In this destabilizing global moment, it can be hard to find artistic motivation as a playwright: how to find the drive again to revise or to generate new work? Some are finding this a fabulous moment for artistic productivity, but others are finding creative output all but impossible right now. For those of us who are struggling to write, this can be a good time to turn our attention towards input, towards creative nourishment, towards a kind of sabbatical when we can pause and restock our artistic shelves. In this four-week class, PlayPenn fan favorite instructor L M Feldman will guide students through craft-based discussions of four stylistically diverse (and hopefully not-yet-known-to-you) new plays, to be announced prior to the start date. Each week will focus on one script (to be read at home in advance of each class), and will be paired with an in-class writing prompt to help gently spark some creativity again. Part book club and part writing workshop, this course invites its participants to take comfort in and inspiration from the rich world of contemporary plays; to embrace this time as a chance to replenish our own soil.
When:
June 24-July 15, Wednesdays 5pm-7pm
Where: Online via Zoom
Preparation Required: Students will purchase and read four scripts as part of their participation in this class; we're eager to support playwrights and their work during this precarious time. Please contact us at classes@playpenn.org if this presents a financial challenge: we can help!
Tuition: $150.00
Bio:
L M Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright who writes theatrically adventurous, physically kinetic, ensemble-driven plays – usually about outsiders, often about searchers, always about the human connection. Her plays include THRIVE OR WHAT YOU WILL (New Georges & Page 73 Residencies); ANOTHER KIND OF SILENCE (FEWW Prize Honorable Mention, Magic Theatre New Play Festival, PlayPenn & Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, Playwrights Realm Fellowship); AMANUENSIS, OR THE MILTONS (Georgetown University, Ramah Theatre commission); THE EGG-LAYERS (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, New Georges/Barnard College commission); GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING (Denver Center, Barrymore & ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nominations); and A PEOPLE (Orbiter 3, Jewish Plays Project); as well as several ensemble-devised works, including GUMSHOE (New Paradise Labs + the Free Library of Philadelphia + the Rosenbach Museum), WAR OF THE WORLDS: PHILADELPHIA (Swim Pony + Drexel University), AND IF YOU LOSE YOUR WAY, OR A FOOD ODYSSEY (The Invisible Dog), LADY M (Philadelphia Live Arts Festival), and others. She has been nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, the New York Innovative Theatre Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She’s an InterAct Theatre Core Playwright. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama and the New England Center for Circus Arts, L is also a performer & dramaturg of contemporary circus. She has performed circus-theater at festivals around the world, and she’s a dramaturg for circus artists around the country. She loves theater that moves, and circus that tells stories. L has lived in seven cities and is now based in Philadelphia, where she teaches and where she’s writing two new plays: commissions from EST/Sloan and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte.
