A series of free live online writing workshops

We’re pleased to announce our 2017 live online workshop programme, and for the first time we will offer three international workshops in Australia, India and New York. These free workshops, led by prominent figures working internationally in theatre, are open to anyone and offer a chance for budding playwrights to develop their craft.

Workshop leaders will include; the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks; Associate Artist of Third Angel and the Royal Exchange, Chris Thorpe; agent and dramaturg, Mel Kenyon; and previous Bruntwood Prize winner and 2017 judge, Phil Porter. The five UK-based workshops will be hosted at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, who co-founded the Prize with the Bruntwood property group in 2005. The international partners will be Playwriting Australia at The Arts Exchange in Sydney, James Madison University in Delhi and the Public Theater in New York City.

The workshops will be live streamed at writeaplay.co.uk where there will also be a chance to interact via social media. All workshops will later be available as a free resource tool for anyone to access afterwards.

Add Workshops to your Calendar 2017-03-23 18:00:00 2017-03-23 20:00:00 Europe/London Rachel De-Lahay – Character, Journey & Dialogue In her workshop, the award-winning writer will look at the function and purpose of character. How are theatrical and dramatically active characters created? How do you write characters who change and go on a journey? Rachel will also explore writing dialogue that is dramatic, flows, and contains information in a way that isn’t expositional. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-04-08 13:30:00 2017-04-08 15:30:00 Europe/London ABHISHEK MAJUMDAR | Writing Personally, Politically and Philosophically The workshop will give an overview of different concepts and ideas that have engaged playwrights in the Indian Subcontinent over the years. The workshop will not delineate ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ or ‘eastern’ and ‘western’, or engage in any such narrow binaries and will look at playwriting more comprehensively and encourage a discourse that is contextually situated in Indian socio-cultural and political climate rather than essentializing ‘Indian’ playwriting as a form. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-04-11 18:00:00 2017-04-11 20:00:00 Europe/London PHIL PORTER | Make them Laugh In his capacity as 2017 Bruntwood Prize judge, writer Phil Porter talks about how to make an audience laugh and instil your play with a sense of humour. Phil has two stage comedies opening this year – The Miser in the West End and Vice Versa with the RSC. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-04-26 18:00:00 2017-04-26 20:00:00 Europe/London CHRIS THORPE | Writing Collaboratively, Writing for Performance, Performing your Work Playwright and theatre maker Chris Thorpe will explore how to break the rules through non-naturalistic writing, collaborative writing and writing as part of a devising process – based on his work writing and performing with companies like Unlimited and Third Angel, and for building-based theatres like the Royal Exchange and Royal Court Theatre writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-05-04 09:00:00 2017-05-04 11:00:00 Europe/London JOANNA MURRAY-SMITH | Life Experience & the Dramatic Journey Joanna’s plays have been produced all over the world. In this international live-streamed workshop Joanna will explore how life experience can influence writing, and the process of writing dramatic action and journey. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-05-20 19:00:00 2017-05-20 21:00:00 Europe/London SUZAN-LORI PARKS | Watch Me Work WATCH ME WORK is a performance art piece, a meditation on the artistic process, an actual work session and a writing class, featuring Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Following an informal work session livestreamed to the Writeaplay website where both teacher and participating playwrights write together, Suzan-Lori will take questions from the writing group and twitter about their own plays and their own work. Suzan-Lori is teaming up with The Public Theater of New York’s Emerging Writers Group, where she will help them explore the universes of their plays, get into some vibrant conversations, and help each writer deepen the ways their work respond to the world around us. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk 2017-05-24 18:00:00 2017-05-24 20:00:00 Europe/London MEL KENYON | Re-Drafting & Taking Notes An agent and dramaturg, Mel develops and works collaboratively with some of the world’s most respected playwrights. In her workshop she will address re-drafting, taking notes, how to respond to notes and implement them, the collaborative nature of playwriting and how to really push the theatricality of your work while remaining true and ambitious to your intentions. writeaplay.co.uk The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting bruntwoodprize@royalexchange.co.uk