**REGISTRATION IS CLOSED**

Class Modality: Synchronous - Meeting online once every week.

Class Type: Writing Craft, Writing Theory                         

Class Level: Intermediate/Advanced. However, there is space for beginners.

Class Dates: February 28th through April 4th

Tuesdays, February 28th, March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and April 4th (6 "in-person" online sessions total)

Class Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm 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, Workshopping, Q&A, In-class readings, In-class videos

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.

CLASS DESCRIPTION

In this class, we’ll explore how we as dramatists physically impact our audiences. We’ll start with a map of the body, and build an arsenal of dramatic strategies through discussing plays and theater experiences that we’ve found particularly impactful, writing exercises, and surveying our work. 

This Is the Class for You if You:

• Are interested in how your words physically affect an audience.
• Are interested in creating work that is impactful.
• Have taken a beginner's course or are experienced with the playwriting form. But this class is useful for all writers.

What to Expect:

• To explore an approach to writing that takes the audience into account.
• To connect with playwriting in a new way.
• To deepen your understanding of core playwriting concepts.
• To walk away with a more developed draft or a work-in-progress.
• To participate in discussions and share work online via Google Classroom.

Important Things to Note:

• When you sign up, you will receive an auto-confirmation email. About a week before the first session 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 within a week of the first session, 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.
• This class will be using Google Classroom. Therefore, you must have or create a Gmail account to fully participate in the class.
• Payment plans are available as needed. Please contact the Membership Programs Manager, Alayna Jacqueline Barnes, to discuss payment options.

NOTE FROM DEBORAH

Where does your work take aim?

 

We often speak of successful plays in terms of their physical impact. That play “moved me,” it was “touching,” a “hit” play, a “smash,” even better—a “smash hit.” Aristotle in the Poetics, when addressing language specifically, calls it “language that has been made sensuously attractive.” I think it’s worth-the-while at any point in your writing process to consider your audience’s physical experience of your play—and where in their body you’re taking aim. As playwrights, we have the power to craft that impact.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Deborah Yarchun’s plays have been produced and/or developed with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Capital Rep, The New Harmony Project, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Amphibian Stage Productions, The Blank Theatre, The Great Plains Theater Conference, Jewish Ensemble Theater, the Playwrights’ Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival, the William Inge Center for the Arts, Jewish Plays Project, the Minnesota Fringe, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Northern Stage, the Philadelphia Fringe, The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., and Williams Street Rep. Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at the Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award and her play ATLAS, THE LONELY GIBBON was a finalist for the 2021 National Playwrights Conference. Deborah is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. You can learn more about her work at DeborahYarchun.com.

 Sign Up Below! 

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