Primary Stages ESPA

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

Tuesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $580

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $560

If you’re just stepping into the world of playwriting, welcome! In this 10-week class, playwright 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 of structure, character, and dialogue.
• Complete writing exercises, writing in and exploring multiple genres and styles (comedy, surrealism, melodrama...) to gain an understanding of the form and generate ideas for material. The goal is to get a comprehensive overview of the possibilities within playwriting.
• This class will require some reading of plays, excerpts of essays, and discussion of the art form.

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.
• Have the tools to embark on a first draft of your play using material generated in class or starting with a brand new idea.
• Be ready for The 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.