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Being Fearless: Developing Your New Play
Get your new script in order this summer to hit the ground running in the fall.
Class Description
Instructors: Crystal Skillman (Playwright) Semester: Summer 2026 Session: 6 Online Sessions New Students: $400 Returning PlayPenn or DGI Students: $280 Foundry & Entrepreneur Members: $256 DGI Certificate Students: $256 Over six weeks, Crystal Skillman, the author of "Open" and "The Rocket Men", will help you strengthen your new play draft to share with readers and possible collaborators with unique techniques for conquering the elements of dramatic writing to highlight your voice. With a fun, rigorous, game-like approach, Crystal uses her exercises and play workshops ensure that writers feel confident in their script structure while creatively highlighting their voice. Through this nurturing class, students will also learn how to pitch their play, start to develop a plan of production or outreach with the right theaters, and make sure they emerge with a process that will make writer's block obsolete. Students will learn new ways to drive the process of developing their work and how to gain feedback in new ways. Writers can come in with a new play idea or a draft that they wish to rewrite; pages at any point are welcome. The class will operate as a writers' room and form a new community, and Crystal is well-versed in making sure approaches are adjusted for a student's individual needs. WEEK 1 - Honing Your Premise/Dramatic Question. WEEK 2- Character & Story Arcs Review. WEEK 3 - Beginning, Middle, End - Getting Comfy in the Middle. WEEK 4 - Belly of the Whale WEEK 5 - Breakouts and One-on-Ones WEEK 6 - Artistic Statements, Pitching, and Final Sharing From college courses to teen classes to teaching professional development, CRYSTAL SKILLMAN is a noted, award-winning playwright and passionate educator of teaching dramatic writing in all media. As an educator, Crystal brings to her classrooms the philosophy of teaching how to craft a script for performance as well as a strong one for readers to consider. She teaches the history of each dramatic medium in her classes, including Theater, Graphic Novels, Audio, Film, and Television History.
Enrollment Policies (Time Zones, Payment Plans, and Refunds)
ONLINE SCHEDULES & TIME ZONES: Most of our classes are offered online and open to participants worldwide. Our website automatically displays class start times based on your device’s current location, so you will always see the correct time no matter where you are. If you are traveling for work or personal reasons, please verify the local time shown on your device on this registration page before joining the class. For example, if a class begins at 7:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time (ET), it will appear as 4:00 PM PT when viewed from the U.S. West Coast, or 11:00 AM the next day if you are in Sydney, Australia. Many of our instructors are based in the U.S. Eastern Time (ET) zone, but not all. Once again, please double-check the local time shown on your device on this registration page before joining the class if you are traveling. IN-PERSON SCHEDULES & TIME ZONES: If the class is held in person, please note that the start time is based on the time zone of the city where the class takes place. If you book the class while traveling, be sure to use the class’s local time zone rather than the time zone of your current location. TRAVEL FOR HYBRID CLASSES: Many of our classes are held online but for time to time we offer hybrid classes where a portion of the class takes places online and a portion of the class takes place in-person. Please note the cost of the class does not include travel or housing for students to attend the in-person sessions. As well, PlayPenn cannot cover the cost of travel or housing. CLASS LINK: The hyperlink to join your respective online class(es) will be emailed to you separately from your class registration confirmation, closer to the first session. PAYMENT PLANS: PlayPenn believes that cost should never be a barrier to learning. Flexible payment plans are available, and we’re happy to work with students to find a solution that fits your needs. To inquire about setting up a payment plan, please email using the form on the Upcoming Class main page. REFUND POLICY: In order to offer a small-group class experience and pay our professional instructors consistently, please note all sales are final and tuition is not refundable. PlayPenn is not able to offer a voucher/credits towards a future purchase. Please consider this before making your purchase. Please visit our Refund Policy webpage to learn more about our other policies.
Class Schedule
Contact Details
215-242-2815
classes@playpenn.org
100 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Learn More About Your Instructor
Our teaching artists are all working professional writers—award-winning playwrights and musical theatre creators—who bring real-world experience, insight, and passion to every session.
Get to know our artists by clicking a name below to read their full bio.
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