PlayPenn Welcomes R. Eric Thomas, Nilaja Sun, And More To Their Spring 2020 Education Program

PlayPenn, the nationally-recognized new play organization based in Philadelphia, has announced their Spring 2020 Education Program courses. Curated by Director of Education Julia Mauro Bumke, the semester features a variety of courses and workshops designed for writers of all skill levels.

Every season, PlayPenn invites the most exciting and successful theatrical voices to share their talent and craft directly with students in an intimate class setting, offering both in-person and online playwriting classes. The Spring 2020 semester includes the following courses:

Finding Your True Subject: How to Write the Plays That Only You Can Write with Anne Marie Cammarato and John Yearley: As audiences, we have all sat though plays wondering why the playwright has chosen this particular subject to write about. As playwrights, we have all struggled to approach a subject that we want to write about but can't find our way into. Finding Your True Subject provides the tools to unlock these subjects, striving to help each writer discover what you (and only you) can bring to a subject, whether that subject is autobiographical or not. This class will assist students in identifying their true subjects and celebrating what they can uniquely bring to a play. (March 23, 30, April 6, 13, 7-10PM, $275, location in Philadelphia TBA)

Reimagining Solo Performance with Nilaja Sun: Obie Award-winning Nilaja Sun returns with a specialized intensive designed to facilitate students who are working on their own solo pieces, in honing the craft of writing and performing a dynamic one person show. Students will discover how their body, voice and unique storytelling abilities can set their solo pieces apart from the rest. Be ready to move, create and get motivated to finally tell your story, inspire audiences and be the change you want to be. Perfect for writers/performers working on one person shows or looking to begin a new one. (March 21-22, 1-5PM, $250, Location in Philadelphia TBA)

Playwriting 101 with Quinn D. Eli: Join playwright, educator, and Foundry co-founder Quinn Eli for an in-depth introduction to the art and craft of playwriting. Whether you're a professional writer or haven't written a word, this class is great both for polishing skills and picking up new ones. The course will incorporate short writing exercises while talking through theatrical structures, character development, establishing a sense of place, dialogue and monologue language, and more. A perfect way to dive into playwriting head first. (April 2, 9, 16, 23, 6-8PM, $170, Location in Philadelphia TBA)

Dialogue and the Voice in Theatrical Writing with R. Eric Thomas: From the rat-a-tat of witty banter to page-long dramatic monologues to moments of silence that hang in the air like fog, dialogue builds the universe for our plays. In this two-day intensive, we'll pull clear takeaways from well-known examples, try our hands at various methods, and have a chance to revise dialogue from pieces of our own.(April 11 and 12, 1-5PM, $185, Location in Philadelphia TBA)

Improv for Playwrights with Wendy Goldman: This workshop uses improvisational writing games to inspire creativity. There's a reason improv games are called "games" -- to get us back in touch with a more playful part of ourselves. When we lose the ability to go with whatever comes up, we stifle our originality. Improv helps to silence the critical voices in our heads. The class is intended to be light, deep, serious, funny, whatever the moment stirs up. It is process-oriented rather than product-oriented. But the short pieces the students create could be the seeds of longer projects they never dreamed of writing. Some pieces will be based on the students' memories and some engage the imagination, all guided with specific instructions and prompts. When we let go of the reins, no telling how we'll surprise ourselves. (Dates and times TBA, $185, Location in Philadelphia TBA)

Poetry and Poetic Language in Theatre with Charly Evon Simpson: Style and syntax of language can transform how a play sounds to its audience: how characters interact, how scenes move, how audiences understand text and subtext, and so much more. In this workshop, we will dive into using and investigating poetic language in theatrical writing. We'll travel along the line between poetry and theater, reading, writing, and discovering the times when both forms can help us tell better stories. (May 5, 12, 19, 26, 7-9PMEST, online, $170)

Students that register for a PlayPenn class before March 1, 2020 will be invited to submit an unproduced, full-length play for consideration for a professional staged reading. PlayPenn will produce one student's play as a reading with a professional director, professional actors and a PlayPenn dramaturg in Philadelphia in summer 2020.

All "face to face" courses will take place in Center City Philadelphia at a location to be announced at a later date. Registration and more information can be found at playpenn.org.