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Spring Classes

Lyric Blockbusting, with Marcy Heisler

 640 433 Play Penn

Creating contemporary lyrics via an interactive lyric writing workshop.

Class Description

Join Marcy Heisler in a hands-on interactive writing workshop in which lyricists expand the boundaries of their creative toolkit. With a core of instructor-based assignments grounded in professional experience, writers will complete assignments built on themes of adaptation, collaboration, production environment, and more.

Dates & Times

March 10, 17, 24, 31, 6:30-9:30pm EST

Where

Online (via Zoom)

Bio

Marcy Heisler is a bookwriter/lyricist, performer, poet, author and educator. Primarily working with composer Zina Goldrich, current collaborations include: Ever After (Book/Lyrics), Breathe (Lyrics), Hollywood Romance (Lyrics), Dear Edwina (Book/Lyrics, Drama Desk nomination), Snow White, Rose Red and Fred (Book/Lyrics, Helen Hayes nomination), Junie B Jones, The Musical (Book/Lyrics, Lucille Lortel nomination) Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School (Book/Lyrics), The Great American Mousical (Lyrics), and others. Additionally, she is working on Williamsburg, which was recently workshopped at New York Stage and Film in collaboration with Pultizer-prize winning composer Tom Kitt, Emmy Award winning author Jason Katims, and Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller. She collaborated with Concord composer Georgia Stitt on Alphabet City Cycle, which was based upon her poetry. Her songs have been featured in numerous projects for Disney, ABC, NPR and PBS, and she is co-lyricist of Little Did I Know, a podcast musical collaboration with Doug Besterman and Dean Pitchford. Awards include the 2012 Kleban Prize for Lyrics, 2009 Fred Ebb Award (co-recipient) for outstanding songwriting, the 2012 ASCAP Rodgers and Hart Award, the ASCAP New Horizons Theatre Award, and the Seldes-Kanin Fellowship. She is a Concord publishing artist and her collected works are available at Hal Leonard.

$225

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.

Sign Up

“Writing can be a lonely road. I’m thankful that Philadelphia offers the supportive, talented PlayPenn community.”

-Joe G., 2020 Participant

“I walked away with an arsenal of guidelines for what makes a high-concept play, but also with half a notebook full of fantastic off-the-cuff breakthroughs and exercises.”

-Danielle B., 2019 Participant

Building a First Draft, with Phillip Christian Smith

 640 433 Play Penn

The focus of the class will be on moving forward without getting stuck, and making that great idea, a visceral reality, words on paper.

Class Description

Students will bring in 5-10 pages a week, those pages will be workshopped in a safe Lerman styled manner. Through, what stuck out to you (popcorn), questions the class has, and questions the writer has, we hope to inspire the playwright to write vigoursly and more effectively by seeing what impact it is having on the class IE what is coming across. A little positive and kind feedback can be a strong motivational factor for an emerging playwright.

Dates & Times

March 18, 25, April 1, 8, 7-9pm EST

Where

Online (via Zoom)

Required Prep

Bring 5 pages of a new idea to the first class, if possible – from there in, 5-10 pages of writing will be required for each week’s class.

Bio

Phillip Christian Smith is a 2021 O’Neill (NPC) Finalist for his drag ball adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest titled: A Handbag is Not a Proper Mutha, 2020-21 Playwrights Realm Fellow, Lambda Literary Fellow, Winter Playwrights Retreat, Blue Ink Playwriting Award Semi-Finalist, Finalist for The Dramatists Guild Fellowship and New Dramatists, Finalist and Semi-finalist PlayPenn, Two time Semi-finalist for The O’Neill (NPC), and runner- up in The Theatre of Risk Modern Tragedy writing competition for his play The Chechens, which also won Theatre Conspiracy’s playwriting award, and recently had its third production at Alliance for the Arts. He has been a semi-finalist for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries (ASC), finalist for Trustus, former Playwright in Residence Exquisite Corpse and founding member of The Playwriting Collective. 2021 Playwright in Residence: Quicksilver Theatre’s Playwrights of Color Summit. Co-Literary Director of Exquisite Corpse Company. His work has been supported by The Fire This Time Festival, Bennington College, Primary Stages (Cherry Lane) ESPA, Fresh Ground Pepper, and the 53rd Street New York Public Library. MFA Yale School of Drama, BFA University of New Mexico. MFA Hunter ’23.

$150

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.

