Performative Writing Series: The Full Length Play

INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMATIVE WRITING: IMAGINING, OBSERVING & REMEMBERING

Fall: Sundays. 2–6.

3 Week Option: September 20, 27 • October 4

6 Week Option: September 20, 27 • October 4, 11, 18, 25

Intensive Option: Saturday, Oct. 3, 10 - 2

With a focus on playwriting, memoir, documentary, and adaptation, this course will highlight overcoming the two greatest challenges writers face—poor time management and undue insecurity. We will focus on images, situations, characters, and your personal obsessions and let these suggest the story to you. You will conjure and coax the story without having to know what the play is about. You will learn to consciously practice the five creative disciplines of imagining, observing, remembering, reading, and writing. Students will read weekly writing assignments aloud in class. On October 25, local actors will perform a reading of your work. This event is free to the public.
You will need to purchase the book, Playwrights at Work, edited by George Plimpton

INTERMEDIATE PERFORMATIVE WRITING: DESIRES, OBSTACLES & STAKES
Requirement: Introduction to Performative Writing
Winter: Sundays. 2- 6

3 Week Option: January 10, 17, 24
6 Week Option: January 10, 17, 24, 31 • February 7, 14

Intensive Option: Saturday, January 30, 10 - 2

You will start figuring the story into scenes based on character relationships. You will add on to the elements you created in the fall, fill in holes, and make connections to the point where you have a general idea of what the play will be about and what twists and turns need to take place. You will learn experimental and traditional writing strategies as well as structural techniques that we will discuss and practice. You will nail down what your characters want from each other, what stands in their way from getting what they want, and what they stand to lose if they don’t get what they want—desires, obstacles, and stakes. On February 14, local actors will perform a reading of your work. This event will be free to the public.

ADVANCED PERFORMATIVE WRITING: THE PAYOFF
Spring: Sundays. 2 - 6

3 Week Option: April 11, 18, 25
6 Week Option: April 11, 18, 25, May 2, 9, 16

Intensive Option: Saturday, May 11, 10 - 2

In this course you will create a full structure by moving and subtracting pieces. You will make the first stab at forming a beginning, middle and end to the point where you know the story, have a full plot synopsis and have compeleted a first draft. You should anticipate adding another 20–30 pages at this stage. You will ask: Is there a strong dramatic action or structure? Is the play guilty of over–explicitness? Is the play an imitation of other scripts or stories? Is the payoff worth the investment for my audience? Are the language skills appropriate for each character? Local actors will perform a public reading of each completed first draft.

While not anticipated, schedule and course content are subject to change.