Previous Classes

We’ve offered a lot of playwriting classes as part of our growing education program, serving playwrights, theatre artists, and educators. Check out this listing for all of PlayPenn’s past classes, and click here to register for our current classes!

  • Collaborative Writing for All Theater Artists with Applied Mechanics
  • An Introduction to Dramaturgy with Michele Volansky (online)
  • Jumpstart the Play with Lauren Yee (online)
  • Writing Adaptations with Ken Urban
  • Writing Great Characters with Lori Fischer (online)
  • Seven Week Workshop with Davis Jacobi
  • Nuts & Bolts: Playwriting 101 with Jacqueline Goldfinger (online)
  • Auditioning and Acting in New Plays with Lynnette R. Freeman
  • Getting Inspired! with Jonathon Norton (online)
  • Writing Autobiographically with Sheri Wilner
  • Writing Strong Applications with Stefanie Zadravec (online)
  • The Drawer Plays: Radical Rewriting & Reclamation with Liz Duffy Adams (online)
  • The Living Play Masterclas with Steven Dietz
  • Comedy Making with The Berserker Residents
  • Seven Week Workshop with Lauren Feldman
  • Speed Analysis: How to read plays quickly and efficiently for all theater artists with Benjamin Kamine
  • Introduction to Writing a Book for a Musical with John Weidman
  • Writing Outside Your Experience with Kirsten Greenidge (online)
  • Revision Master Class with JT Rogers
  • Introduction to Solo Work with Nilaja Sun
  • How to Advocate for Your Plays and Build a Community of Collaborators with Jeremy Stoller
  • Playwrights Alchemy: Finding Inspiration and Creating New Work with David Jacobi
  • Creating Conflict and Structuring the Compelling Arguement with Richard Caliban
  • Writing the Short Play with Pia Wilson
  • Inspired by Current Events: Creating Work Based on Real Life with Ken Urban
  • The Debate Society Method with Oliver Butler
  • Self-Producing Workshop with Jess Conda and Jack Tamburri
  • Seven Week Workshop with Quinn Eli
  • Adaptation with Jacqueline Goldfinger
  • Playwriting 101: Character Creation, Dramatic Structure and More! with Ken Urban
  • Seven Week Workshop with MJ Kaufman
  • Writing and Staging Political and Activist Theater with Donna Kaz
  • Traveling Masters with Melissa James Gibson
  • Seven Week Workshop with David Lee White
  • Writing Ecstatically, Poetically and Purposefully with Stefanie Zadravec
  • Self-Producing Workshop with Jess Conda and Jack Tamburri
  • Comedy Writing with Jen Childs
  • Living On-Stage: Playwright-Designer Collaboration with Rebecca Wright, Maria Shaplin and Lauren Feldman
  • Playwriting Workshop: Visual Metaphor – Creating a Magical Object with Sherry Kramer
  • Children of the Internet Revolution: Writing and Creating Web Series with Adam Szymkowicz (online)
  • New Play Slam: Fostering Actor/Playwright Collaboration with Krista Apple-Hodge and Jacqueline Goldfinger
  • Everyone is a Writer: Getting the Subconscious onto the Page with John Yearley
  • So You Wrote a Play, Now What? with Abigail Katz (returning class)
  • Found in Translation: Television Writing for Theatre Artists with Francine Volpe
  • Dramaturging the New Play with Kittson O’Neill
  • Playwriting in a Flash with Jacqueline Goldfinger
  • Getting Out of Your Own Way or Making Your Play Better with J.T. Rogers -reprised!
  • Writing Strong Applications with Stefanie Zadravec (online) -reprised!
  • Ides of March Bootcamp with Paula Vogel
  • Writing Strong Applications with Stefanie Zadravec (online)
  • Writing Suddenly and Abundantly with Erik Ehn
  • Workshop Whirlwind 2013 with Deborah Zoe Laufer, Kittson O’Neill, and Sean Daniels
  • Spring Plantings: a Practical Workshop on Inspiration with Michele Volansky (returning class)
  • The Character on the Page: Acting and the New Play with Dan Hodge
  • What Makes This Medium Different From All Other Mediums? with Lisa Kron
  • So You Wrote a Play, Now What? with Abigail Katz (returning class)
  • Writing Empathy with Sam Hunter
  • Directing the New Play with Hal Brooks
  • Workshop Whirlwind 2012 with Liz Duffy Adams, Michele Volansky, and Rick DesRochers
  • Spring Plantings: a Practical Workshop on Inspiration with Michele Volansky
  • The Deadline with Craig Lucas
  • Writing for Actors with John Yearley
  • Exploding Blocks and Inspiring Next Steps with Morgan Jenness
  • Playwright/Director Collaboration with Jackson Gay
  • The No-Bull, Hard-Headed Playwriting Weekend with Jeffrey Sweet
  • Workshop Whirlwind 2011 with Lauren Yee, Rebecca Wright, and Rick DesRochers
  • So You Wrote a Play, Now What? with Abigail Katz
  • Master Class with Lee Blessing
  • Playwriting Fundamentals or Facing the Blank Page with Bruce Graham
  • Comedy Tonight with Michael Hollinger
  • The Art of Adaptation with Jeffrey Hatcher
  • Getting Out of Your Own Way or Making Your Play Better with J.T. Rogers
  • The Plot and the Plot Thickens with Michael Hollinger
  • Writing Plays From History with Thomas Gibbons

"The ten-minute play class I took in the summer of 2013 was a great experience. Although I am a veteran writer, I needed a push to complete a piece so quickly, and Play Penn gave it to me""

-Rich Espey, PlayPenn Student