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Nilaja Sun

Reimagining Solo Performance: A Weekend Intensive with Nilaja Sun

 640 433 Play Penn

Perfect for writers/performers working on one person shows or looking to begin a new one!

Class Description

Obie Award-winning Nilaja Sun returns with a specialized intensive designed to facilitate students, who are working on their own solo pieces, in honing the craft of writing and performing a dynamic one person show. Students will discover how their body, voice and unique story telling abilities can set their solo pieces apart from rest. Be ready to move, create and get motivated to finally tell your story, inspire audiences and be the change you want to be!

Dates & Times

March 21 and 22, 2020: 1-5pm

Where

Online (via Zoom)

Required Prep

Please prepare 5-10 minutes of a solo piece you’d like to work on. This course is designed for all artists interested in taking their solo pieces to their next level.

Bio

Nilaja Sun is an actor, solo performer and teaching artist most known for her Obie award winning solo piece No Child… which was directed by Hal Brooks and originally commissioned and produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble. For her creation and performance of No Child… and its subsequent international tour, Nilaja garnered 21 awards including: an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards including the John Gassner Playwriting Award for Outstanding New American Play, a Theatre World Award, the Helen Hayes Award, two NAACP Theatre Awards, and was awarded the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective.

Her latest solo piece Pike St., directed by Ron Russell and originally commissioned and produced by Epic, had its world premiere at the Abrons Arts Center in the Lower East Side, which was followed by an international tour at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Pillsbury House, Detroit Public Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, as well as Melbourne, Australia, Dublin, Ireland and Edinburgh, Scotland where she won the Edinburgh Award.

TV/FILM: Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, BrainDead, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, Louie, The International, Youth in Oregon and Rubicon.

A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award recipient, and has taught drama, playwriting and solo performance in high schools and colleges in New York, New Jersey, Bridgeport, CT, Detroit, MI, Washington D.C, Oakland, CA, Tanzania, Africa for 20 years.

$250

Tuition

Register Here

Click the link below to visit our Reservation Page, where you can view all classes and register for this course. For questions or to inquire about payment plans, please email classes@playpenn.org.

When you register for a PlayPenn class before March 1, 2020 you’ll be invited to submit your unproduced, full-length play for consideration for a professional staged reading. PlayPenn will produce one student’s play as a reading with a professional director, professional actors and a PlayPenn dramaturg in Philadelphia in summer 2020. Only plays that have not had a professional production or reading will be considered. If you register for a class by the deadline, additional details will be emailed to you along with a submission form.

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“The coursework was rigorous, rewarding and truly collaborative. [The instructor] was generous in sharing her experiences, knowledge, and truth and gracious in receiving and responding to that of others.“

-Lauren L., 2019 Student

“PlayPenn classes always get me over the hump and to a completed work that I’m proud to attach my name to.”

-2019 Student

One-Person Show Intensive

 150 150 Play Penn

With Nilaja Sun. Popular Returning Class! Open to students who have worked with Sun on their show and wish to continue, or students who are working with her for the first time

Class Description

Obie award winning Nilaja Sun returns to Classes at PlayPenn with her specialized intensive designed to facilitate returning students, who are working on their own solo pieces. Students will continue to craft their pieces while finding dynamic ways to perform their stories, unique to each student’s strengths. Students will also continue to work on discovering how their bodies, voices and life experiences can set their solo pieces apart from others. Be ready to move, laugh, cry, feel and inspire. The world needs your story!

Dates & Times

July 14 and July 15, 1pm-5pm

Where

Philadelphia Young Playwrights Learning Lab

1219 Vine Street, Floor 2

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Required Prep

Bring up to 12 minutes of your solo show with you.

