The New York Writers Workshop Presents

 

Writing to Perform
Taught by Coleman Hough

A six-hour intensive class
Sunday, February 29
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

An intensive, 6-hour workshop taught by screenwriter and monologist Coleman Hough for those who want to turn their words into a performance. The first half of the class will be warm up oriented, with performance exercises, - storytelling games and discussion of individual projects. The second half of the class will be geared to specific work on each project as well as specific exercises to generate new material.

Coleman Hough's monologues, THE UGLY SISTER, NATURAL DISASTER, TRUE GRID, SHE'S NO EXPERT, VANISHING POINT, and PARIS HEATWAVE have been performed in various venues around the city. In September 2003, she performed PARIS HEATWAVE in the veteran series at Dixon Place. She is currently working on a new monologue that she will perform at Bowery Poetry Club in March. Coleman wrote the screenplay for FULL FRONTAL which was directed by Steven Soderbergh and released by Miramax in August 2002. She recently completed her work on a script for HBO based on the life of Katharine Graham.

Coleman began teaching performance at Emerson College in the late 80's, where she graduated with a BFA in acting in '82. She was a teaching artist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild for several years and she taught public speaking at Lehman College. She has been teaching an ongoing creative workshop at Emma Willard School in Troy, New York for the past five years.

Cost: $125
New York Spaces
131 W. 72nd Street, betw. Amsterdam and Columbus Aves.

Contact:
nyww@hotmail
hoke5@aol.com
212-755-7396

 

New York Writers Workshop @ the JCC: Winter Courses 2004

Fall Courses 2003

Welcome!

Based on the popular workshop format, NYWW@JCC offers novice writers the opportunity to move past the blank page with both in-class and at-home assignments aimed at building technique and providing the structure needed for good writing habits. For more advanced students, workshops provide closer attention to matters of craft and style, revision, and clarification, helping students move beyond the classroom and into the pages of leading magazines and journals. All students will appreciate the supportive yet rigorous class discussions of student work, led by some of New York's best known and well-regarded writing instructors.

Levels

Mixed Level Classes

Appropriate for students at beginning to intermediate levels, including those who have had previous writing workshops but who want to work further on matters of technique. Registration for these classes is on a first-come, first-served basis. Call 646.505.4404.

Advanced classes

Appropriate for experienced and previously published writers who wish to focus on refining their work with an eye toward publication. Registration for these classes is by approval of the instructor. Students who have not studied with the instructor previously should submit a brief writing sample. Submissions should be 3–5 pages for fiction or nonfiction or 5 poems for poetry, and sent via e-mail to writingclasses@jccmanhattan.org, with ‘Writing Sample’ in the subject line; be sure to include your name and class name. Submissions can also be mailed to Writing Samples, New York Writers Workshop @ the JCC, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023. You will be notified of acceptance by telephone on or before Friday, January 16, 2004, at which time we will take your registration over the phone. Students who have studied with advanced writing instructors previously should call the director of Literary Programs at 646.505.4404 to register.

Questions? Please call the NYWW@JCC hotline at 646.505.4377.

 

Writing Open House and Instructor Reading

NYWW Faculty

Here’s your chance to meet the faculty of the NYWW@JCC and learn more about our classes. A short reading by instructors will be followed by an opportunity to meet teachers on a one-on-one basis. Location: The JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St. (Program room assignments will be available at the JCC Customer Service Desk, in the lobby of the Samuel Priest Rose Building.)

Mon, Jan 12, 2004
6:30–8:30pm
FREE
HOUSE/ELWW4

Books & Writing (www.jccarts.org)

 

Queer Literature: What Is It, Anyway?

Sarah Van Arsdale
Is there a need today for specifically gay and lesbian literature? How do we categorize books
as queer, and why? We’ll examine these questions, and also go over some essential points of writing, looking closely at character, setting, and plot. We’ll read books which raise these questions, including Avoidance by Michael Lowenthal and Godspeed by Lynn Breedlove. Class includes guest appearances by authors.
8 Wednesdays
Feb 4–Mar 24
6:30–8pm
$175/$225
QUEER/ELAW4

One-day Writing Intensives

 

Lifestories: A Workshop for Adults

Patty Dann

Have you accumulated experiences you want to try putting down on paper? No writing experience is necessary; we’ll be offering a series of memory exercises throughout the day. Everyone is encouraged to read work aloud in class, and each student will meet with the teacher privately to discuss his/her work.

