September 9, 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28

Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 9:00pm ET

IN-PERSON at ART/NY Studios Midtown, located at 520 8th Avenue

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. 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 in person.

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.

September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18

Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 9:00pm 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.

This class might be for you if you:

• Have a fully completed draft of a full-length play and you are ready to begin rewrites. (If you are unsure if your play fits the parameters of this class, please contact us!)
• Would like to make significant process rewriting a completed draft, whether it be a first or tenth draft of a play.
• Are looking for some new creative tools you can apply to your rewriting process.
• Want to be challenged in a classroom environment that is run like a professional playwriting workshop.
• Are a new or returning Primary Stages ESPA writer.

In this class you will:

• Start by articulating and addressing your goals for this new draft.
• Present pages that are read aloud in class, receiving feedback and response to your work from the group, filtered through a series of prompts given by your instructor.
• See below for details on how each section of this class will be run!

By the end of this class you will:

• Have a stronger draft of your play.
• Be adept at giving and receiving useful feedback to work that is in-process.
• Have the tools you need to transform any first draft into a more streamlined, compelling work that’s ready to be heard.

More about class with Gina: Rewriting can be the scariest part of a writing process – but it can also be the most freeing. In this class, you will dive into the process of rewriting, with Gina providing tools to make rewriting a little bit less intimidating and more manageable. Gina will lead playwrights through a series of prompts, helping them articulate and understand what they wish to strengthen in their new draft, and will also lead the group in exercises that are both creative and structure-based that will make the rewriting process feel more creative and playful rather than intimidating or daunting. Playwrights will share up to 15 pages of their scripts every other week to receive feedback and keep moving forward with their newest draft. Gina always centers the playwrights and their own specific needs in the writing process of their plays, and you will be able to learn how to articulate questions that are most useful for you as you move forward on your play. Playwrights are expected to follow their own creative energy and will be encouraged to work on their play in whatever order feels most energetic, whether that be in or out of chronological order. 

Learn more about Gina here.

September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, November 4, 11

Wednesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $520

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $480

If you’re just stepping into the world of playwriting, welcome! In this 8-week class, playwright, director, and lyricist Tasha Gordon-Solmon 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 get down to basics.
• 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 of structure, character, and dialogue.
• Complete writing exercises to gain an understanding of the form and generate ideas for material.
• Start to write your own play by the end of the semester.

By the end of this class you will:

• Have a strong grasp on writing for the stage, armed with the confidence you need to declare yourself a playwright and get to work on your script.
• Be ready for The First Draft!

Learn more about Tasha here.

September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9

Wednesdays from 5:00pm – 8:00pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $580

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $560

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. 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 vis Zoom.

More about class with Caridad: This class is run as a writers’ workshop. Caridad believes in an equitable and respectful writing room, sensitive to each person’s respective process, but also one where a vigorous, rigorous, and intuitive approach is manifest in establishing a group atmosphere. The sessions will be structured around response to work turned in (on average 5 to 8 pages a week) with pieces read out loud in the virtual room live in class with peer and instructor response time after each sharing of work using the Liz Lerman approach. At the beginning of the semester, you will determine if everyone will share work at every session or every other session. There will be occasional in-class writing exercises, and homework will be limited to recommended reading, prompts, and/or viewings assigned. In other words, the focus will be on your generative process, and as such, homework will be minimal outside of that.

Caridad’s writing focuses on human and environmental rights from a Latinx feminist perspective for the most part, though her work also explores deeply the reconfiguration of classic and modern texts, gender fluidity, and porous borders aesthetically and formally. She has also adapted novels to the stage and sustains a parallel career as a theatrical translator, editor, and artivist. Caridad’s work is often labeled by others as “poetic realism” or “atomized realism.”

Learn more about Caridad here.

Learn more about First Draft here.