Writer, Teacher, and Producer
Story Starters! Give your new year of writing a strong start by playing with a variety of ways to begin your short story, chapter, or personal essay. Feel free to bring in a previous piece you’ve been working on to give it a new start. We’ll also work together to create multiple story starters for the same tale.
$10 suggested contribution. BYO Pen & Paper!
Join us for this month’s drop-in creative writing workshop at The Astoria Bookshop: Holiday Cookies and Characters!
Back away from your manuscript, enjoy a holiday cookie (or 3), and spend the afternoon getting to know your characters outside of the world you’ve created. What would happen if you took your overachieving protagonist out for bottomless mimosas brunch or got stuck in an elevator with your ennui-filled villain? Through a mixture of discussion and out-of-the-box prompts, we’ll uncover surprising things about the people you’ve imagined and/or create new ones.
$10 suggested contribution. BYO pen & paper. Cookies provided!
Recently spent a spectacular weekend at Otherworld Theatre in Chicago seeing my play
ALL I WANT IS ONE MORE MEANWHILE…
Reserve your pay-what-you-can seats now at otherworldtheatre.org. Runs through Oct. 28!
To read the full reviews above, click here and click here.
Otherworld Theatre, which recently opened the world’s first venue dedicated to the performance of Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, will produce the Midwest premiere of All I Want is One More Meanwhile… a superhero comedy written by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and directed by ensemble member Nathan Pease. Performances are September 26, 2018 – October 27, 2018 as the first mainstage show of its first season at its newly acquired theater location, 3914 N Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613. CLICK HERE to learn more…
Excited to be co-teaching this workshop at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence this fall:
Nothing informs your story like hearing someone else perform your story! Compose a creative nonfiction story using the collaborative process created by the producers of the nonfiction reading series, No, YOU Tell It!
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 until Tuesday, October 23, 2018 from 10-12 PM.
Click here for registration details.
Whether developing a true-life tale for a venue like The Moth or RISK! or working to sharpen it for publication, our “page to stage” process allows writers to gain a new perspective on the story they want to tell by hearing their words read out loud by someone else, while also improving their own stage presence.
This five-week session takes you from brainstorming, through drafting, to a finished piece of creative nonfiction.
By the end of this workshop, participants take an idea from a thematic suggestion all the way through to a polished draft, engage in useful feedback and revision techniques, and consider the importance of audience and delivery.
Click here for registration details! & Help us spread the news!!
No, YOU Tell It! is a “switched-up” storytelling series dedicated to performing true-life tales with a twist: Each participant develops their own story on the page and then flip scripts with a partner to present each other’s story on stage. We’ve found that this shared storytelling format creates a sense of trust and ownership, and blends the collaborative process of creative writing workshops with the intimacy and immediacy of theatrical performance.
Join us at The Astoria Bookshop on 6/17 at 5 pm for this month’s creative writing workshop:
Stepping into Scenework.
Whether you are writing a script, novel, or short story, writing’s basic building block is the “scene.” One piles on top of the next, each changing something that came before by creating and/or confronting conflict. Through a mixture of discussion and writing exercises, we’ll explore writing scenes designed to relentlessly move your story forward.
$10 suggested contribution. BYO Pen & Paper!
CLICK HERE to give a listen to the first half of our No, YOU Tell It! “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th.
CLICK HERE to give a listen to the first half of our No, YOU Tell It! “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th.
Looking to get your creative brain moving? Need a refreshing way to mix-up your writing? Then push away from your keyboard, get ready to put pen to paper, and come mingle with other writers in person tonight at Q.E.D. Astoria. 8 pm!
Hope to see you! BYO Pen & Paper (no drink minimum)
Wonderful class creating “I-characters” at The Astoria Bookshop tonight!
My “I-character” was revealed when I expressed my awe over people who are able to keep other people alive. Happy Mother’s Day!
Save the date for next month – June 17th!
Can’t wait that long? Join us at this Tuesday, 5/15, for Sip-N-Scribe at QED: A Place to Show & Tell!!