Playwriting Workshop Series
Build stage-ready scripts through structured sessions that blend character work, dialogue technique, and real staging considerations
Writing Beyond the Page
Most people think playwriting is just dialogue on paper. But that's barely scratching the surface. Your script needs to work in a physical space with real actors saying your words out loud.
We start with small exercises — like writing a two-minute scene where characters never say what they actually mean. Sounds simple until you try it. Then we move into longer pieces where you learn how subtext, pauses, and stage directions can do more heavy lifting than actual words.
You'll work with scene structure that doesn't follow film logic. Theatre has its own rhythm. Scenes build differently when there's no camera cutting away. And characters reveal themselves through action as much as speech — something you can't fake with clever editing.
By the fourth or fifth week, you'll have written at least three complete short plays. We read them aloud in class. You hear what works and what falls flat when real voices speak your lines. That feedback loop changes everything.
What You'll Actually Learn
Character Through Conflict
Creating personalities that reveal themselves through disagreement and tension rather than exposition. You learn to write people who surprise each other on stage.
Dialogue That Sounds Human
Writing conversations with interruptions, half-finished thoughts, and the messy way people actually talk. Not polished monologues — real exchanges with stakes.
Scene Construction
Building moments that escalate naturally without feeling forced. Where to start a scene, when to end it, and how to make every beat count toward something bigger.
Iris Holmqvist
Lead Workshop Facilitator
Iris has directed over thirty plays and knows what directors look for in a script. She'll push you to write scenes that work in rehearsal rooms, not just on paper.
Sofie Vestergaard
Script Development Mentor
Sofie works with writers on structure and pacing. She's brutally honest about what needs cutting and surprisingly encouraging about what's working better than you think.
Elara Tanaka
Performance Consultant
Elara is an actor who reads your scenes and tells you exactly where the language trips her up or where a character suddenly feels unclear. Invaluable perspective.
From Draft to Staged Reading
- Weekly writing assignments with specific technical challenges that build your skills systematically
- Table reads where you hear actors interpret your work and discover what translates from page to performance
- Revision workshops focused on tightening dialogue and clarifying character intentions without losing spontaneity
- Final staged reading with minimal blocking so you see how your script holds attention in real time
- Post-reading discussion where audience members share what landed and what confused them