Playwriting majors begin the writing sequence in the second semester of their freshman year. After two semesters, the playwrights begin producing their plays. Over the course of a playwright’s career at Fordham the Program sponsors four full productions in the studio theatres. Each playwright is matched with an outside professional director. The playwrights’ involvement in the twice-weekly writing seminar continues through six semesters (with an option of seven) to support the productions and build a community of writers. At present the number of playwriting majors ranges between six and ten.

In Playwriting I and II, and every following semester, there is a concentration on storytelling, character, structure, and language.

Playwriting III includes the staging of a one-act play. The production is full in every way except that the design is limited to light design to heighten focus on the text.

Playwriting IV is a production of a one-act play with all design elements. During this semester the writer concentrates on exploring the craft of a full-length.

In Playwriting V (Advanced) and VI (Thesis Project) the writers produce full-length plays of any style.

The four-year program allows the option of a semester abroad or a seventh semester of a playwriting workshop. Internships are also recommended.

Our primary goals are to teach basic craft and to help writers develop their individual voice. We concentrate on four major issues in playwriting: storytelling, character, structure, and the poetic voice. The courses are taught from overlapping perspectives of traditional and alternative techniques.

The traditional approach is rooted in character and plot: narrative structure with emphasis on a play's arc through its beginning, turning point, and ending. The writers learn the fundamentals of character development, exposition, monologues, and scenes. The alternative approach explores playwriting as collage, emphasizing the power of image, gesture, and narrative structures including the non-linear and poetic.

Each semester begins with exercises rooted in storytelling techniques and character development. After a session devoted to reviewing the ground rules of giving and receiving constructive criticism, work is read in class and critiqued by the group. Character maps, storytelling from personal experience, and monologues are the starting points. Reading is an important component; classic plays are used to demonstrate structural principles with an emphasis on a play's arc through its beginning, turning point, and ending. Exercises are crafted for the writing of openings, turning points, and endings. The writers create characters in conflict. From these characters the shape of a one-act play is derived. The writers reach for heightened language to flesh out their play's world. Then they develop their one-act plays scene by scene. Exercises introducing alternative techniques of writing enrich their process. Rewriting follows critique. Each semester culminates in a one-act play. The process also includes seminars with guest playwrights, trips to New Dramatists, seeing NYC productions, and collaborations with directing students. The final project of the semester is a reading of the completed plays before an invited audience. This is in addition to the writers’ plays being staged.

All levels of writers work in parallel in a cluster of courses that meet together: Playwriting I, II, III, IV, Advanced, and Thesis Project. Since the fundamentals of craft are a constant, they write to their own level and learn from one another. The writers grow through a seminar-style studio approach in which they learn to give one another feedback and how to respond constructively to writing.

Thanks to support from the Dean’s Challenge Fund we have had the honor of an auspicious list of guest playwrights teaching in our classes including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Nilo Cruz, the 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner, Suzan-Lori Parks, MacArthur Prize winner Elizabeth LeCompte, Tony Award winner Warren Leight, Dean of Theatre at CalArts Erik Ehn, Mark Bly, Marlane Meyer, Candido Tirado, Erin Cressida Wilson, Len Jenkin, Diana Son, Charles L. Mee Jr., David Greenspan, Darrah Cloud, David Lindsay-Abaire, Kia Corthron, Mary Gallagher, Craig Lucas, Jeffrey Jones, Chiori Miyagawa, Ellen McLaughlin, Michael John Garcés, Susan Mosakowski, Mac Wellman, Donald Laventhall, Jessica Hagedorn, Lynne Nottage, Kirsten Childs, Jacquelyn Reingold, Donny Levit, Merry Conway, Zakiyyah Alexander, Tim Acito, Alisa Solomon, Tina Landau, Kia Corthron, Jessica Hagedorn, Ralph Sevush, Chris Burney, Jim Fitzmorris, Catherine Filloux, Mallory Catlett, Sheila Callaghan, and one of Russia’s leading playwrights, Sasha Galen.

Speaking to the entire Fordham Theatre community have been Edward Albee, John Guare, Tony Kushner, and Eve Ensler.

Recent graduates of the program have been accepted into the MFA Playwriting Programs at Yale School of Drama, CalArts, New York University, the University of Iowa, and the University of East Anglia in England. One 2003 graduate, was accepted for an artistic residency at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

Recent graduates have had their plays produced in New York City at New York’s 59 E. 59th St. Theatre (Justin Sherin), the New York Fringe Festival (Peter Gil-Sheridan, Paul Hagen, Lindsay Sullivan, and Ian McWethy), HERE Arts Center (Jason Pizzarello), The Present Company (Colin Hodges), Milk Can Theatre (Bethany Larsen), Arthur Seelen Theatre (Andrew Snyder), the Producer’s Club (Karina Kramer-Schevers), The Culture Project (Lindsay Sullivan), and in Los Angeles at the West Coast Ensemble (David Lomax) and CalArts (Brian Bauman).

*During junior and senior year, many theatre majors take more than the required number of electives for their particular major. This is permitted as long as all Fordham College Core requirements have been completed.

TDLU 2610-Playwriting II: Structure and Language (4 credits)
We continue the work of Playwriting I with a shift of focus to two new major issues: structure and language. Classic plays are used to demonstrate structural principles with an emphasis on a play's arc through its beginning, turning point, and ending. Exercises introducing alternative techniques of writing enrich the process, including approaches to playwriting as collage, emphasizing the power of image, gesture, and experimental narrative structures including non-linear. Then the writers reach for heightened language to flesh out their play's world. The process includes seminars with guest writers and uses the New York theatre scene as a resource. Again, the final project of the semester is a reading of the one-act plays before an invited audience. Prerequisite: TDLU 2600. Open to all students.

TDLU 3610-Playwriting III: One-Act Play Production (4 credits)
The writers alternate their time between the seminar room and the studio theatre for the development and rehearsal process of a Theatre program sponsored staging of their one-act play. The production is full in every way except that the design is limited to light design to heighten focus on the text. Prerequisite: TDLU 2610 and consent of program director.

TDLU 4610-Playwriting IV: Full-Length Play-Production (4 credits)
The writers alternate their time between the seminar room and the studio theatre for the development and rehearsal process of a Theatre program sponsored production of their one-act play. During this semester the writer concentrates on exploring the craft of a full-length. Prerequisite: TDLU 3610 and consent of program director.

TDLU 4620-Playwriting V (Advanced) (4 credits)
This course supports the writer on the production of a full-length play of any style. Prerequisite: TDLU 4610 and consent of program director.

TDLU 4630-Playwriting VI (Thesis Project) (4 credits)
This course supports the writer in advanced work on production of a fully staged play of any length and style. Prerequisite: TDLU 4620 and consent of program director.