Writing Is Rewriting: I School You in Playwriting in Los Angeles

It's been more than a year since my rewriting workshop has been offered at East West Players in Los Angeles, so let's do it again shall we? The class helps deepen playwrights' understanding of their own work, and it occasionally yields great rewards—from my first (and only) rewriting class, Tim Toyama's Yuri and Malcolm X won the New York JACL/Ruby Yoshino Schaar Playwright Award, Aurelio Locsin's Helltown Buffet had its world premiere at Rude Guerrilla Theatre Company in Santa Ana, and Paul Kikuchi's Ixnay will open at EWP in February. More to come, I'm sure. Check it out:

WRITING IS REWRITING

This intensive 15-week workshop will feature lessons on different aspects of rewriting, and each playwright will have two class sessions dedicated to workshopping two different drafts of his or her play. Directed feedback sessions will help playwrights realize their own unique vision and voice. Equally important is participating in each other's feedback sessions, as all the playwrights will find common ground in the issues that concern them during the rewriting phase, and the strength of this tight-knit community of playwrights will help bring all the projects to completion--the goal being a production-ready script ready for submission to theaters. The workshop will culminate in staged readings by professional actors and directors. Enrollment is limited to 7 writers. Applicants should also note that the application process isn't necessarily an evaluation of their work, but rather of this particular instructor's ability to help improve it.

Instructor: PRINCE GOMOLVILAS
February 21, 2009–June 13, 2009
(No class May 23, and no class one other day TBA)
Days & Times: Saturdays from 10:00AM–1:00PM
Staged Readings: June 20-30, 2009
Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center
222 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fee: $500 (but through Irvine Foundation underwriting, the fee will end up being comparable to previous DHHWI workshops)

Prince Gomolvilas's plays include Big Hunk o' Burnin' Love (1998, East West Players), The Theory Of Everything (2000, East West Players), and the stage adaptation of Mysterious Skin (2003, New Conservatory Theatre Center). He has received the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award, International Herald Tribune/Singapore Repertory Theatre Playwriting Award, PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama, and East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community. He received his MFA in Playwriting from San Francisco State University.

Application Information

Requirements:

• You must have a completed draft of a full-length play.
• You must commit to attending all 15 sessions of the workshop and all 7 staged readings (with few, if any, exceptions).
• You must agree to read all plays off a reading list (5 max) by the first session.

Submit:

• A brief one-paragraph synopsis of your play.
• A brief explanation of why this workshop sounds right for you.
• The first 10 pages of your play.
• E-mail these items to BOTH prince@princegomolvilas.com and jliuewp@yahoo.com by Monday, February 2, 2009. Playwrights accepted into the workshop will be notified by February 11, 2009.

www.eastwestplayers.org