagination, with in-class time dedicated to learning new concepts, deep discussion, in-class exercises, and feedback.
• Outside of class, apply these concepts to weekly assignments for a project of your choosing to build your own methodology for radical imagination, and be ready to share your progress in class.

By the end of this class you will:

• Have created or started to create your own piece, inspired by the discussions you had in class.
• Better understand the ways visionary fiction and cultural organizing t methodologies inform our current world and can inform our creative works. 
• Be ready to radically imagine new worlds for future creative projects.

Learn more about AriDy here.

February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9, 23

Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 9:00pm ET

via Zoom

*Please note that this is an 8-week class

NEW STUDENT RATE: $520

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $480

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 Tasha: Tasha aims to create a fun, safe, and productive space where you can get the feedback you need to create the best version of the play you want to write. The class is structured as a workshop, where the majority of time will be spent reading work aloud and discussing it. Tasha will guide the discussion and tailor her notes to your style and goals. She'll also use those feedback sessions as a jumping off point to discuss larger playwriting concepts that can be applied to everyone's work.

In the first class, Tasha will lead you through a comprehensive series of exercises to help you begin a play or clarify your vision for a play you have already begun. Then, you will bring pages from your play every week (about 5-10). She will also give exercises intermittently based on the work happening in class. There is flexibility depending on where you are at, and you'll check in with Tasha about your individual goals throughout the semester. By the end of the class you'll have most—if not all—of a new play, along with a toolbox of writing techniques and exercises to apply to your work in the future.

Tasha writes plays that are theatrical, language-driven, and darkly comedic. She is obsessed with form, and a lot of the class exercises will focus on exploring different theatrical tools and styles. All voices and writing styles are welcome and encouraged!

Learn more about Tasha here.

Learn more about First Draft here.

March 3, 10, 17, 31, April 7

Mondays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $320

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $280

This 5-week class is for theater artists of any discipline to learn about theater as a business in order to produce your own work and better understand the priorities for your work no matter your role within a production.

This class might be for you if you are:

• A theater artist of any discipline (actor, writer, director, designer, and more) looking to create and produce your own work.
• An emerging producer looking to better understand the nuts and bolts of the business.
• An artist looking to better understand the business in order to better your own work within any production and better understand the types of theaters in which you can work.

In this class you will:

• Demystify the way theater actually takes place as a business.
• Discuss the differences between commercial and not-for-profit theater.
• Have a startlingly realistic introduction to fundraising for both donations and investments.
• Learn about and put into practice budgets, contracts, and option agreements.
• Survey the distinctions between productions and production budgets from Showcase Code to Broadway.

By the end of this workshop you will:

• Understand the ins and outs of theater as a business--from indie theater to Broadway.
• Possess the tools to embark on any producing project in an informed and prepared way.
• Better understand how you as an artist are pitching yourself to different types of theaters by understanding their business models.

Learn more about John here.