Telling Ghost Stories with Naomi Iizuka, hosted by Berkeley Rep at UC San Diego 

In this workshop we join the multi-award winning Naomi Iizuka with her playwriting class at the UC San Diego as she discusses the ghost and the ghost story on stage.

To begin, think on what is it that haunts you as as a writer. Free write for around 5 mins- Naomi calls this ‘swimming’

If you want to continue working on your ghost story- Naomi has shared with additional tasks

Naomi Iizuka’s plays include 36 VIEWS, POLAROID STORIES, ANON(YMOUS), LANGUAGE OF ANGELS, ALOHA, SAY THE PRETTY GIRLS, TATTOO GIRL, SKIN, AT THE VANISHING POINT, CONCERNING STRANGE DEVICES FROM THE DISTANT WEST, LAST FIREFLY, CITIZEN 13559, and WAR OF THE WORLDS (a collaboration with Anne Bogart and SITI Company.) Her plays have been produced at theatres across the country including Berkeley Rep, the Goodman Theatre, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie Theater, Cornerstone Theater Company, Children’s Theater Company, Seattle Children’s Theatre Company, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Huntington Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, the Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and Soho Rep. Iizuka’s plays have been published by Overlook Press, Playscripts, Smith and Kraus, Dramatic Publishing, and TCG. lizuka is an alumna of New Dramatists and the recipient of a PEN/Laura Pels Award, an Alpert Award, a Joyce Foundation Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference, a Rockefeller Foundation MAP grant, an NEA/TCG Artist‑in‑Residence grant, a McKnight Fellowship, a PEN Center USA West Award for Drama, a Hodder Fellowship, and a Jerome Fellowship. Her play GOOD KIDS was commissioned by the Big Ten Consortium’s New Play Initiative and has been produced at universities nationwide. Recent projects include an adaptation of SLEEP by Haruki Murakami which premiered at the 2017 BAM Next Wave Festival and was a New York Times Critics Pick, and WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, a play written in collaboration with US Marine Corps combat veterans and their families, and produced by La Jolla Playhouse and Cornerstone Theater Company. Iizuka was the 2017 Berlind Playwright-in-Residence at Princeton University. In 2018 she worked as a writer and story editor for Season 2 of THE TERROR on the AMC network which will air in 2019. She currently heads the MFA Playwriting program at UC-San Diego.

And big thanks to the brilliant-

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 5.5 million people have enjoyed nearly 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, which have gone on to win five Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, and many other honors. Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Its School of Theatre engages and educates some 20,000 people a year and helps build the audiences of tomorrow with its nationally recognized teen programs. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities – which also include the 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley – are helping revitalize a renowned city. Be a Rep. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.

For more archived livestream workshops please see https://www.writeaplay.co.uk/writing-resources/?media=online-workshops