Playwriting Grades 4-8

The thought of writing a play can be scary. How do you start? What do you do once you have an idea? We wish we could say that there is some secret formula to writing a play, but things aren’t that easy. There are, however, techniques that can start you on your way to discovering what it means to create a play. We will use character development as a starting point, and basic “want, conflict, change” structure to learn through experience the process of writing a play. Over the course of 8 weeks, each student will develop many beginnings, and ultimately one ending in a short play. Students will learn to give and receive constructive feedback, support each other, and reflect on their own work. At the end of the day, the only real way to learn how to write a play is to write one (or two, or ten). And that’s what we’ll do here. The culmination is an evening of readings of the students' plays performed by Theater O faculty and other professional actors.