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.

Maybe you’re feeling stuck. Maybe you’re wanting to (finally!) get started. Or to get started again. This workshop focuses on inspiration, insight, and project development. It welcomes writers from across genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more, with projects at any stage. Come with your novel. Or with your goal to establish a weekly writing practice. Or with your ideas for a new kind of writing to try. We’ll consider how creativity works at different points of the writing process and in our own lives, from initial planning to preparing for publication, as well as the obstacles that writers need to navigate. We’ll give close feedback on your work and focus on strategies that can help each participant stay motivated and make progress. The workshop will include generative writing activities, discussion, and chances to share new and older work. That might include outlines, drafts, sketches, plans, notes, lists of potential projects, and more. We’ll take inspiration from practices that have helped other writers, as well as from the visual and performing arts, psychology, creativity studies, design thinking, and other fields. Participants should gain new insights into how inspiration and creativity work for them and many ideas for practices that can keep them going into the pages ahead, while also making concrete progress on their writing—all in a supportive group that is responsive to each writer’s background, interests, and goals. Come join us, and let’s get inspired! In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week; workshop writing you bring from home.