Intermediate Playwriting: Character As An Entry Point

Catalog description

Often, a good play is a seduction. A character is the seducer. Their job is to draw us into their world, to convince us to care about their problems, and to keep us in the theater until the play ends. In this course, we will look at the techniques artists to seduce us through characterization. This class is an intermediate playwriting class, designed for students who are interested in writing plays, have already taken a writing class or two, and are looking for a class where you are encouraged to prioritize and focus on writing for a semester. In this class, we will read excerpts from contemporary plays by writers like Gracie Gardner, Samah Meghjee, and Sanaz Toossi. We will then meet to discuss how these writers build out character through techniques like monologues, scenes, and worldbuilding, and how you can steal their methods and use them for your own purposes. For the first half of the semester, you will complete a weekly playwriting assignment of about 5-10 pages each week. For the second half of the semester, you will work on a final project, a play between 10 and 90 pages. These characterization tools are foundational craft skills upon which you can build out your own unique writing practice and authorial voice. Whether your preferred medium of artistic expression is writing, performance, design, or something else entirely, learning how to write compelling characters will help you approach your practice with a focus on understanding and empathy. If you want, this course could be the first step in your writing career.