Playwrighting Classes & Workshops,
Mama-logues – Writing Workouts, and
Women in Transition Workshops
Fall 2010/Winter 2011 Crafting Plays Playwrighting Classes
and
Playwrights’ Lab
with The Playwrights’ Center of SF’s Dramaturge Suze Allen

Playwrights’ Lab

Carve out three hours once a week to devote yourself to playwrighting. Weekly themes, exercises, readings and critique will get your juices flowing, the pages written and give you the opportunity to collaborate with fellow playwrights.
Tuesdays 6:30 – 9:30 Two 5 week Sessions
September 14 – October 12 and October 19 – November 16

Crafting Plays Workshop Series

How do you write a great play? This Crafting Plays workshop series takes you from raw idea to final draft and marketing. Part lecture, play readings and writing exercises, these two-hour classes are informative and hands- on. Learn the skills to make your plays electric and rich and get them in the theatre. Whichever road you take into the dramatic writing process, you need a good road map or you can get lost. Find your way with Crafting Plays.
Saturdays from 3pm – 5pm

Shaking the Pillars - Writing with the Mythic Journey
Based on a 10-step process of the feminine and masculine journey, you will find ways to deepen your central character’s arc, structure your plot points and strengthen the very pillars of your play from beginning, middle to end. road you take into the dramatic writing process, you need a good road map or you can get lost. Find your way with Crafting Plays. September 25, 2010

Protagonists, Antagonists and Dialogue
Work on finding strong, Fully Realized Characters with something important at stake, fine tuning the Unity of Opposites, and writing Dynamic Dialogue. A solid conflict between the Protagonist and Antagonist is at the very heart of a play. Give your characters something juicy to fight for you’ll find their authentic voices.
October 9, 2010

Solidifying Premise, Plot and Dramatic Structure
Got a few characters and a great play idea in need of a clear message, a working premise, and an intriguing plot? This workshop gives you the tools to build a play with solid dramatic intensity, a concise premise, subtle irony, and forward action, action, action. Learn more about the dynamics of a pivotal and obligatory scene, the thrust and motor of your play and how to create meaty conflicts that spur the rise and fall of physical, emotional and psychological action. November 6, 2010

Going Deep - Rewriting, Refining Your Second Draft
Nail Nail down what you really want to say in your play. Solidify your premise and put your play into a synopsis. This workshop focuses on how you get from your first draft to your second with vibrant dialogue, free from exposition, and rich in subtext and revelation. January 22, 2011

Collaboration -Tools for the Ultimate Final Draft- Actors, Directors, Dramaturges, and Readings
A director, dramaturge and actors will be on hand to give you insight into your scripts as we explore the process of final draft.
February 19, 2011

Writing Marketing Materials for Your Plays

Need a concise bio, a crisp and intriguing synopsis, a one-paragraph blurb, a press release or a cover letter so you can market your play or send it out? This workshop provides you with the tools, tips, and feedback you need to create appealing marketing materials. Working on your synopsis and blurb also help you define and refine what your play is really about. March 19, 2011

FMI 207.205.0636

Where: SF Writers and Actors’ Studio 149 Prospect Ave SF, CA 94110

Crafting Plays Cost: $60 per class ($40 for PCSF Members) $150 for any 3 classes
Playwrights’ Lab Cost: $225 per session or $400 for 2

To Sign-Up: Suze Allen suze@playwrightscentersf.org

See our website for payment information and link:
www.playwrightscentersf.org/

Instructor Suze Allen, a 25- year veteran of the theatre, is an author, playwright, teacher, director and dramaturge. Her work has been produced at The Marsh, Brava!, The Climate, Intersection for the Arts. The Phoenix, The Working Women’s Festival, Out North Contemporary Art House in Alaska, and The SF and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Suze taught playwrighting at the Women on Writing conference at Skyline College and
currently teaches Mama-logues, ongoing writing workouts for Mamas and Women in Transition writing and yoga workshops at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur as well as in the East Bay and San Francisco.
Suze is the founder of The Maine Playwrights’ Lab and Short Works festival, Iambe’s Bones Studio, and Fresh New Works San Francisco. She is the resident dramaturge at The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and the acting Director of Developmental Readings. Suze’s book, The Time Starved Woman’s Guide to Emotional Wellbeing with Dr. SD Shanti is on sale now! Her business, Manuscript Mentor, helps turn
dreams and ideas into effective, vibrant writing. www.manuscriptmentor.com / www.suzeallen.com

