Structure As Storytelling (Summer 2020)

Structure as Storytelling

Jun 24 - Aug 05
6:00pm - 9:00pm Central Time

Instructor: Kristin Idaszak

Structure as Storytelling will allow students to deepen their understanding of how structure works and to deploy it strategically within their writing. Through this course we will look at plays with a variety of structures and break them down to understand how and why they are functioning. Writers will also try implementing these structures in our own writing, and investigate questions such as: How does structure influence storytelling? Why choose one structure over another? When does structure come into the writing process? At the end of this course, students will have a deeper understanding of what structure is; be able to deploy structure more strategically in their own writing; and have explored different structures through various exercises.

Students will need to obtain the following plays for class:

• Ruined by Lynn Nottage
• Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka
• Cloud Tectonics by José Rivera
• Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill

These plays are found cheapest online, and are widely available.

Kristin Idaszak is a two-time Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow and the former Shank Playwriting Fellow at the Goodman Theatre. Idaszak has received commissions from the Goodman, EST/the Sloan Foundation, Cleveland Play House, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and TimeLine Theatre. Her play SECOND SKIN received the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, and her play ANOTHER JUNGLE was a Relentless Award Honorable Mention. She was the Kennedy Center Fellow at the Sundance Theatre Lab. Idaszak’s work has been seen at or developed through the Goodman Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, La Jolla Playhouse’s WoW Festival, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Directing Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Drama League, Pasadena Playhouse, Circle X, Rivendell Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, and Perishable Theatre, among others. Idaszak’s work has also received support from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul University and Northwestern University. Idaszak is the artistic director of Cloudgate Theatre and previously served as Associate Artistic Director/Literary Manager of Caffeine Theatre and Associate Artistic Director of Collaboraction. MFA: University of California, San Diego. kristinidaszak.com

Classes will be held via Zoom. Instructors will send out Zoom invites one day before class begins. We encourage students to setup a Zoom account for themselves before class if they have not already to ensure when class begins you are able to jump straight into the art!