“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” – Oscar Wilde
Playwrights have the enormous joy and responsibility of writing a blueprint: the origin of what will become a collaboration between actors, directors, and designers. Their words need to exude so much life that the average reader may imagine the final product, fully formed. Playwriting is where architecture and alchemy meet.
In this ten-week workshop course, level two of the Curious Playwright progression, we will build a supportive writer’s room focused on the generation of a well-structured full length play, running between 75 & 90 minutes. Early sessions will focus on outlining the plot as well as close readings of professional scripts. There will be guided, generative exercises and group workshopping of preliminary scenes written by the participants. There will be no meetings in the month of February in order to give students time to work and enjoy one-on-one conversations about their progress with Elizabeth. The group will congregate again in March and April, and each subsequent class will be dedicated to a table reading and workshopping of one play, featuring local actors from Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company and the Houston community coming into the classroom. Actors and classmates will share their feedback and insights on each script. This rewarding class will require both courage and commitment.
Elizabeth Ann Michaela Keel is a native Houstonian playwright. Her work has been read or produced by Voxfest, Tokyo International Players, The Studio Theatre at Tierra Del Sol, Rec Room, Shattered Globe, Otherworld Theatre, Squeaky Bicycle, Fresh Produce’d (NYC), Growing Stage Children’s Theatre of New Jersey, Landing Theatre, Stages, Mildred’s Umbrella, METdance, Cone Man Running, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, Flexible Grey, and 14 Pews, among others. She works as a teaching artist for Grackle & Grackle, Stages, and Writers in the Schools. Her play Override was selected as the second place winner for the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award in 2020. Upcoming projects may be found at elizabethamkeel.com.