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David Henry Hwang Writers Institute

EAST WEST PLAYERS

ANNOUNCES TWO UPCOMING PLAYWRITING WORKSHOPS

AT THE DAVID HENRY HWANG WRITERS INSTITUTE

SPRING 2010 SESSIONS BEGIN on

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 & Saturday, March 20, 2010

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

1. Please note that the WRITING IS REWRITING WORKSHOP with Prince Gomolvilas is BY APPLICATION ONLY. The Playwriting Workshop with Doris Baizley is first-come, first-serve.

2. Requests for enrollment should go to EWP Literary Manager Jeff Liu at jliu@eastwestplayers.org. You do not have a confirmed space in either class unless you personally receive an enrollment form and then make the first payment on time.

3. Anyone who would like to apply for a scholarship can download the application here. The postmark deadline is 1/15/10 for Prince’s workshop (notification by 1/26/10), and 2/5/10 for Doris’s workshop (notification by 2/19/10).

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SPRING 2010 PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP:

This ten-week workshop is designed to help new and experienced writers start or develop new plays into scripts that are ready to be put on stage. Each four-hour session includes: a warm-up writing exercise, reading and discussion of work in progress, reading assignments from dramatic literature to illustrate and inspire writers with their work, and a closing exercise to focus on the next week’s work. The workshop ends with staged readings free to the public at East West Players.

Instructor: DORIS BAIZLEY

March 20, 2010 – June 12, 2010

(No Class on April 3 or May 29, plus one more date TBA)

Saturdays from 10 am – 2 pm

Staged Readings: June 22 -July 1, 2010

Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center

222 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Fee: $400 (ACTS members $375)

Instructor Biography:

Doris Baizley’s recent documentary and community-based plays include: ONE DAY/SARAH HOUSE, winner of a 2009 Santa Barbara Independent Award, PEACE CRIMES: THE MINNESOTA 8 vs.THE WAR, produced by The History Theatre and the U. of Minnesota in 2008, and SEXSTING, co-written with defense attorney Susan Raffanti, winner of the Guthrie Theatre/Playwrights Center Two-Headed Challenge Grant, produced at the Salt Lake Acting Company in 2007. She is a founding member of LA Theatre Works and was resident dramaturg for the Mark Taper Forum’s Other Voices Programs for theatre artists with disabilities. Her plays MRS. CALIFORNIA, SHILOH RULES, and A CHRISTMAS CAROL have been produced in many U.S. regional theaters including the Mark Taper Forum, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and ACT Seattle. She is currently working on a play about Sister Kenny and the legacy of polio for the History Theatre in St. Paul.

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WRITING IS REWRITING: NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

Enrollment by Application Only

Application Deadline: January 15, 2010

Notification: January 26, 2010

Workshop Begins: February 16, 2010

This comprehensive 15-week new-play development workshop gives playwrights the opportunity to work intensively on revising a full-length play and bringing it to completion--the goal being a polished script ready for submission to theaters, festivals, and contests. The workshop features weekly lessons on different aspects of the rewriting process, writing exercises to help lead playwrights into a deeper understanding of their work, reading assignments of relevant plays by well-known authors, and group outings to play productions around town. Aside from weekly monitoring of each playwright's progress, each playwright will have two class sessions dedicated to workshopping two different drafts of his or her play. Directed feedback sessions will help playwrights realize their own unique vision and voice; equally important is participating in each other's feedback sessions, as all the playwrights will find common ground in the issues that concern them during the rewriting phase and the strength of this tight-knit community will help playwrights reach their fullest potential. The workshop will culminate in staged readings at East West Players by professional actors and directors. Enrollment is by application only, and the workshop is limited to 7 playwrights. Applicants should also note that the application process isn't necessarily an evaluation of the quality of their work, but rather of this particular instructor's ability to help improve it.

Instructor: PRINCE GOMOLVILAS

February 16, 2010–June 1, 2010

(Extra week scheduled for mid-semester break TBA )

Tuesdays from 7:00PM–10:00PM

Staged Readings: June 22-July 1, 2010

Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center

222 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Fee: $500 (ACTS members $475)

Instructor Biography:

Prince Gomolvilas's plays include BIG HUNK O' BURNIN' LOVE (East West Players, Los Angeles, 1998), THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Singapore Repertory Theatre, Singapore, 2000), BEE (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco, 2001), and the stage adaptation of the Scott Heim novel, MYSTERIOUS SKIN (New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco, 2003), which have been produced around United States and in Singapore. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was published by Dramatic Publishing in 2002. He received the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama; Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award; International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award; East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community; and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation. He also teaches playwriting in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. He received his MFA in Playwriting from San Francisco State University.

Plays that have been developed in the Writing Is Rewriting workshop include Tim Toyama & Aaron Woolfolk's BRONZEVILLE, which received an Ovation Award Nomination for Playwriting for the Robey Theatre Company production in 2009; Paul Kikuchi's IXNAY, which was produced by East West Players in 2009; and Aurelio Locsin's HELLTOWN BUFFET, which was produced by Rude Guerrilla Theater Company in 2008.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS & PROCESS:

REQUIREMENTS

You must have a completed draft of a full-length play.

You must commit to attending all 15 sessions of the workshop (on time!) and all 7 staged readings (with few, if any, exceptions).

You must agree to complete all reading assignments. Aside from reading the work of classmates, an additional 4 to 7 plays will be required reading during the course of the semester.

You must agree to attend all play field trips. Playwrights will go to see 2 to 4 plays during the course of the semester.

SUBMIT

A brief one-paragraph synopsis of your play.

The first 10 pages of your play.

A brief explanation of why this workshop sounds right for you.