Sign Up

“Writing can be a lonely road. I’m thankful that Philadelphia offers the supportive, talented PlayPenn community.”

-Joe G., 2020 Participant

“I walked away with an arsenal of guidelines for what makes a high-concept play, but also with half a notebook full of fantastic off-the-cuff breakthroughs and exercises.”

-Danielle B., 2019 Participant

The Polish, with Jule Selbo

 640 433 Play Penn

It’s important for a playwright, after the first solid draft of a play is completed, to be able to step back and analyze the elements of their work.

Class Description

Are the characters clear? Is there a purpose for the piece? What themes are creeping to the forefront? What does the writer want the audience to “get” from the piece? Is it ready to be produced? Do all elements have a clarity to them, so the reader/producer will understand the writer’s intent? We will work as a group, and also individually, to explore the questions (and more) stated above. Exercises will help generate new content. The plays will be workshopped during the class sessions.

Dates & Times

March 21, 28, April 4, 11, 7-9pm EST

Where

Online (via Zoom)

Required Prep

A completed first draft of a play. Instructor will provide reading material.

Bio

Jule Selbo loves story – and she writes in many mediums (theatrical plays, screenplays, novels, non-fiction). Her plays have been produced in New York and Los Angeles and in regional theaters. Isolate (directed by Allan Wasserman) was awarded the LA Women’s Playwrighting Prize (1992), Boxes, a nominee for the Valley Awards (directed by Mary Lou Belli), premiered at Theater West (2015) and most recently produced (in 2019) at Good Theatre in Portland, Maine to sold out houses and excellent reviews. One-acts include Open Door (Theater West) The Wedding (Actors Theater Louisville), Two Not So Tall Women (Interact Theatre); her short play Miss Julie was chosen for the LA Pride Festival Zoom reading series and for Acorn Theater’s Spring Festival (postponed because of Covid). Her play, Lake Girls has enjoyed staged readings and is on a short list for possible 2021 production. She’s a produced screenwriter in both film and tv, she’s written “story podcasts” and also for bookshelves (four books so far); her latest novel, 10 DAYS, A Dee Rommel Mystery has been nominated for a 2021 Clue Award. She has also written academic texts on screenwriting, film history. She helped shape the playwriting department at California State University and started a one-act festival at the university; she has taught playwriting workshops in LA, NYC, Maine and Florence, Italy. Her focus, as an instructor, is to help each writer find the core of the work and to help get it ready for an audience. Check out her website https://www.juleselbo.com

$200

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.

Sign Up

“Writing can be a lonely road. I’m thankful that Philadelphia offers the supportive, talented PlayPenn community.”

-Joe G., 2020 Participant

“I walked away with an arsenal of guidelines for what makes a high-concept play, but also with half a notebook full of fantastic off-the-cuff breakthroughs and exercises.”

-Danielle B., 2019 Participant

Dynamic Dialogue, with Chisa Hutchinson

 640 433 Play Penn

How to (you know) write dynamic dialogue.

Class Description

We’ve all been there. You’ve ruminated on an idea for a play. Dreamed up some really compelling characters. Even outlined major plot points in the shower one morning. Like you know exactly how you want the thing to end and everything. But then you sit down to start writing it and read that first scene out loud and go, “Ughch, all my characters all sound the same,” or “Man, this feels so flat.”

THAT. That’s what this class is for: avoiding that shit. I’ll break dialogue down into elements and give you some tips for how to create dialogue that feels both authentic to your characters and engaging to your audience. Along the way, I will give you two short assignments that will challenge you to flex your dialogue muscles, and we will workshop your work.

Dates & Times

March 26, 2-5pm EST

Where

Online (via Zoom)

Required Prep

Just bring something to write on or with.

Bio

Chisa Hutchinson (B.A. Vassar College; M.F.A NYU – TSoA) has presented her plays, which include She Like Girls, Somebody’s Daughter, Surely Goodness And Mercy, Whitelisted and Dead & Breathing at such venues as the Lark Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, CATF, the National Black Theatre, Second Stage Theater and Arch 468 in London. Her radio drama, Proof of Love, can be found on Audible (with a pretty boss rating). She has been a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, a NeoFuturist, and a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. She’s won a GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and the Lanford Wilson Award. Currently, Chisa is standing by for production on a new TV series she helped write for Showtime, and is about to embark on another with producers Karamo Brown (Queer Eye) and Stephanie Allain (Hustle & Flow, Dear White People). Her first original feature, THE SUBJECT, an indie about a white documentarian dealing with the moral fallout from exploiting the death of a black teen, is available on various VOD platforms after a successful film festival circuit during which it won over 30 prizes. To learn more, visit www.chisahutchinson.com .