Sun, Feb 1
10am–5pm
(one hour lunch break)
$100/$120
WINT1/ELWW4

Publish Your First Novel

Sasha Troyan

Need help revising and marketing your novel? Then this one-day intensive is for you. Working from your novel (finished or in-progress), we’ll examine what makes for a great beginning, and how to strengthen the climax and ending. Using in-class exercises,
we’ll look at narrative techniques such as progression, theme, setting, point of view, and characters. Finally, we’ll look at how to market your novel.

Sun, Feb 8
10am–5pm
(one hour lunch break)
$100/$120
WINT2/ELWW4

Pitch, Pilot, Payoff: Writing for Television

Juliann Garey and Bronwen Hruska

This two-part intensive will give you a broad overview of how the television business works and, using in-class exercises, will teach you how to pitch your ideas to producers and network executives. Writing exercises will help you structure your pilot according to the unique format of television scripts. The screenwriting team of Garey and Hruska has written original comedy and drama pilots for CBS, NBC, and Lifetime.

2 Sundays
Feb 15 & 22
10am–5pm
(one hour lunch break)
$200/$240
WINT3/ELWW4

Reading the Personal Essay

Vivian Gornick

Join renowned memoirist Vivian Gornick for a delightful afternoon. Study classic examples of personal narrative writing, and discuss the work of such memoirists and essayists as George Orwell, Joan Didion, Thomas de Quincy, James Baldwin, Colette, and Edmund Gosse to see how the genre works in the hands of masters.

Sun, Feb 22
2–5pm
$50/$60
WINT4/ELWW4

Creative Nonfiction: All levels

 

Break Into Journalism

Marci Alboher Nusbaum

Are you a busy professional who wants to write? Marci Nusbaum, a lawyer-turned-journalist, explores the transition from other professions into nonfiction writing. Learn how to find story ideas, write successful pitch letters, and work with editors. Discover how to exploit your professional experience in your writing, and the importance of creating a supportive writers’ network. Guest speakers include editors, freelance and staff journalists, and a career counselor.

10 Mondays
Jan 26–Mar 29 7–9pm $330/$410 WCNB1/ELWW4

Mothers of Invention: A Class for Mothers, Daughters, and Grandmothers

Rita Gabis

Most women find motherhood to be the pivotal experience of their lives. In this class, we uncover the deeper aspects of this experience through journal writing, prose and poetry. We’ll consider questions of physical transformation, spiritual change, and profound connection, as well as the daily ups and downs. No previous writing experience necessary.

10 Tuesdays
Jan 27–Mar 30
9:30 am—11:30am $330/$410 WCNB2/ELWW4

The Personal Essay

Peter Bricklebank

Explore the great elastic form of the personal essay, a short narrative form that combines personal experience and reflection with the use of fictional techniques, such as dialogue and scenes, to attain a blend of fact-based, but imaginatively rendered insight into ourselves and our world.

10 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 31 7–9pm $330/$410 WCNB3/ELWW4

Creative Nonfiction: Advanced

Charles Salzberg

The ultimate aim of this course is to prepare your work—whether it be a memoir, personal essay, op-ed piece, magazine article, or nonfiction book—for publication. To that end, fictional techniques of narration, description, dialogue and structure will be discussed. Reserve a space early for one our most popular workshops! Instructor’s approval required. For more information, please call 646.505.4404.

Section 1
10 Mondays
Jan 26–Mar 29
6:30–8:30pm $330/$410 WCNV1/ELWW4

Section 2
10 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 31
6:30–8:30pm $330/$410
WCNV2/ELWW

Fiction

 

Dramatic Arc and Its Discontents

Tim Tomlinson

The goal of this workshop is to broaden writers’ craft by exposure to, and practice of, alternative techniques in storytelling that might be considered unconventional and that risk ‘breaking the rules.’ Modular stories, shifting points of view, and non-linear strategies are discussed, as well as the conventions of exposition, development, and drama. Optional exercises are offered for work at home.

8 Tuesdays
Jan 27–Mar 16
6:30–9pm
$330/$410
WFCB1/ELWW4

Goodnight, Babar: Writing for Children

Allison Estes

Many people assume that writing for children is easier than writing for adults. In fact, the shorter the book, the more carefully crafted it must be. Explore how juvenile books have evolved over the years and learn how to adapt your ideas to the highly competitive bunny-eat-bunny world of children’s publishing.

