Upcoming Events
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
A marketing "blurb," or short description, of your stage work is vital to excite the interest of producers, artistic directors, literary managers, festivals, publishers, and audiences. A blurb is a few sentences introducing your central dramatic action, used in promotional materials to hook the reader. You might be asked for a blurb by a theatre if you're trying to self-produce your play. You might use it when submitting your play to theatres for possible production, or on your play's page on the New Play Exchange. Or, on an application form, it might be called "a 100 word description." In this workshop, we'll begin a ten-minute overview of best practices for writing your short play description. Then, we'll work with your existing play blurbs (bring one to paste into Chat!) to focus them for maximum impact, eliminate unnecessary language, and help your play stand out from the crowd.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Patricia Milton is Resident Playwright at Central Works, and her plays have been produced around the world. UPCOMING: The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective will be produced in Ashland, Oregon by the Collaborative Theater Project, October 9-November 2, 2025. https://patriciamilton.net/
REGISTRATION
Free for members, $30 for non-members. Closer to the date, registrants will be sent an email with Zoom instructions from programs@playcafe.org. This email might land in a spam folder. Members, write to programs@playcafe.org to request free registration.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Need some laughs? “Saturday Night Live, Laugh-In” and even “The Muppet Show” are all composed of 'comedy sketches'--brief (typically under 10 minute) comic plays. In this workshop, we will explore the underlying structure of comedy sketches, learn the concept of the 'game of the scene,' and develop an original comedy sketch.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Grace Kessler Overbeke, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department of Columbia College with a focus on Comedy Writing & Performance. She has also taught in less traditional academic settings such as the Cook County Department of Corrections and Miriam's Kitchen Social Services Organization. She is the author of the one-woman musical comedy "Swear to Todd," (Edinburgh Fringe 2024, Fillet of Sole Festival 2025) and the biography The First Lady of Laughs: The Forgotten Story of Jean Carroll, the First Jewish Woman Comedian (NYU Press 2024).
REGISTRATION
$17 for members, $30 for non-members. Closer to the date, registrants will be sent an email with Zoom instructions from programs@playcafe.org. This email might land in a spam folder. Members, write to programs@playcafe.org to request the discount code.