ONLINE SEMINAR: How to Begin

taught by Core Writer Steph Del Rosso
Monday, November 7th from 7:00pm - 9:00pm CT
Venue: 
Online via Zoom
Cost: 
$10 for Members, $20 for Non-Members

***REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED***

Class Type: Writing Craft                         

Class Level: All Experience Levels Welcome

Class Dates: Monday, November 7th

Class Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm CT 

(5:00pm PT, 6:00pm MT, 8:00pm ET)

Where: Online via Zoom, check out this quick video on the process.

Structure: Lecture/presentation, Discussion, Writing prompts, Exercises, Q&A

Questions: Email Alayna, Membership Programs Manager at alaynab@pwcenter.org

Captioning: For all sessions, we enable Zoom's auto-generated captioning. However, live captioning can be requested (with 2-weeks' notice) via the Membership Programs Participation Form shared in the detailed confirmation email.

Recordings: If you cannot attend a portion of the seminar, we have a Teaching Assistant and/or PWC facilitator taking in-depth notes. These written notes will be shared with all participants at the end of each session. (We record all of our sessions for internal use only. We do not share recordings with participants.)

Participants must register to join this class, Sign Up at the bottom of the page.


SEMINAR DESCRIPTION

What is the play that only you can write? And how do you start writing it? Through a series of generative prompts, writers will learn how to catalog their existing obsessions, interests, and curiosities and channel those explorations into the beginning of a new play.

This Is the Seminar for You if You:

  • Are a new or seasoned playwright.
  • Want to turn their unique obsessions, interests, and point of view into play ideas.
  • Crave a fun, generative space to engage in writing prompts in community.

What to Expect:

  • Generative writing prompts that will get the creative juices flowing.
  • A personal catalog of your particular interests, obsessions, and point of view as a writer, which will feed into future plays.
  • A road map and initial writing for at least one new play.
  • The opportunity to engage with others about beginnings and process.
  • Dedicated writing time.

Important Things to Note:

  • When you sign up, you will receive an auto-confirmation email. The next business day you will receive a detailed confirmation email with important information about the seminar including (1) Membership Programs Participation Form (2) The Zoom link (3) Pre-assignments from the instructor and (4) Information about the PWC Membership and Education Team. If you have not received this email by the next business day, please check your spam folder or reach out to Alayna and she will make sure you have the information you need for the seminar or class.
  • All participants must complete and submit a Membership Programs Participation Form for each seminar or class they want to attend. A link to this form is included in the detailed confirmation email.

NOTE FROM STEPH

You all have fascinating things to say that the world deserves to hear! But sometimes, figuring that out is the hardest part. What helps me begin a new play is to take stock of the inside of my brain, and to get a sense of what I currently care about and what's nagging at me. It is these things - that feel urgent and exciting to you - that you should write about today. I hope this seminar brings you closer to that urgency and excitement, and leaves you eager to start your next project!

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Steph Del Rosso writes plays, fiction, film, and television. Her work includes 53% Of (Second Stage), The Gradient (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Finalist, Jane Chambers Excellence in Feminist Playwriting Prize), You’re Crazy (Finalist, Burman New Play Award), and Life Savers. She is a winner of the Steinberg Playwright Award and the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award. Her plays have been produced or developed at La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Studio Theatre, Ojai Playwrights’ Conference, The Kennedy Center, IAMA Theatre, JACK, and others. Steph was the Shank Playwriting Fellow at The Public and a Theater Masters Visionary Playwright. She is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writers’ Group, and The Lark’s Playground. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and is featured on The Kilroy’s List. Steph has been a writer-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Caldera Arts, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal, and Willapa Bay (upcoming). She teaches playwriting at NYU and lives in Brooklyn. MFA: UC-San Diego.


 Sign Up Below! 

Questions? Email Membership Programs Manager, Alayna Jacqueline Barnes, at alaynab@pwcenter.org

Headshot of Steph Del Rosso, a white woman with brown, shoulder-length hair wearing a white collared shirt and standing in front of a brick wall background