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        Home / Classes / Creative Writing / Fiction

        The Play's the Thing: The Basics of Playwriting with Andy Pederson

        $365.00

        Register Now
        The Play’s the Thing: The Basics of Playwriting with Andy Pederson
        Instructor: Andy Pederson
        Categories Creative Writing, Fiction, Multi-Week Tags Fiction, Genre, nonfiction, playwriting

        Students will learn the fundamentals of playwriting through writing scenes for each class session, followed by a 10-minute play which will be workshopped and revised.

        CLASS INFO
        DETAILS
        INSTRUCTOR
        CLASS INFO

        Like watching lightning strike, seeing your play unfold before an audience is like nothing else. That spark, that fire, that energy all starts with the playwright. It all starts with you and your play.

        This six-week course, taught by Andy Pederson (In the Soundless Awe), is designed to instruct writers seeking to learn the craft of playwriting, whether you are a novelist or poet searching for a new form, or a budding playwright looking for a place to start, this course will be provide the foundations you need to write a play that connects with audiences.

        Students will learn the fundamentals of playwriting through writing scenes for each class session, followed by a 10-minute play which will be workshopped and revised, providing students with a producible play that can be sent to theatres.


        Week One: The Ground Floor – We will discuss the stage as a unique medium and how it can provide what television and movies cannot.  We will cover dramatic conflict – the essence of all plays.

        Week Two: Creating Characters- Conflict is sustained by compelling characters.  We examine some brief models before working to develop our own.

        Week Three: Dialogue, Action, Plot – Action through dialogue keeps the plot moving along.  We will give our characters words to say that move the play along.

        Week Four: Writing a Ten-Minute Play – The ten-minute play is one of theatre’s most beloved forms.  We will learn how to structure our plays and what pitfalls to avoid.

        Week Five: Revision and Workshopping – We will workshop our ten-minute plays and learn how to revise them based on notes and audience responses.

        Week Six: Production Ready – We will workshop the revision of your ten-minute play and talk about next steps for production and writing the full-length play.

        Each week will involve some amount of writing, either during a workshop time or between classes; some minor reading between classes, provided by the instructor, will be required.

        DETAILS
        Start Date

        May 13

        Day(s) of the Week

        Thursday

        Class Times

        6:30pm – 9:00pm

        Location

        Zoom (online)

        Number of Sessions

        6

        Price

        $365

        INSTRUCTOR

        Andrew Pederson

        Andy Pederson is a playwright and professor. His plays have been produced in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, Indianapolis, and several other places. He has written 10 plays, including In the Soundless Awe (with Jayme McGhan), which had its world premiere with the New Light Theatre Project in New York City. He is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild and an alumnus of Goddard College’s MFA program, and The Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. He is a frequent guest artist and instructor at The New England Young Writers Conference at Bread Loaf, Middlebury, VT. Andy is the resident playwright of the Saltbox Theatre Collective, where his work will be the centerpiece of the 2020-21 season with his adaptation of Antonin Artaud’s Spurt of Blood, and a new play, Adequate Yearly Progress. He teaches at Concordia University Chicago where he is Professor of English. He lives outside the city with his wife and three very active children.

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        • Writing Classes
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          • In-A-Year Student Publications
          • Memoir in a Year
          • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Abby Geni
          • Novel in a Year: Revise and Launch
          • Novel in a Year: YA/Middle Grade with Jame Klise
          • ONLINE: Novel in a Year: First Draft with Michael Zapata
          • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Rebecca Makkai
          • Essay Collection in a Year with Megan Stielstra
          • Novel in a Year: Speculative Fiction
        • About
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          • Get Involved
          • FAQs
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          • CHIRBy Awards
          • Writers Festival
          • Stories Matter Foundation Masters Award
        • Donate

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