Several years ago I launched Writing Is Rewriting, an advanced playwriting workshop at East West Players' David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. And even though I have little time these days to facilitate something like this (writing Channing Tatum fan fiction takes time, people!), I'm bringing it back this summer. (A colleague accuses me of having "founder's disease.") You hereby have my permission to pass along the details to anyone who might be interested:
WRITING IS REWRITING: A NEW-PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP WITH PRINCE GOMOLVILAS
Enrollment by Application Only
Application Deadline: April 4, 2011
Notification: April 18, 2011
Workshop Begins: May 9, 2011
This comprehensive 13-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 theatres, 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 6 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
May 9, 2011-August 1, 2011
Mondays, 7:00PM-10:00PM
(no class May 30; to be rescheduled)
Staged Readings: August 13-15, 2011
Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center
222 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fee: $500 (ACTS members $475)
BIO:
Prince Gomolvilas's plays include BIG HUNK O' BURNIN' LOVE (East West Players, Los Angeles, 1998), THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Singapore Repertory Theatre & East West Players, Singapore & Los Angeles, 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, in Singapore, and in the U.K. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was published by Dramatic Publishing in 2002. He received the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama; Julie Harris/Janet and Maxwell Salter 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 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 Paul Kikuchi's IXNAY and WRINKLES, both of which were eventually produced by East West Players in 2009 and 2011, respectively; Tim Toyama & Aaron Woolfolk's BRONZEVILLE, which eventually received an Ovation Award Nomination for Playwriting for the Robey Theatre Company production in 2009; and Aurelio Locsin's HELLTOWN BUFFET, which was eventually produced by Rude Guerrilla Theater Company in 2008.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Requirements:
Submit:
- You must have a completed draft of a full-length play.
- You must commit to attending all 13 sessions of the workshop (on time!) and all 6 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.
- A brief one-paragraph synopsis of your play.
- A brief explanation of why this workshop sounds right for you.
- A PDF version of your entire play.
- E-mail these items to BOTH prince@princegomolvilas.com and jliu@eastwestplayers.org by Monday, April 4, 2011. Playwrights accepted into the workshop will be notified by April 18, 2011.