Course Description:

During the course of our workshop, we'll focus on different aspects of the rewriting process, as well as remind ourselves of the fundamental building blocks of successful plays. We will investigate the elements that comprise a script including dialogue, monologue, subtext, character, structure, action, language and imagery in service to imagination, intentionality and expression ultimately meant to be realized in performance.You will also have the opportunity to work intensively on new drafts of your play, integrating both the thorough notes you'll receive in class and the writing exercises that are meant to be a springboard to the imagination. Furthermore, we will witness the development of each playwright’s work and recognize the inevitable commonalities and overlap in everyone's process. Finally, reading and viewing assignments will help supplement our understanding of the form and provide much- needed real-world context, as well as inspire, provoke, and challenge.

Course Objectives

·  To craft one’s play with clear action, developed characters,

intentional dialogue and inspired imaginings

·  To deepen our understanding and appreciation of the playwright’s craft

·  To bestow constructive criticism and thoughtful feedback to self and peers

·  To execute REVISION

·  To cultivate fearlessness in our writing experiments

·  To invest deeply in the content and the form

·  To surprise oneself

·  To relentlessly discover “What can a play do?”

 INSTRUCTOR BIO:

Giovanni Ortega (Instructor) Commissioned plays: Sama Sama: Solidarity in the Fields, Criers for Hire & Allos, The Story of Carlos Bulosan (East West Players), The Butterfly of Chula Vista (San Diego Rep), Simula – A New Beginning, Fall in Winter, Tug of War, Wayne Kalani – A Soldier’s Tale, Jonah, Mutyang Kalayaan – Beloved Freedom, Tao Po: We Are Here, Lost in the Margins, El Pescador y La Lluvia and The Sea. In Singapore, Giovanni devised/directed The Body Series, Evolution, Kabaret Singapura at Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity. Poetry Festival Singapore also commissioned Giovanni to write the plays Benches and Palindromes, followed by films Belonging, Atlas and Nomads.  Giovanni is faculty at Art of Acting Studios, AMDA College of the Performing Arts and Visting Professor at Colorado College.

Course Description: 

A 6-week class intended to activate a writer’s non-linear creativity. This workshop will consist of in-class exercises, lectures, optional homework on artists who work in the intuitive realm as well as workshop. Workshop feedback will be different than in prior classes with Lisa- we will play with new forms of response and conversation that are specifically geared toward opening the writer up to their own work in new and surprising ways.

What does ‘intuitive’ and ‘non-linear’ mean?

Great question! Intuitive/non-linear writing is writing that is led not by ideas about what is ‘good’ or even ‘sensical’ but by the deep well inside that may not know what it is until it emerges on the page. It comes from the ineffable, irrational place that is led by the gut and heart more than the mind.

 Instructor Bio: 

bio:Lisa's play SUMO was originally produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse and received its New York premiere with The Public Theater and Ma-Yi. It was nominated for a 2025 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play. Her play Kairos had a Rolling World Premiere with National New Play Network and has received four productions, including one with East West Players as well as a production with Red Theater which was recently nominated for a Jeff Award for New Work. Lisa also co-wrote Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin with Chelsea Sutton and Rogue Artists Ensemble, which was co-produced by East West Players. Lisa has worked with Meow Wolf, was a member of The Geffen Writers' Room and was honored as a recipient of the 2020/21 PLAY LA Stage Raw/Humanitas Prize as well as the 2025 Helen Merrill Award. They have been a finalist for the Relentless Award, the O'Neill Playwrights' Conference (3x), the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and a 3x finalist (one honorable mention) for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Lisa's work has also been developed/produced by Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Children's Theatre Center of Minneapolis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Antaeus, Circle X, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Red Theater, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Theatre NOVA and Skylight Theatre. They have been awarded fellowships at MacDowell (2x), Blue Mountain Center and Yaddo. She was awarded the 2021 Dorothy and Granville Hicks Residency at Yaddo, which honors one promising young writer a year. Lisa received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Interactive Programming for a piece she co-wrote and co-directed with Matt Hill called Welcome to the Blumhouse Live.

Refunds and Cancellations: 

We understand that not all classes work out and that emergencies happen. If a cancellation were to occur either before or after the class, we will issue a full refund, minus credit card processing fees (3% of the cost). If a cancellation occurs after the second course, 10% of the course cost will be deducted from the total, in addition to the 3% credit card processing fee. 

If an emergency occurs that makes it so that the student is unable to finish the course, EWP and the student will discuss best steps for moving forward