The word play means different things to different people. To some people, a play is Neil Simon. To some, it’s Aeschylus. To others, it’s Young Jean Lee. To most, it’s a musical.
In this breakneck course, we will attempt to uncover what at its heart a play is. Whether comedy or drama, naturalism or expressionism, straight or musical, what are the fundamentals of playwriting? We will look at dramatic structure, style, tone, character, plot, and dialogue, in an effort to understand what makes dramatic writing a cohesive discipline and what it might have in common with other forms of writing. Through lecture, discussion, and the in-class generation of your own scenes, this class will give writers a taste of the playwright’s craft, in order to spark creativity in this exciting but mystifying form, and hopefully lead you to continue your playwright’s journey in our other upcoming classes, “Starting a New Play” and “Writing the One-Act Play.”
Enrollment is limited to 15 students.
