The course aims to introduce a number of the “building blocks” of writing for live performance through the study of examples (the texts) and the presentation and critique of exercises.
Reading group runs weeks 2-11 and forms the "lecture" component of the course. Each week someone takes responsibility for opening the discussion and doing some research on the writer whose play is the reading for that week, including reference to their previous work.
The set texts each introduce a topic. Even if you are not leading the discussion, it is essential that you come to class with the text read, as you can expect to be questioned about it and it will form the basis of the exercise.
In the workshop sessions you will present your scene exercise from the previous week and help critique the scenes of fellow students.
Each topic is a building block of dramatic writing. As we move on, use what you have gained in previous exercises, so there is some growth, development and layering in your work. The ‘three linked scenes exercise,’ at the end of the course, challenges you to use as many building blocks as possible.
There is no intention to write a complete play as such, though sometimes a student’s exercise scene is equivalent to a very short play in itself; and the final exercise of the three linked scenes can be the basis for a whole. In other instances individual scenes have been the beginning of full-length theatre works that students have moved on to write and stage, both as part of their study, and also on the professional stage. Some insight into the way plays are made is valuable for actors, directors and designers as well as, naturally, for aspiring playwrights. Because the course does not aim towards writing a complete play, you are free to explore different dimensions of writing for performance. Throughout the course I am interested in sustaining a conversation about what writing for performance means in the contemporary moment, including consideration the role of writing in the mediums of dance and performance art, as well as the relationship between writing and technology.