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Workshop Descriptions & Instructors


Marilyn Abildskov
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Kyle Beachy
Karen Bender
Linda Bendorf
Maudy Benz
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
David Bouchier
Michael Dennis Browne
Maggie Conroy
Mary Cross

Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Janet Desaulniers
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Jill Esbaum
Sarah Fay
Hugh Ferrer
Katie Ford
Geoffrey Forsyth
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Rebecca Johns
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Daniel Khalastchi
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Peter Markus
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Diana Ossana
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Kiki Petrosino
Mark Jude Poirier
Leslie Carol Roberts
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Robert Anthony Siegel
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Kris Vervaecke
Ashley Warlick
Michelle Wildgen
Bart Yates

Aspengren

Kate Aspengren

What a Character!
One-Week Workshop
June 14–19

Playwrights Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 21–26

Writing Humor
One-Week Workshop
July 5–10

Biography

 

 

 

What a Character!
One-Week Workshop
June 14–19

Characters bring shape, direction, and life to our work. This workshop is for the writer who would like to develop the skills needed to create three-dimensional characters that are engaging, provocative, and authentic. We’ll use both in-class and overnight writing exercises to explore our own characters, and we’ll take a look at some memorable characters from fiction, film, and drama. This workshop invites writers of any genre or level of experience. You might want to use the time to focus in on a character you’ve created. Or you may use the exercises and discussion to invent new characters and generate some fresh material. Or both!

Playwrights Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 21–26

You’ve finished your play. You’ve read it out loud to the dog. Your mom thinks it’s brilliant. It looks great on paper. You’re done. Right? Slow down, Shakespeare. Now it’s time for revision. In this workshop, we’ll devote our time to reading and critiquing the work written by participants. By discussing the plays in a constructive and supportive workshop setting, we’ll offer useful, insightful feedback to one another. While this course is open to writers of all levels, participants should have some basic knowledge of playwriting. You do not need to have completed a play. You may bring a work-in-progress or even a monologue or a short scene. As time permits, we’ll also do some exercises designed to create new material or develop work that you already have. Come prepared to read and discuss the work of others and to hear your own work read.

Writing Humor
One-Week Workshop
July 5–10

Some of us manage to find humor in nearly everything (often to either the delight or annoyance of our friends and families). This course will help you take that humor and use it in your own writing. We’ll concentrate primarily on producing new work through a variety of exercises and assignments. We’ll also take a close look at the work of established writers, and we’ll focus on bringing those techniques to our own writing. This is a course for writers of all genres and levels of experience.  Plan to spend your week writing, reading, and laughing.

Biography
Kate Aspengren (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop) has taught playwriting at The University of Iowa, Coe College, Grinnell College, and Cornell College. Her plays, including Flyer, Dear Mrs. Martin, and House of Wonders, are published by Samuel French, Inc. and have been produced throughout the United States and Canada. Her work has also been translated for international production. Kate’s work has been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, The New American Comedy Festival (CA), Three Graces Theater Company (NY), and Six Figures Theater Company (NY). She holds an annual playwriting residency at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, and is the Festival’s weekend coordinator. Kate is as surprised as you are that she just completed her first middle grade novel, Ashley Templeton is Ruining My Life.

 

 

 

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Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
C215 Seashore Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

Phone 319-335-4160
FAX 319-335-4743
iswfestival@uiowa.edu

Last updated on February 9, 2009