Fall Only
Program Overview
What can you expect to do in a 14-week playwriting program in London?
How about an in-depth study of the structure; the beginning, middle, and end; originality; characters, conflict, imagery, and the pitch? Most importantly, you write a freshly conceived full-length play or two one-act plays while living in one of the most historic and theatrical cities in the world.
Roy Kendall, an award-winning writer based in London, leads structured lectures on the elements of playwriting and dramaturgy three times a week at Senate House located at the University of London. As the semester progresses, the creative work of you and your classmates becomes the subject of readings, in-class workshops, and appraisal of the work. In addition to this playwriting course, you choose from additional classes such as The Arts in London, Studies in Shakespeare, Theatre in London, or British Cinema: London on Film.
At the end of the semester there will be a rehearsed reading of a section of your play. You will be able to cast the actors from the RADA program having had the chance to watch them at work in one of their Shakespeare play projects. It’s exciting to see the actors fresh from their Shakespeare training presenting brand new contemporary work by tyro playwrights. The audience is made up of all the students on the London program together with some faculty members and guests. This is a crucial part of the London Program when everyone comes together at the end of the semester to celebrate the work that has been achieved.
Outside the classroom, you have an amazing opportunity to live with other NYU students in housing provided in central London, and you have every opportunity to meet local residents and emerging artists.
Program Curriculum
Your semester abroad consists of your core program curriculum and two
additional companion courses, completing a full-time, 16-unit semester:
Advanced Playwriting
IDWPG-UT 1050
8 units | Roy Kendall, instructor
Prerequisite: one semester of college-level dramatic writing or permission of the instructor.
This is an advanced course for students with some playwriting experience. The central aim is to guide the students toward reinventing themselves as writers. In this process, students will learn to reappraise famous plays of the past and analyze the plays of their contemporaries, including their fellow students. Students initially are taught the process of playwriting (especially in relation to UK practice), from page to stage to printed page. Guest speakers for the course are drawn from British playwrights and/or other leading practitioners in the field. This overall approach will lead to a reexamination of the basic elements of playwriting, including the creation of story, character, and theme. Students complete this course with a clear idea of their interrelation and, more particularly, of how original stories can be invented, original characters created, and original themes put into dramatic harness. Along with the study of further dramaturgical elements, students are encouraged to look at their plays from the perspective of the actor, the director, the designer, and the audience. By the end of the semester, students complete the first draft of a freshly conceived, full-length play or the second draft of a one-act play for the stage.