$50

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.

Sign Up

“Writing can be a lonely road. I’m thankful that Philadelphia offers the supportive, talented PlayPenn community.”

-Joe G., 2020 Participant

“I walked away with an arsenal of guidelines for what makes a high-concept play, but also with half a notebook full of fantastic off-the-cuff breakthroughs and exercises.”

-Danielle B., 2019 Participant

Art for All: A Practical Guide for Leading a Creative Life with Jacqueline Goldfinger and R. Eric Thomas

 150 150 Play Penn

Join PlayPenn Education Director Jacqueline Goldfinger and Award-winning Playwright R. Eric Thomas for this fun and informative 90-minute session.

Class Description

Jacqueline and Eric will share some of their favorite (and effective) playwriting exercises, plus will provide expert advice and insider tips for building confidence while composing plays. They will also discuss different paths to building lives as playwrights and theater makers. Perfect for writers or anyone who has ever been curious about leading a writing-infused creative life. All participants will receive 15% off any upcoming PlayPenn Education course throughout 2018. PRE-REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS REQUIRED.

Dates & Times

February 18, 2018

4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Where

Philadelphia Young Playwrights Learning Lab, 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Bio

R. Eric Thomas is a Barrymore Award-winning playwright and humorist. He is the long-running host of The Moth in Philadelphia. He is a Senior Staff Writer for Elle.com where he writes “Eric Reads the News,” a daily current events and culture column. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Man Repeller, Fusion, Philadelphia Magazine, Newsworks, ThinkingDance, and others. His play, TIME IS ON OUR SIDE, was commissioned by Simpatico Theater Project and developed with PlayPenn and PlayPenn Education. It was the recipient of two 2016 Barrymore Awards, including Best New Play, and was a finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg American Theater Critics Association New Play Award. Forthcoming: MRS. HARRISON (Azuka Theatre, 2018), the Midwest premiere of TIME IS ON OUR SIDE (About Face Theatre, 2018), INFINITY JONES NEEDS SOME SPACE! (development: Act II Theatre), SAFE SPACE (development: Cohesion Theater Company Playwright’s Fellowship). With over a million social media shares, Eric’s ELLE.com column “Eric Reads the News” has quickly become an online humor staple. Covering pop culture, politics and current events, the column is a sardonic and sassy take on our world. Since its inception, it has been praised by such disparate personalities as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mariah Carey, Maxine Waters, Tamron Hall, and Tituss Burgess. Eric gave a talk at the 2011 TEDxPhilly conference. Since 2014 he has also worked with TED to coach TEDx speakers. He is a alumnus of The Foundry, a Philadelphia playwrights lab, a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow, and a member of InterAct Theatre Company’s CORE Playwrights program, Baltimore Center Stage’s Playwright’s Collective and the Cohesion Theater Company 2017 Playwright’s Fellowship.

 

Jacqueline Goldfinger is the Director of Education for PlayPenn and teaches playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania. She won the Yale-Horn Drama Prize for Emerging Playwright, Smith Prize for Political Theater, a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play and Philadelphia Critics Award for Best New Play, was nominated for the Weissberger Award and the Blackburn Prize, and received a Commendation from the Terrence McNally Award. Her plays include Babel (NNPN/Florida Studio Theatre Residency),  Bottle Fly (The National Theatre New Work Studio/London, Wilma Theatre‘s HotHouse, PlayPenn New Play Conference), The Arsonists (Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage, La MaMa, National New Play Showcase, Sewanee Writers Conference, Disquiet/Lisbon, Kenyon Playwrights Conference, Perseverance Theatre, Azuka Theatre, Capital Stage, Know Theatre, BenchmarkTheatre, Thrown Stone Theatre), Click (Theatre Exile’s X-hibition Series, Emerson Stage Residency, Drama League Residency), Skin & Bone (Azuka Theatre, Bloomsberg Theatre Ensemble, Orlando Shakespeare PlayFest, Arden Theatre Writer’s Room), Slip/Shot (Seattle Public, FlashpointTheatre, PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark’s Playwrights Week), The Oath (Manhattan Theatre Works, Acadiana Rep, Last Frontier Writers Conference), and The Terrible Girls (Azuka Theatre, NYC International Fringe Festival, San Diego Playwrights Collective). Her work is published by Yale Press, Samuel French, Playscripts, and Smith & Kraus. Her work has been supported by New Georges, Yaddo Residency, National Endowment for the Arts, Independence Foundation, The Mitten Lab, People’s Light and Theatre Company’s Harmony Lab, The Producer’s Fund, Passage TheatrePlayLab, National New Play Network, Azuka Theatre Playwright-in-Residence Program, InterAct Playwrights Circle, among others. Read more about her work online: www.jacquelinegoldfinger.com

