Workshop Descriptions & Instructors

Faith Adiele
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Linda Bendorf
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
Michael Dennis Browne
Susan Taylor Chehak
John Dalton
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Katie Ford
Patricia Foster
Laura Fraser
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Kevin González
John Griesemer
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Bret Anthony Johnston
Daniel Khalastchi
Zachary Lazar
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Katherine Min
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Leslie Schwartz
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Ashley Warlick
Jan Weissmiller
Bart Yates

Kate Aspengren

Writing Humor
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

Playwrights Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 15–20 and July 27-Aug 1

Biography

Writing Humor
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

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 find ways to use it in your writing. We will concentrate primarily on producing new work through exercises and assignments. We’ll analyze the work of established writers and we’ll focus on bringing those techniques to our own writing. This is a course for beginning and intermediate writers of all genres. Plan to spend your week writing, reading, and laughing.

Playwrights Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 15–20 and July 27-Aug 1

You’ve finished your play. You’ve read it out loud to whoever is willing to listen. (In some cases, this might be the dog.) Your mom thinks it’s brilliant. Your spouse thinks it should be made into a movie. You’ve taken it to the nearest Kinko’s, gotten it bound, and now it sits proudly on your desk. You’re all done! Right? 

Not so fast, Shakespeare. Now it’s time for revision. And before you start the revision process, you need to hear how the work sounds. In this workshop, we’ll devote our time to reading and critiquing the work written by Festival participants. By discussing the plays in a constructive and supportive setting, we’ll offer useful, insightful feedback to one another. As time permits, there will also be writing exercises geared towards developing an existing play or generating a new piece. 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, a monologue, or a short scene. 

Biography
Kate Aspengren (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop) has taught playwriting at The University of Iowa, Grinnell College, Coe College, and Cornell College. Her plays, including Flyer 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 plays have been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Off-Center Theatre (FL), The Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Three Graces Theatre Company (NY) and Six Figures Theatre Company (NY). Kate is part of the creative team behind “Rockytown,” a weekly feature in the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She holds an annual playwriting residency at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, and is a founding member of the Kingston Springs Writers Group. Kate is delighted to once again be the Festival’s weekend coordinator.

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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 June 27, 2008