ENG 207 - Introduction to Playwriting

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirement AR.
Meets Explore Core requirement (students beginning Fall 2024 and later): CE
This beginning-level creative writing workshop will provide a combination of skill-building practical instruction for writing for the stage and help you develop a process and vocabulary for nuts and bolts craft-oriented analysis of your own work and published/produced examples from the genre. In other words, you’ll get better at reading and writing plays. Through our assignments, you will build your playwriting skills by consistent and guided practice; considering what makes a story stageworthy, contemplating genre and style, crafting impactful beats and scenes loaded with conflict and stakes, paying attention to pacing and rhythm, avoiding cliché by allowing your three-dimensional characters’ needs and wants to drive dramatic action, learning to write unique and specific character-driven dialogue, internalizing classic dramatic structure (or the “well-made” form) and exploring other contemporary dramatic modalities. These weekly assignments should generate approximately 30 pages of writing over the course of the semester - many short scenes, and 5-page and 10-page plays. Satisfies departmental Drama/Transmedia requirement.