Carolyn Gage
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    • One-Woman Shows >
      • The Second Coming of Joan of Arc
      • La Seconde Venue de Jeanne d'Arc
      • La segunda llegada de Juana de Arco
      • Joana Dark - a re-volta
      • Die Wiederkehr von Jeanne d'Arc
      • Giovanna d'Arco - la rivolta
      • ВТОРОТО ПРИШЕСТВИЕ НА ЖАНА Д’АРК (Bulgarian tranlsation of The Second Coming of Joan
      • 贞德再临_中文 (Mandarin translation of The Second Coming of Joan of Arc)
      • The Last Reading of Charlotte Cushman
      • Crossing the Rapelands
    • Musicals >
      • The Amazon All-Stars
      • Babe! An Olympian Musical
      • How to Write a Country-Western Song
      • Leading Ladies
      • Women on the Land
    • Full-Length Plays >
      • The Abolition Plays
      • The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women
      • AXED!
      • Black Star
      • Coming About
      • Esther and Vashti
      • The Goddess Tour
      • In McClintock's Corn
      • Restell
      • Sappho in Love
      • The Spindle
      • Stigmata
      • Thanatron
      • Ugly Ducklings
    • One-Acts >
      • Ain't Got No - I Got Life
      • The A-Mazing Yamashita and the Millennial Gold-Diggers
      • Artemisia and Hildegard
      • Battered on Broadway
      • Bite My Thumb
      • The Boundary Trial of John Proctor
      • Cookin' with Typhoid Mary
      • The Countess and the Lesbians
      • The Drum Lesson
      • Easter Sunday
      • Entr'acte or The Night Eva Le Gallienne Was Raped
      • The Evil That Men Do: The Story of Thalidomide
      • Female Nude Seated
      • The Gage and Mr. Comstock
      • The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived
      • Harriet Tubman Visits A Therapist
      • Head in the Game
      • Hermeneutic Circlejerk
      • Heterosexuals Anonymous
      • Jane Addams and the Devil Baby
      • A Labor Play
      • Lace Curtain Irish
      • Lighting Martha
      • Little Sister
      • Louisa May Incest
      • Mason-Dixon
      • The Obligatory Scene
      • The P.E. Teacher
      • The Parmachene Belle
      • The Pele Chant
      • Planchette
      • The Poorly-Written Play Festival
      • Radicals
      • Reef Point
      • The Rules of the Playground
      • St. Frances and the Fallen Angels
      • Souvenirs from Eden
      • Starpattern
      • 'Til the Fat Lady Sings
      • Valerie Solanas At Matteawan
    • Short Short Plays >
      • 52 Pickup
      • At Sea
      • Black Eye
      • El Bobo
      • Brett Hears the Mountain Gods
      • Calamity Jane Sends a Message to Her Daughter
      • The Clarity of Pizza
      • The Great Fire
      • Hrotsvitha's Vision
      • The Intimacy Coordinator
      • The Ladies' Room
      • Miss Le Gallienne Announces the New Season
      • On the Other Hand
      • Patricide
      • The Pickle Play
    • Dramatic Adaptations >
      • Amy Lowell: In Her Own Words
      • Brett Remembers
      • Deep Haven
      • El Bobo (one-act play)
      • El Bobo (short screenplay)
      • Emily & Sue >
        • Touring Production of Emily & Sue >
          • The Creative Team
          • Director's Vision
          • Adaptor's notes
          • Open Me Carefully
      • Georgia and the Butch
      • I Have Come to Show You Death
      • Speak Fully The One Awful Word
      • We Too Are Drifting (Screenplay)
    • Special Index: Plays That Deal with Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls
    • Special Index: Plays Featuring Old and Middle-Aged Actresses
    • Special Index: Women's History Plays
    • Special Index: Romantic Plays with Happy Endings
  • Touring Work
    • Performances >
      • Lace Curtain Irish
      • Crossing the Rapelands
      • The Parmachene Belle (performance)
      • Calamity Jane Sends a Message to Her Daughter (performance)
      • Gage on Stage
    • Lectures >
      • Lizzie Borden and Lesbian Theatre
      • The Secret Life of Lesbians
      • Paradigms and Paradigm-Shifting
      • When Sex Is Not the Metaphor For Intimacy
      • Meeting the Ghost of Hamlet's Father
      • A Theatrical Journey Through Maine's Lesbian History
      • Tara and Other Lies
      • Teena Brandon's Inconvenient Truth
    • Workshops >
      • The Art of the Dramatic Monologue
      • Acting Lesbian
      • Interrupting Racism: A Workshop
      • Playwriting Techniques for Poets and Fiction Writers
      • Ugly Ducklings Workshop
    • Residencies
    • The Lesbian Tent Revival >
      • Testimonials
      • The Lesbian Tent Revival Radio Hour Podcasts
      • The Lesbian Tent Revival Sermon on Dying Well
      • Sermons for a Lesbian Tent Revival
      • Supplemental Sermons
      • Hotter Than Hell
      • The Synapse Pendant
    • Cauldron & Labrys >
      • A Brief History
      • Upcoming Productions
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Playwriting Techniques for Poets and Fiction Writers

Picture
Portrait of Gage by Sudie Rakusin
How can the discipline of writing for stage be applied to the work of both poets and fiction writers?  Focusing on elements of tight, dramatic plot construction, participants in this workshop will learn to troubleshoot manuscripts in other genres -- identifying structural inconsistencies that frustrate the reader and also detecting opportunities to enhance the dramatic potential of a variety of situations. 

Participants will learn the playwright's trade secrets for generating suspense and momentum -- including the nuts and bolts of crafting the irresistible curtain-raiser and the unforgettable cliffhanger.  The same techniques that keep audiences glued to their seats translate to page-turning chapters in a novel and moments of startling revelation in a poem.

  • 2017 Stonecoast MFA Creative Writing Program, University of Southern Maine.
Feedback from Workshop at Stonecoast:

". . . high energy presentation, well-organized, specific examples . . . "

"Fabulous teaching technique . . . "

"Since I am a practicing theatre critic, I found this workshop to be fascinating.  Carolyn has developed a structure through which she examines texts that aren't working (in her case, plays and screenplays), but it would work for fiction and also a bit for poetry."

"She was lively, funny, engaging.  She kept up the pace for the entire workshop, completed what she said she would within her time slot . . . and gave use a handy tool.  I loved it."

"She was an incredible teacher and very engaging.  I loved her seminar.  She kept the audience involved . . . superb."

"I learned the playwriting structure and it was extremely valuable.  The five parts that she went through  make it possible to apply this structure to other work such as stories, poems, or novels.  She also made the point that all good writing had something in common and that was it's dramatic, and hence this formula can be applied to all writing."

"The handouts and presentation were strong.  I liked the participation which forced us to become playwrights for a half hour."

"The structure of a successful play and why it works; why people come to the theatre.  These principles are also directly applicable to poems as well."

"She is a great teacher/presenter -- brings out the best in her students!  The little drama exercises/ demos were memorable and right on point."  

"Let the fiction writers know this would be great for them . . . "  

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