$15

Tuition

Register Here

This class is being presented as part of Philly Theatre Week. Click the button below to access our sign up page through Theatre Philadelphia and be sure to check out what else is on offer around the city!

For questions, please email classes@playpenn.org.

Sign Up

“When you leave a PlayPenn class, your brain is so full of ideas and new tools, and your heart is full from this new network of collaborators you have just met. Old ideas are revived by the teachers, the tools, and the people in the room. I always leave the class ready to work.”

-Jamie, 2017 Student

Text & Subtext: Building Layers of Conflict and Meaning Within Your Scenes

 1024 704 Play Penn

Popular theater artist and legendary Fringe writer/director Bruce Walsh returns to Philadelphia for one weekend only!

Class Description

This workshop grapples with the relationship between surface conversations and the deeper needs of characters — how interesting characters use the topic at hand to cajole, tempt, distract, insult, manipulate, gaslight, obfuscate, and otherwise create complexity and layered conflicts.

Perfect for writers of all experience levels!

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

June 9, 2018

Noon to 4 p.m.

Where

Philadelphia Young Playwrights Learning Lab, 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Bio

Bruce Walsh recently earned a MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University and is now a traveling writer and teaching artist. His full-length play, Berserker, was recently presented at the Kennedy Center. He’s best known in Philadelphia for his hit collaborations with FringeArts. His fascination with sacredness infuses all of his writing. But not in the ways people sometimes expect. He has no interest in prescribing moral codes. His characters are bold, queer, angry, ridiculous, joyous, deeply sexual beings. Bruce writes most often about people he encountered in many day jobs, working for companies like UPS, Trader Joe’s, a porn video warehouse (seriously), and a slew of downsizing newspapers. He is endlessly enthralled by those that seek the “courage to be” – a sacred meaning or purpose – even amidst a culture and economy with very little capacity to foster those needs. Recent honors include: The Gary Garrison National Ten Minute Play Award, Seven Devils Playwrights’ Conference (finalist), Heideman Award (finalist), and the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission (semi-finalist).

$100

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.

Registration for this class is closed. Click here for other events!

“When you leave a PlayPenn class, your brain is so full of ideas and new tools, and your heart is full from this new network of collaborators you have just met. Old ideas are revived by the teachers, the tools, and the people in the room. I always leave the class ready to work.”

-Jamie, 2017 Student

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

-Mark, 2017 Student

New Play Dramaturgy

 1024 681 Play Penn

with Michele Volansky

PlayPenn Conference Lead Dramaturg Michele Volansky offers a class with a focus on the unique needs of new play dramaturgy.

Class Description

Join PlayPenn Conference Lead Dramaturg Michele Volansky for a class with a focus on the unique needs of new play dramaturgy. What kinds of questions to ask, how to think about structure and ways your point of view might impact the script’s development will all be covered, along with an opportunity to work on excerpts of a few new plays, and receive feedback on your approach.

Perfect for dramaturgs, directors and actors, as well as other theater artists who want to learn to use dramaturgical tools in their exploration and creation of new work.

Public 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

June 3, 2018  2pm-6pm (EST)

and

June 4, 2018 6-10pm (EST)

Where

Online. We will use Zoom.us. It is a very simple system. You will receive a link prior to class. You click the link and are taken to a site that has multiple boxes (like The Brady Bunch opening credits) where you can see and chat with everyone in the class. You must have a working internet connection and a computer that has both speakers (so you can hear the teaching artist) and a microphone (so they can hear you; be advised, some computer systems require you purchase a headset to use the microphone). If you would like to investigate the system before registering for the class, check out: www.zoom.us. PlayPenn covers the cost of using the system but you are expected to participate independently. We will not be recording these sessions.

