Richard O'Reilly

This workshop operates from the premise that whether compelled by memory, gossip, witnessing, or revelation, people have a need to tell stories, and so we work on making the telling of our tales more resonant, purposeful, and entertaining. We draw from the short stories of Annie Proulx and Uwem Akpan, monologues of Suzan-Lori Parks, prose poems of Joe Wenderoth, essays of Toni Morrison and Virginia Woolf, the comedy of Hannah Gadsby, the investigative local podcast The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong and folk tales from a variety of cultures. Course work includes generative writing exercises and short, frequent presentations of your work with attention to its aural presentation; one academic paper comparing two pieces we have read for class; and a presentation of a final project. Workshops focus on ways to make your work better, clearer, and more understandable through discussion and rewriting.

Working from a premise that dialogue is the pulse of a play and story its skin, we will generate new work for the stage. From first scenes to a completed rough draft, students will write a one-act or full-length play over the course of the semester. We will begin with a series of generative exercises, using dialogue and experiment to focus in on elements of character and story in the beginning of a play. We will then choose one of your new scenes to continue forward, moving into the center or crisis section of the play. In the final weeks of class, we will bring the new piece to a conclusion. Over the course of a semester, we will work on editing, rewriting, and reimagining the play into a full rough draft form. Previous playwriting experience is not required. Assigned texts will vary according to students' needs and interests, but will typically include readings of contemporary and modern plays. Some of the artists we may study in this course include playwrights Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks, August Wilson, Wallace Shawn, Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee; as well as SAIC writing program alumni Kristiana Colón, Idris Goodwin and Jenny Magnus. The class will end with a staged reading of a section of each student¿s play.

This is a 'doers' workshop, designed to address the problems that present themselves when a writer is faced with a public performance or presentation of her or his work. We will investigate tactics and techniques essential for making those presentations stronger. How do I take the stage? How do use my voice well? How do I use the microphone? How do I relax in front of people? What do I wear? Do I use a prop? Do I memorize? How do I hold the text? We will view known performers' work and then examine your work, shaping and refining it until it feels complete. Class will conclude with a public performance of your work.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.