The NotaBle Acts Theatre Company invites current and aspiring playwrights and directors to take part in a free workshop on playwriting and directing with our 2015 Playwright/Dramaturge in Residence, Daniel Macdonald. The workshop will take place on Saturday, July 18 from 10-4 (with lunch break) at Carleton Hall, UNB. To register and for more information, email Daniel at macdan@sasktel.net

Read on for a full description of the workshop.

 

NotaBle Acts Playwright in Residence        Playwriting/Directing workshop

NotaBle Acts is pleased to be able to offer a workshop in playwriting, directing, and devising by Playwright in Residence, Daniel Macdonald.

In this rapidly changing world of art and theatre, a theatre artist must be versatile, malleable, and willing to adapt and thrive in the truly multi-disciplinary world that is theatre. This means that aspiring theatre artists should consider the notion that play creation does not exist in one discipline but in several.

Daniel’s talk/workshop will look at all facets of theatre creation and will explore the very question of why we are compelled to do theatre and what good theatre actually is. It will explore the essence of strong, dramatic playwriting and the increasing role directors play in the final product. Finally, it will examine the nature of devising and present ideas on how to devise a work of theatre using a collaborative model of exploration and play-building without a script.

Questions for discussion and exploration:

Playwriting

• Why write a play?
• What is “dramatic structure”? Does it matter?
• What does a playwright’s career look like?
• What does it take to be a really good playwright?
• How do you publish? Why do you publish?
• Playwrights will also be encouraged to ask specific questions about their own work and struggles.

Director

• What is the role of a director?
• What are the challenges a director faces?
• How does a director work with a new play and playwright?
• How do you direct a play in rehearsal? What techniques can you use to illicit better performance from actors?

Devising

• What is devising?
• When/how does it work?
• Why devise a play rather than just write it?
• What are some techniques you can use to begin devising?
• Why is devising such a current hot technique/method for new play creation?

Several practical exercises will also used to give concrete examples of some of these techniques and concepts.