E-mail these items to BOTH prince@princegomolvilas.com and jliu@eastwestplayers.org by Friday, January 15, 2010. Playwrights accepted into the workshop will be notified by January 26, 2010.

In 1991, playwright David Henry Hwang (F.O.B., THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD, M. BUTTERFLY) and East West Players joined together to create the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. The Institute provides a series of writing classes designed to foster new work for the stage. It is a nationally recognized force in the creation of plays that embrace the voice of a multi-ethnic America. We as a multicultural community need to speak out, tell the world who we are, where we came from, and most importantly where we are going. In doing this, we affirm the legacy of our individual and shared histories in America. The Institute is administered by East West Players' Literary Manager, Jeff Liu.

Instructors have included playwrights such as Doris Baizley, Paula Cizmar, Prince Gomolvilas, Amy Hill, Silas Jones, Annette Lee, Peter Sagal, Rick Shiomi, Judy Soo Hoo, Kelly Stuart, Alice Tuan, Elizabeth Wong, Chay Yew, and Brian Nelson, a founder of the Institute. Guest lecturers have included playwrights such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Amy Hill, Desmond Nakano, Wakako Yamauchi, Chay Yew, and David Henry Hwang himself. One-act and full-length plays of all genres are created by writers in the Institute, and each session of classes culminates in public readings of these works, staged by professional actors and directors.

Countless works by writers in the Institute have been read, developed, and produced by theatres around the country, and Institute writers have won awards and fellowships. Among them:

Tim Toyama & Aaron Woolfolk's BRONZEVILLE received its world premiere production by The Robey Theatre Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 2009. His YURI & MALCOLM X won the Ruby Yoshino Schaar Playwright Award in 2008. His VISAS AND VIRTUES was adapted into a short film, directed by Chris Tashima, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1997.

Paul Kikuchi's IXNAY received its world premiere at East West Players in 2009.

Aurelio Locsin's HELLTOWN BUFFET received its world premiere at Rude Guerrilla Theater Company in Santa Ana, CA, in 2008.

Ken Narasaki's INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM received its world premiere at Electric Lodge in Venice, CA, in 2007; it also received a staged reading at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. His GHOSTS AND BAGGAGE received its world premiere at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1998.

Mark Jue's CHINATOWN CORRESPONDENT received its world premiere by Chinatown 90210 at the Luna Playhouse in Glendale, CA, in 2007. It also won a C.Y. Lee Playwriting Award in 1997.

Judy Soo Hoo's REFRIGERATORS received its world premiere production by Lodestone Theatre Ensemble at East Los Angeles College in 2002. Her TEXAS received its world premiere at Lodestone in 1999. Her TWICE TOLD CHRISTMAS TALES received its world premiere at East West Players in the 1994, and she was a contributor to 29 1/2 DREAMS, which was produced at EWP in 1993. She was also a winner in the 1999 Yukon New Plays Contest. She was a 1999 PEN West Fellow. Contact: judeskye@yahoo.com

John Cho (L) and Leilani Murakami (R) in My Tired Broke Ass Pontificating slapstick Funk.
Photo by Michael Lamont.

Sujata Bhatt's QUEEN OF THE REMOTE CONTROL received its world premiere at East West Players in 2002; it was subsequently produced at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis; it also received staged readings at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City and the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco. Contact: ebik@attbi.com

Annette Lee's A DIRTY SECRET BETWEEN THE TOES received its world premiere production by Lodestone Theatre Ensemble at East Los Angeles College in 2001.

Jason Fong's FENTOR received its world premiere production by hereandnow at East Los Angeles College in 2001; it was subsequently produced by the San Diego Asian American Repertory Theatre.

Daniel Cariaga's SLEEPWALK received its world premiere production by Playwrights' Arena at [INSIDE] the Ford in Los Angeles in 2000. It also received a staged reading at A.S.K. Theatre Projects and won an award in the Latin Playwrights Competition at Stages Repertory in Houston. Contact: danielcariaga@earthlink.net

Lucy Kim's LEON AND CLARK received its world premiere production by Playwrights' Arena at Moving Arts in Los Angeles in 2000. Contact: pigggylu@aol.com

Dennis Escobedo's THE POET OF COLUMBUS AVENUE received its world premiere production by Pan Asian Repertory Theatre at Theater Four in New York City in 2000. Contact: dennisescobedo@hotmail.com

Euijoon Kim's MY TIRED BROKE ASS PONTIFICATING SLAPSTICK FUNK received its world premiere at East West Players in 2000. His KARAOKE STORIES won an award in the East West Players AT&T New Voices Playwriting Competition in 1997. Contact: euijoon_kim@newline.com

Noel Alumit's THE RICE ROOM received its world premiere at Highways Performance Space in 1999; it was subsequently performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities. He was a 1998 PEN West Fellow.

Garrett H. Omata's MYSTERY PLAY received its world premiere at Actors Playhouse in Long Beach, CA, in 1998. His S.A.M. I AM received its world premiere at East West Players in 1995; it was subsequently produced in Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, San Diego, Sacramento, and beyond.

John Song's DREAMS OF MY FATHER'S MUSIC won first place in East West Players AT&T New Voices Playwriting Competition in 1997, as well as an award in the C.Y. Lee Playwriting Contest. He was a 1997 PEN West Fellow. Contact: jsong@kingseal.com

Denise Uyehara's HIRO received its world premiere at East West Players, as part of the AT&T: On Stage program, in 1994.

Soji Kashiwagi's THE GRAPEVINE received its world premiere production by Cold Tofu at Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1993.

The David Henry Hwang Writers Institute has been made possible through the generosity of
The James Irvine Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.