How can playwriting give us new insight into fiction, poetry, and more? This workshop explores experiments in playwriting—for writers from across genres. It’s designed for anyone who’s curious about how techniques from theater can inform their work in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, scripted forms, a personal writing practice, and more. Come refresh your dialogue, come explore how theatrical formats can inspire your poems and essays, come revise a piece by considering ideas from theater and performance studies. We'll take inspiration from works that distinctly approach dialogue, character, staging, performance, pacing, format, and other elements. And we’ll ask how those techniques can help us generate and revise our work.  

This workshop supports the generation of new writing and/or the revision of older work, all in a supportive and close-knit environment. Activities will include in-class writing and discussion, review of one another’s work, and analysis of published sources. No previous experience with playwriting or theater is required, and the course warmly welcomes writers who have no interest in being performers themselves. For two days, we’ll ask what playwriting can inspire for our writing, helping everyone gain insights that can energize their work and help it come to life on and off the page. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our weekend; workshop writing you bring from home.