Bio

Michele Volansky is Chair and Associate Professor of Drama at Washington College (MD), from which she earned a B.A. in English. She has worked on nearly 200 new and established plays in her professional career, developing new works by such writers as Sam Shepard, Daniel Stern, Warren Leight, Jeffrey Hatcher, Bruce Graham, Tina Landau, Charles L. Mee and Bruce Norris, along with many others. Her work on Shepard’s rewrite of Buried Child (directed by Gary Sinise) and Dale Wasserman’s One Flew OverThe Cuckoo’s Nest (directed by Terry Kinney and starring Gary Sinise) earned her two Broadway credits and participation in the Tony Award for Best Revival of Cuckoo’s Nest. She has guest dramaturged at the Arden Theater Company, South Coast Rep, the Atlantic Theatre Company, Victory Gardens and Next Theatre, in addition to her staff time at Actors Theatre of Louisville (1992-95), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (1995-2000) and Philadelphia Theatre Company (2000-2004). Her own play Whispering City was produced as part of the Steppenwolf Arts Exchange Program in the Fall of 1999. Since its inception, Dr. Volansky has served as Conference Dramaturg and Associate Artist for the Philadelphia-based new play development conference PlayPenn. She has served as an artistic consultant for the TCG playwright residency program, a reader for the Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the New York Shakespeare Festival/The Joseph Papp Public Theatre’s Emerging Voices Program, as well as a grants review panelist for Philadelphia-area arts organizations. She is the 1999 inaugural co-recipient of the Elliot Hayes Award for Dramaturgy and was the President of LMDA, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (2002-2004). Volansky’s book on playwriting and collaboration with Bruce Graham entitled The Collaborative Playwright was published in March, 2007 by Heinemann Press. She holds an M.A. from Villanova University and a PhD from the University of Hull (England); her dissertation explores the politics and advocacy of the critics Kenneth Tynan and Frank Rich.

$200

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

“The PlayPenn faculty members were well-organized, focused and extraordinarily helpful in their critiques. I am looking forward to learning even more in future PlayPenn classes.”

-Jane D.

“I take PlayPenn classes because I’m eager for inspiration and creative challenges, which the classes provide in a positive, nurturing environment.” 

-Mark C.

Turn Your Play Into A Screenplay

 960 748 Play Penn

with Chris Canaan

Join this Emmy Award-winning writer to find out how to take your work from the stage to the screen!

Class Description

Join Emmy Award-winning writer Chris Canaan to learn how to turn your stage play script into a screenplay! Perfect for writers of any experience level with at least one play (of any length) that they wish to adapt into a screenplay.

Public 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

May 5 and May 6, 2018 10am-2pm

Where

Philadelphia Young Playwrights Learning Lab, 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Required Prep

Bring a hard copy of the play that you want to adapt into a screenplay, if you have it.

Bio

Christopher Canaan (playwright/screenwriter/performer) won an Emmy with Michael Mann for the mini-series, “Camerena: Drug Wars.” He has written and produced movies and mini-series for CBS, NBC, ABC, The Family Channel, Fox, USA, Showtime, Hallmark and Starz Encore, including “Cries Unheard,” with Hillary Swank, “Robinson Crusoe,” starring Pierce Brosnan, and Dashiell Hammett’s “The House On Turk Street,” starring Samuel L. Jackson. Additionally he was co-creator of the CBS series, “Walker Texas Ranger.” He developed a contemporary version of “The Prince and he Pauper” for Prince Edward of England, and “Project Millennium” for George Lucas. His screen adaptations include novels by Elmore Leonard, Ann Rice and Robert Ludlum. Canaan holds an MFA in Theater from the University of California, San Diego. He also studied theater history and criticism at NYU and was a student at the Stella Adler Studio. Canaan has performed in regional theater at the Old Globe Theater, the Los Angeles Music Center where he performed with Charlton Heston in “Crucifer of Blood.” He also performed he professional repertory companies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Dartmouth College, and Tufts University. For the last several years, Canaan has taught screenwriting for the Writers Program at UCLA Extension and has lectured at various universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, USC, and California Lutheran University. Canaan is a member of the faculty at the Academy of Cinema in Athens, Greece, where he taught the Michael Chekhov Technique and creative writing.

$300

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

“Chris Canaan is a phenomenal instructor who possesses unmatched passion for teaching and sharing his love for movies, screenwriting, and life. He taught me to dig deep into myself and into the story I want to tell. His class is educational and his charm and wit make it entertaining as well. My writing has improved considerably since taking his class.”

