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The Art of Stage Dialogue
Captivate your audience with dialogue that holds attention through tension, emotion, and surprise.
Class Description
Instructor: Matthew Paul Olmos (Playwright) Semester: Fall 2025 10-Week Session Learn how to create compelling dialogue for the stage! This class will give you specific tools with which to craft your dialogue so that it illuminates character, enhances dramatic progression, and engages your audiences in a more active way. Through class exercises, we’ll explore the challenges of writing dialogue such as overwriting, repetition, rhythm, and subtext. This course will provide an extensive dialogue development toolbox from which to draw upon for the duration of your playwriting career. You will be able to apply the exercises from this course to any play that you write, enabling you to know and understand your dialogue more fully. Week 1: Overview Tools of Dialogue, Basic Playwriting Principles Week 2: Use of Questions in relation to Exposition Week 3: Use of Environment Week 4: Use of Relationships in relation to Exposition Week 5: Subtext/Exposition Week 6: Subtext more in depth Week 7: Effectively using On-The-Nose Week 8: Wrapping Up Exposition Week 9: Rhythm in Dialogue Week 10: The Subconscious & Revision Matthew Paul Olmos is a Mexican-American playwright who focuses on the creation of space for marginalized, underrepresented communities and gives them heightened poetic language and theatricality. While his work is always personal, it is aimed at reaching across socio-political boundaries, showing the ridiculous of how separate we are, and illuminating hope for future generations. He is a three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency recipient, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival Commissioned Playwright, Center Theatre Group LA Workshop playwright, Drama League nominee, inaugural Dramatists Guild Catalyst Fellow, Geffen Playhouse Writers Room playwright, New Dramatists alum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Lab playwright, Playwrights’ Center Core Writer, inaugural Primary Stages Creative Development Grantee, Princess Grace Awardee in Playwriting, two-time Ojai Playwrights Conference playwright, and a Repertorio Español Miranda Family Nuestra Voces Playwriting Awardee.
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.
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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