Playwriting Courses

 

General Playwriting

Griffin’s general playwriting course runs one night per week for ten weeks and is suitable for both beginners and those with playwriting experience. The course covers the basics of writing for the stage: character, plot, structure, dialogue, dramatic action, mood, and tone; the use of image and symbol and the impact of sound, lighting and design. Writers start with the writing of an effective scene and build towards a first draft of a short play.

Advanced Course: Free Adaptation

This course focuses on the writing of an original play loosely based on an existing classic. Writers are given an enduring dramatic work from which they write their own – fresh, relevant and personal – new, full-length play. The idea behind this approach is two-fold. Firstly, it gives the writers a sense of complete creative freedom, along with the security of a fail safe structure. Secondly, through the deep investigation of a classic work, the writers absorb an understanding of how all the elements of drama are effectively employed.

Griffin’s playwriting courses will be led by playwright and educator Hilary Bell. Hilary’s plays include Wolf Lullaby, Memmie Le Blanc, Shot While Dancing, Eye of the Storm and The Falls. Hilary has taught playwriting and screenwriting in the USA at New York University, The University of the South (Tennessee) and Wesleyan (Connecticut), as well as in high schools around New York and locally at ATYP and for Page to Stage.

PLAYWRITING: FIRST STEPS

Weekend Intensive August 28 & 29

Want to write a play but keep getting stuck? This weekend intensive offers inspiring ways to begin writing a play and provides a pathway to get to the final scene.

Excavate your imagination, free yourself to take risks and develop new techniques through a range of enjoyable tasks that explore finding the right start point, tapping into the pulse of your characters, writing cracking dialogue and uncovering the true form required for your play.

Join Griffin resident playwright Lachlan Philpott for a weekend of rewarding challenges. Lachlan directs Fresh Ink young writers program at Australian Theatre for Young People. He has taught script writing in Africa and Europe and has tutored at NIDA and The Royal Court. His play Silent Disco won the Griffin Award in 2009 and his play Bustown is currently shortlisted for an Australian Writers Guild Award.

SHARP NEW TOOLS FOR WRITERS

Weekend Intensive September 11 & 12

This weekend intensive focuses on offering new tools and ideas for theatre writers.

Using international contemporary writing as inspiration, work through a series of vigorous exercises which will challenge your old habits and encourage you to be bolder. Dive into experimentation with form, challenge assumptions about structure and get to the guts of what you and your characters want to do on the stage.

Join NIDA’s Head of Playwriting Jane Bodie and Griffin Resident Playwright Lachlan Philpott for an active weekend of writing.

Jane’s plays, including RIDE, Still, Fourplay and A Single Act have been performed worldwide, from Australia, to New York and Brazil. She worked at the Royal Court Theatre with the Young Writers Programme and was one of the writers chosen for an attachment at The National Theatre in the UK in 2005. Her play A Single Act premiered at the Hampstead Theatre and had its Australian premiere at the MTC in 2006, winning the 2007 Victoria Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play. Her new play Here was developed by Playwriting Australia in June 2010. Jane has also written extensively for TV and Radio, including Secret Life of Us, Crash/Burn, No Angels and Moving Wallpaper. Jane is currently Head of Playwriting at NIDA.

Lachlan directs Fresh Ink young writers program at Australian Theatre for Young People. He has taught script writing in Africa and Europe and has tutored at NIDA and The Royal Court. His play Silent Disco won the Griffin Award in 2009 and his play Bustown is currently shortlisted for an Australian Writers Guild Award.

CLASS SCHEDULE

GENERAL PLAYWRITING 21 July to 22 September, Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9:30pm.
PLAYWRITING: FIRST STEPS 28 & 29 August, 10am to 5pm

SHARP NEW TOOLS FOR WRITERS 11 & 12 September, 10am to 5pm

Complete 2010 schedule coming soon…

WHERE: Griffin Office, 13 Craigend St, Kings Cross

COST: General course – $480 (limited to 15 participants). Advanced course – $560 (limited to 12 participants).  Weekend Intensives – $195 (limited to 15 participants)

FURTHER INFORMATION & TO ENROL: Contact the Griffin office on 9332 1052 or email belinda@griffintheatre.com.au for further information. To enrol, complete this form and return to the office. Please note, participants in the advanced course require playwriting experience.

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