Through classroom instruction and hands-on practice, these five sessions will walk budding writers through four key elements of a winning script: Conflict, Characters, Dialogue, and Theme. Our Artistic Director, George Halitzka, teaches all of our playwriting workshops. He draws upon his experience as a published and produced playwright to help students learn the craft. Note that students will need to spend time outside of the workshop sessions writing and polishing their playscripts. The cost of the workshops includes George reading and providing written feedback to each student on their manuscript outside of class time.

1. Conflict and Plot

Conflict is the essence of storytelling--it's what drives the plot that draws the audience into the play. Plots have many variations, but virtually every story ever written follows a path from Exposition through Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax, and Denouement. We'll explore several exercises to help students internalize the ingredients of a good story.

2. Characters

Everybody knows that characters are the people who populate a script. But making them three-dimensional (instead of stereotypes) is easier said than done! We'll explore techniques for bringing characters to life.

3. Dialogue

Dialogue can be one of a beginning playwright's greatest challenges. Writing lines that sound like real people talking is much harder than it looks. How can you help your story unfold without insulting the audience's -- or the actors' -- intelligence?

4. Theme

Theme is often what makes writers want to write. We have a viewpoint about the world that we need to share. We'll discuss ideas for integrating themes into stories without bashing the audience over the head with a "message."

5. Staged Readings

Each student will have the opportunity to hear the work they've created during the artist residency in a staged reading.