Writing Your One Act Play

In the first class, your Instructor will: 

Give an overview of playwriting, including: 

• The essential nature of playwriting/plays and how they differ from film and television; 
• A brief overview of the history of playwriting; 
• Habits of contemporary playwriting; and 
• Full length v. one act play qualities 

Lead a discussion of Cloud Nine in relationship to Poetics and The Empty Space. 

Set up the assignment for the course: 

• Each playwright will compose a one-act play. The one-act play will have three passes. 
• Each writer will direct someone else's play and will act in however many plays they are cast in/comfortable with acting in. For the final performance, actors should be off-book (memorized). 
• To move to the next pass, each writer must achieve the pass before it. We will all move in unison, ie., you can’t linger on pass #2 the whole time just because you don’t want to work with a director or have your work read in front of strangers. All of that is part of the experience/education. If you don’t move into pass #3, you can’t move into pass #4. Likewise, you can’t opt out of directing/acting. That is also part of the education. No one expects you to be Fellini or Brando here … the point is to learn.

In this class, Instructor will: 

• Lead a discussion of Blue Kettle in a relationship to Poetics and The Empty Space 
• Lead each writer through the presentation of their first drafts and give feedback

In this class, Instructor will: 

• Lead a discussion of The Empty Space, wrapping up that lesson 
• Lead each director through the presentation of their writer's second drafts and facilitate group feedback 
• Hear each writer's Career Vision 
• Present resources for places to submit work and take next steps

In this fourth and final class, Instructor will: 

• Welcome the invited audience 
• Introduce each collaborative team 
• Facilitate a heart congratulations and celebration of everyone's work