-Jason Ancona, UCLA

“Everything I know about screenwriting, I know because of Chris Canaan. He broke down the barriers and demystified the myths of screenwriting by applying his “real world” knowledge and years of experience in the business in his teaching. He makes screenplay structure understandable, and taught me how to apply structure to the story I want to tell. He has taught me to probe the depths of character, making me see and create characters that are unique and compelling. My characters now have a beating heart, all because of Chris. Also, Chris has given me the tools to change my destiny. I am now a student at the American Film Institute, getting my Masters in Screenwriting. I attribute my success at the AFI because of what Chris has taught me. His knowledge was a foundation that has made me competitively light years ahead of my classmates. I thank him so much for everything I have achieved.”

-Melissa Nowak, UCLA

“Chris Canaan, while reminding us of the classical elements of drama, insisted that a screenplay, no matter how well-structured, must come from the writer’s heart. By sharing his own experience of writing successful scripts, Chris created a safe environment in which screenplays grew from vague ideas to vivid, credible scripts. I can’t wait to take his class again.”

-Wesley Harris, UCLA

Writing and Revising 10-Minute Plays

 541 700 Play Penn

with Tammy Ryan

Join award-winning playwright and teacher, Tammy Ryan, for a one day Master Class in writing and rewriting the 10 minute play. Perfect for writers of all experience levels!

Class Description

Often 10 minute plays are the way that writers introduce themselves to the world, so we want to help you put your best foot forward.

In the morning Tammy will discuss what makes a great 10 minute play and then through a series of writing prompts get you started writing yours.

During an extended lunch break you can eat and write a new 10 minute play or revise an old one.

In the afternoon, you will share new pages with Tammy and receive feedback.

You will leave class prepared to finish or revise your new 10 minute play.

Public 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

April 21, 2018 10am-6pm

Where

Philadelphia Young Playwrights Learning Lab, 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Bio

Tammy Ryan won the Francecsca Primus Prize for her play Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods.  Her plays have been performed around the country as well as internationally in Canada, Turkey and Japan.  She’s held residencies at the Sewanee Writers Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hambidge Center, LaMama Umbria International Playwriting Residency and the New Harmony Project. She teaches playwriting at Point Park, Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon University as well as freelance workshops.  For more information go to: www.tammyryan.net

$175

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 has the ability to cultivate artists from the angles of playwright and actor. … It is a great organization which connects artists and allowing them to hone their craft.”

-Iman A.

Taking a PlayPenn Class you quickly realize how many talented playwrights and creative, generous artists are writing in Philly, and your own work benefits from the experience of working among them tremendously!”

-Joe
John Yearley

Playwriting Try-It Workshop Session #2

 640 433 Play Penn

with John Yearley

Popular PlayPenn Teaching Artist John Yearley returns for a special three hour, one-time session to unlock the playwright inside of you!

Class Description

If you ever wanted to try playwriting, or get back into it, this workshop is meant for you. John will give you an opportunity to try playwriting through a few short writing exercises as well as talk about the art, craft and industry of what’s involved in the work.

Perfect for those interested in trying writing and beginning writers!

Public 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

April 8, 2018 5-8pm (EST)

Where

Online. We will use Zoom.us. It is a very simple system. You will receive a link prior to class. You click the link and are taken to a site that has multiple boxes (like The Brady Bunch opening credits) where you can see and chat with everyone in the class. You must have a working internet connection and a computer that has both speakers (so you can hear the teaching artist) and a microphone (so they can hear you; be advised, some computer systems require you purchase a headset to use the microphone). If you would like to investigate the system before registering for the class, check out: www.zoom.us. PlayPenn covers the cost of using the system but you are expected to participate independently. We will not be recording these sessions.

Required Prep

Light reading from the instructor in advance of class.

Bio

John Yearley

John Yearley is the author of The Unrepeatable Moment (Barrow Group), Leap (Kaplan New American Play Prize, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Antigone (adaptation, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Ephemera (Gassner Award, Summer Play Festival), and Another Girl (PlayPenn, Naked Angels). His plays All in Little Pieces and A Low-Lying Fog are published by Samuel French. He is currently writing for the PBS Kids show Arthur and worked as a script doctor for New Line Cinema. He’s a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, the Dramatists Guild, and twice a MacDowell Fellow.

$75

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.

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“This class was amazing and it was such a pleasure to take.”

-Malika, 2017 Student.

“Your class further ignited my passion for writing and encouraged me that I could do this. You gave me the building blocks needed to understand playwriting. I look forward to using the materials and writing exercises again to boost my creativity.”

-Tashara, 2017 Student
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