Playwriting I is a ten-week intensive workshop combining instructional lectures, hands-on writing exercises, and a detailed critique of student projects. Designed for those new to playwriting or seeking to refresh foundational skills. A comprehensive course syllabus is available for detailed review below.
When the theater lights dim, and a performance begins, nothing replicates the extraordinary energy of actors and audience breathing the same air. The laughter, gasps, and emotional reactions unfold in real time, creating unrepeatable moments of connection. Theatrical productions can be mounted anywhere, from intimate black box spaces with borrowed chairs to grand Broadway stages.
A play can only reach its full potential in performance if the text is exceptional. Throughout this course, you'll acquire the skills necessary for writing compelling theater and learn professional strategies for marketing your dramatic work.
Whether your ambition is creating one-act plays, full-length works, or musical theater, you'll develop the ability to craft plays that earn enthusiastic audience response.
This program provides essential training in playwriting fundamentals and enables students to develop one or more short plays or a complete full-length work. Program components:
- Comprehensive lectures on playwriting principles and craft
- Hands-on writing exercises and assignments
- Collaborative project workshops (each student presents twice)
Online Course Structure
- Week 1: Introduction to Playwriting. Understanding contemporary theater; exploring different play types and forms; generating story ideas; discovering your unique creative voice; understanding plays as blueprints for production
- Week 2: Character Development. Understanding ensemble structure, including protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters; creating believable, engaging characters; developing character dimension and complexity; revealing character through action; establishing character objectives
- Week 3: Narrative Structure and Plot. Identifying the core story element; understanding character as narrative driver; mapping story events; constructing effective beginnings, middles, and endings; identifying crucial turning points; building toward climactic moments
- Week 4: Theatrical Convention and Style. Exploring approaches to theatrical presentation, including naturalism, realism, poetic realism, pure theater, and surrealism; considering acting, directing, and design elements; using theatrical convention effectively
- Week 5: Dialogue. Creating the illusion of natural speech; achieving compression and economy; expressing character through dialogue; using subtext and underlying meaning; managing exposition; using heightened and poetic language
- Week 6: Scene Work. Defining dramatic scenes; determining appropriate scene quantity and duration; understanding French scene structure; recognizing beats and transitions; structuring effective scenes; using subtext in scenes; managing stage directions
- Week 7: Setting, Time, and Pacing. Establishing temporal and spatial context; managing time compression and expansion; shifting location and time period; controlling narrative rhythm; accelerating and decelerating dramatic momentum
- Week 8: Thematic Development. Understanding theme as an organizing principle, exploring how theme emerges organically, and using theme as a structural guide
- Week 9: Revision and Refinement. Understanding revision stages, organizing staged readings, assessing performance feedback, and identifying areas for improvement
- Week 10: Production and Professional Development. Preparing work for performance; professional marketing strategies for scripts; finding representation and production opportunities; understanding rights and licensing; self-producing your work
Important Note: Course content may vary across instructors and terms.
About This Online Program
- Online classes bring together writers from around the world to study with Gotham faculty, New York City's most respected writing school
- Classes are conducted asynchronously, allowing participation at any time, with courses advancing weekly and specific weekly milestones
- Online learning is accessible from any location globally with internet access; while most students are U.S.-based, we welcome participants from virtually every country
- Technical support is provided throughout
- Beyond temporal and geographic flexibility, students maintain complete access to course materials for downloading and future reference (materials are text and image-based, not video)