Mama-logues
Writing Workouts to Keep Mama Sane, Centered, and Creative

Fall September 14 – October 5, 2011

Compose your Mommy Memoirs. Vent your Mama Mania. Get your birth or adoption story on the page.

Mama-logues is freeing and fun. Whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned writer, our creative writing exercises will get your ink flowing. Purposeful writing is a powerful and accessible tool for finding clarity, creativity and balance. Perfect for creating lasting memories. Great for Mama Bloggers, too! Come unleash the power of intentional writing.is freeing and fun. Whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned writer, our creative writing exercises will get your ink flowing. Purposeful writing is a powerful and accessible tool for finding clarity, creativity and balance. Perfect for creating lasting memories. Great for Mama Bloggers, too! Come unleash the power of intentional writing.

For mothers of all ages! Babes in arms welcome.
SF Writers and Actors Studio 149 Prospect Avenue in San Francisco 94110

Mama-logues… because motherhood is a wild ride, crying for expression!

FMI or to sign up email Suze@manuscriptmentor@gmail.com

Instructor Suze Allen is an author, editor, writing coach, playwright, and dramaturge. She is the creator of Mama-logues: Writing Workouts to Keep Mama Sane, Centered and Creative and Manuscript Mentor, which helps clients turn ideas and dreams into effective, vibrant writing. Her new play, The Manic Mama Dance premiered at The Marsh Café and BirthFest 2008. Most recently, Suze was a writing assistant for Dr. Cassandra Vieten’s book, Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Your Pregnancy and Your Baby’s First Year. Suze’s own book, The Time-Starved Woman’s Guide to Emotional Wellbeing, launched on Mother’s Day, 2009 and is now on sale. She is a member of the Mamas Resource Network. Suze lives in San Francisco with her husband and two children. To find out more about Suze’s writing and other workshopswww.suzeallen.com and www.timestarvedwoman.com

Women in Transition – Climbing into your Authentic Self

Your house is on fire. Your boat is sinking. What do you want take with you? What are you willing to watch sink or go up in flames? Making these decisions can help you navigate change and rediscover your most authentic self.

Living in a culture of advanced technology, time-starvation, overwhelming career and family obligations along with economic and emotional uncertainty often prevents women from taking the time to address and acknowledge life’s vital transitions.

This workshop gives you the time, the space, and the tools to ride the wave of change. Turbulent times are a call to adventure. Embark on the mythic journey with a transformational blend of hatha yoga, purposeful writing, deep relaxation and guided meditation. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your life in transition and find strategies and rituals for dealing with intense change and daily discomfort. And Research shows that expressive writing, guided imagery and hatha yoga have a profound healing and transformational affect on people undergoing significant upheaval. Forward bends deepen your journey into your core; standing poses help you to climb into your power, and restorative poses help you to hear the still and quiet yearnings of your real self. Purposeful and expressive writing brings you clarity and wisdom. Music, movement, and ritual bring you catharsis and joy.

This Women in Transition workshop helps you to approach your life with acceptance, intention and integrity, so you can grow stronger and more authentic. In this space of creativity, bodywork and ritual, you can choose what you desire rather than what you think you’re supposed to do and break free from what others want from you.?? To paraphrase Joseph Campbell, when you accept the adventure of change you ride on the back of everyone that’s gone before you. You are not alone. Take the ultimate of feminine journeys.

Women in Transition Mini Urban Retreat Vara Healing Arts on Sunday, October 16, 2010 1 pm - 6pm
Women in Transition Two-Day Retreat Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California June 17-19, 2011 www.esalen.org www.esalen.org