Bio

Nilaja Sun is the solo performer and writer of the Off-Broadway smashes No Child… and her new show, Pike Street. For her creation and performance of No Child… and its subsequent national tour, Nilaja garnered 21 awards including: an Obie Award, a Helen Hayes Award a Lucille Lortel Award, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards including the John Gassner Playwriting Award for Outstanding New American Play. Theatre credits also include The Commons of Pensacola, Einstein’s Gift, Time and The Conways, Huck and Holden, and The Cook. Tv/Film credits include Madam Secretary, Louie, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, The International, and Rubicon. As a solo performer, her projects include the critically acclaimed Blues for a Gray Sun (INTAR), La Nubia Latina, Black and Blue, Insufficient Fare, Due to the Tragic Events of…, and Mixtures. Nilaja was awarded the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective and was recently awarded a NYSCHA grant. A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award winner and has worked as a teaching artist in New York City for over 15 years.

$250

Tuition

Register Here

As class begins shortly, please email classes@playpenn.org

“I have travelled from the Harrisburg area for several PlayPenn workshops. Well worth my travel time and the cost of a train ticket!”

-Cindy D, 2018 Student

“PlayPenn classes inspire me to write more, and help build my confidence in my writing ability.”

-Mark, 2017 Student

One-Person Show Intensive

 1024 683 Play Penn

with Nilaja Sun

Obie award winning Nilaja Sun returns with a specialized intensive designed to facilitate students, who are working on their own solo pieces, in honing the craft of writing and performing a dynamic one person show.

Class Description

Students will discover how their body, voice and unique story telling abilities can set their solo pieces apart from rest. Be ready to move, create and get motivated to finally tell your story, inspire audiences and be the change you want to see in the world!

Read about her current one person show in The New Yorker Magazine. 

Perfect for writers/performers working on one person shows or looking to begin a new one!

Free Reading of YOUR New Play

If you register for a PlayPenn class by January 14, 2018, then you can apply for the opportunity to have your unproduced full-length plays given a public, professional staged reading. PlayPenn will produce one student’s play as a reading with a professional director, professional actors and a PlayPenn Dramaturg in Philadelphia, PA in the spring/summer of 2018. The play many not have had a professional production. PlayPenn will cover the costs of the reading, but the student is responsible for their own housing and transportation. If you register for a class by the deadline then additional details will be emailed to you after January 14, along with a submission form.

Dates & Times

February 17 & 18, 2018

1pm-5pm

Where

Wilma Rehearsal Space in South Philadelphia, Gerritt Street Studio, 1213 Gerritt Street, Philadelphia, PA.

Limited parking so arrive early to park. Public transit: The Broad Street Line has 2 stops within 3 blocks and the #45 bus runs down 12th street.

Required Prep

Come prepared to share a 15 minute excerpt from your one-person show or show-in-progress.

Bio

Nilaja Sun is the solo performer and writer of the Off-Broadway smashes No Child… and her new show, Pike Street. For her creation and performance of No Child… and its subsequent national tour, Nilaja garnered 21 awards including: an Obie Award, a Helen Hayes Award a Lucille Lortel Award, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards including the John Gassner Playwriting Award for Outstanding New American Play. Theatre credits also include The Commons of Pensacola, Einstein’s Gift, Time and The Conways, Huck and Holden, and The Cook. Tv/Film credits include Madam Secretary, Louie, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, The International, and Rubicon. As a solo performer, her projects include the critically acclaimed Blues for a Gray Sun (INTAR), La Nubia Latina, Black and Blue, Insufficient Fare, Due to the Tragic Events of…, and Mixtures. Nilaja was awarded the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective and was recently awarded a NYSCHA grant. A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award winner and has worked as a teaching artist in New York City for over 15 years.

$250

Tuition

Register Here

Click the link below to visit our Reservation Page, where you can view all classes, select, and register for this class using our new checkout feature. For questions or to inquire about payment plans, please email classes@playpenn.org.

 

*Students must register for a class by January 14, 2018 in order to be eligible to submit for the free spring Education reading.

Sign Up

“PlayPenn classes offer a chance to take a break from the mundane, from the frenzy of the everyday, and to focus on your writing for a few hours, or a weekend, while gaining insight and inspiration from some truly excellent professional playwrights and teaching artists. PlayPenn’s opportunities are ones I feel lucky to be exposed to.

” -Mark C., 2017 Student

“The classes are a great opportunity for theater makers and theater lovers to gain useful insight to the playmaking process, as well as helpful tools to apply in any creative endeavor.”

-Andrew C., 2017 Student