10 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 31
7–9pm
$330/$410
WFCB2/ELWW4

Fiction/Nonfiction: Truth, Lies & Your Stories

Sarah Van Arsdale

Where is that fuzzy line between memoir and fiction? Isn’t all fiction informed by our experience? Bring your ideas for writing about your life, or for writing fiction, or for playing with both. Using discussions and in-class and at-home writing exercises, we’ll explore these questions and more. Students will also have an opportunity to have their short and long-form memoirs critiqued by the group.

10 Thursdays
Jan 29–Apr 1
6:30–8:30pm
$330/$410
WFCB3/ELWW4

Advanced Fiction

Maureen Brady

In this class, we encourage each other to produce new installments of a novel or completed drafts of stories, giving the writer a regular series of deadlines. Work is read in advance for discussion in class and critique is rigorous but sensitive. The instructor also suggests readings and conducts discussions on elements of story writing, such as timing, tension and development of character.

10 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 31
7–9pm
$330/$410
WFCV1/ELWW4

Poetry

 

The Soul of a Poem

Hermine Meinhard

Learn to draw on those elusive aspects of experience that give a poem its depth and mystery. Using weekly in-class exercises, physical objects, language, outside texts, and through personal journals, students will connect to their deepest material. In addition, an emphasis on critical issues of form—line, space, and rhythm—will help students refine poems and shape them into finished work.

8 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 17
6:30–9pm
$330/$410
WPOB1/ELWW4

Poetry Slam! Spoken Word Poetics

Regie Cabico

Some critics wonder whether it’s the writing or the performance that makes slam poetry so winning. Others contend that it’s the combination of passion fused with pop culture and identity politics. Either way, in this class you’ll learn the elements of spoken word performance from one of New York’s leading slam poets. We’ll focus on in-class writings that combine personal and political themes with experimental word play to help you find the right image and tone. Performance techniques will also be addressed.

10 Mondays
Jan 26–Mar 29
7–9pm
$330/$410
WSLAM/ELWW4

The Bones, the Brain and the Heart of the Poem

Mary Stewart Hammond
The Basque poet Bernardo Atxaga states, "Either a poem is exact or bad--as happens with science." Working from close readings of each participant's poem, this advanced-level workshop examines what goes into raising a poem to "exact," with attention given to how much of the emotional work of a poem the structure and music do, or undo, to what language and syntax tell us about the clarity of the poem's thinking and its complexity of feeling, to the way the poem's particular vision determines these choices. These critiques take place in a supportive, noncompetitive community of diverse voices, so that each poet feels safe bringing to the table, not finished poems, but rather those in search of exactness.

Class limited to 10.
Starts Wed, Feb. 18
6:15-9:00, 8 sessions, $400.
Meet at the poet's home (Upper East Side location).

Manuscript submission required and the names and contact information of two references (no letters necessary). E-mail 3 to 5 poems (no attachments, please) to
MStewartHammond@aol.com

Mary Stewart Hammond is also available for tutorials and mss. consultations.

Playwriting

Charlie Schulman

This workshop is designed for students who want to begin a new play or continue a play in progress. In-class writing exercises help students develop characters, sharpen dialogue, and dramatize conflict. Students are encouraged to bring new work to class on a regular basis for critique, with optional take-home assignments tailored to individual needs. The course concludes with a staged reading of student work for family and friends.

10 Wednesdays
Jan 28–Mar 31
7–9pm
$330/$410
WPWB1/ELWW4

Screenwriting: Adaptation!

Nicole Quinn
Adaptations are core to the screenwriting industry and an excellent entrée for new talent. In this class, students will learn how to adapt basic plots from other sources in order to learn screenplay structure. We’ll focus on making scripts effective from page one—developing technique, discovering the secrets of middles, and finding satisfying endings. 10 Tuesdays
Jan 27–Mar 30
7–9pm
$330/$410
WSWB1/ELWW4

INDIA: A 15-day trek through India of the imagination and the street

Tim Tomlinson and Rochelle Almeida, tour leaders

The New York Writers Workshop @ the JCC is proud to offer an unprecedented voyage of the imagination into India. Join us as our expert guides bring to life the locations of classic novels and recent films throughout India. Travel the gamut from palace to shanty-town, from sunrise on the dhobi-ghats to sunset over the Arabian Sea. Stay in the five-star luxury Taj Mahal chain, and ride in an air-conditioned coach. You’ll have the opportunity to participate in a travel writing workshop and an introduction to Indian literature. Led by NYWW writing instructor Tim Tomlinson, and Rochelle Almeida, professor of Southeast Asian Culture at NYU. Information Session on Tuesday, February 3, 6–8pm, FREE.

May 16–31, 2004
$3999
INDIA/ELWS4
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