Yup, Last Time I Checked, Writing Is STILL Rewriting

A playwriting class that I pioneered at East West Players' David Henry Hwang Writers Institute and that is offered only on occasion will be back in full swing this Spring. If you've got a completed play that needs some tender loving rewriting care, check it out. (It's in Los Angeles, and it's by application only, yo.)

WRITING IS REWRITING
A NEW-PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP WITH PRINCE GOMOLVILAS

Enrollment by Application Only
Application Deadline: January 15, 2010
Notification: January 26, 2010
Workshop Begins: February 16, 2010

DESCRIPTION
This comprehensive 15-week new-play development workshop gives playwrights the opportunity to work intensively on revising a full-length play and bringing it to completion--the goal being a polished script ready for submission to theaters, festivals, and contests. The workshop features weekly lessons on different aspects of the rewriting process, writing exercises to help lead playwrights into a deeper understanding of their work, reading assignments of relevant plays by well-known authors, and group outings to play productions around town. Aside from weekly monitoring of each playwright's progress, 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 will help playwrights reach their fullest potential. The workshop will culminate in staged readings at East West Players by professional actors and directors. Enrollment is by application only, and the workshop is limited to 7 playwrights. Applicants should also note that the application process isn't necessarily an evaluation of the quality of their work, but rather of this particular instructor's ability to help improve it.

Instructor: PRINCE GOMOLVILAS
February 16, 2010-June 1, 2010
(Extra week scheduled for mid-semester break TBA )
Tuesdays from 7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Staged Readings: June 22-July 1, 2010
Location: Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center, 222 S. Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fee: $500 (ACTS members $475)

INSTRUCTOR BIO
Prince Gomolvilas's plays include BIG HUNK O' BURNIN' LOVE (East West Players, Los Angeles, 1998), THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Singapore Repertory Theatre, Singapore, 2000), BEE (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco, 2001), and the stage adaptation of the Scott Heim novel, MYSTERIOUS SKIN (New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco, 2003), which have been produced around United States and in Singapore. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was published by Dramatic Publishing in 2002. He received the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama; Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award; International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award; East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community; and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation. He also teaches playwriting in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. He received his MFA in Playwriting from San Francisco State University.

Plays that have been developed in the Writing Is Rewriting workshop include Tim Toyama & Aaron Woolfolk's BRONZEVILLE, which received an Ovation Award Nomination for Playwriting for the Robey Theatre Company production in 2009; Paul Kikuchi's IXNAY, which was produced by East West Players in 2009; and Aurelio Locsin's HELLTOWN BUFFET, which was produced by Rude Guerrilla Theater Company in 2008.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

• You must have a completed draft of a full-length play.
• You must commit to attending all 15 sessions of the workshop (on time!) and all 7 staged readings (with few, if any, exceptions).
• You must agree to complete all reading assignments. Aside from reading the work of classmates, an additional 4 to 7 plays will be required reading during the course of the semester.
• You must agree to attend all play field trips. Playwrights will go to see 2 to 4 plays during the course of the semester.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

• A brief one-paragraph synopsis of your play.
• The first 10 pages of your play.
• A brief explanation of why this workshop sounds right for you.
• E-mail these items to BOTH prince@princegomolvilas.com and jliu@eastwestplayers.org by Friday, January 15, 2010. Playwrights accepted into the workshop will be notified by January 26, 2010.

(Anyone who would like to apply for a scholarship can download the application here. The postmark deadline is January 15, 2010, with notification by January 26, 2010.)

Visit the EWP/DHHWI website for more information, including info on a regular playwriting workshop.