Primary Stages ESPA

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.