Playwriting
Plan of Study
Throughout the year, all playwrights are required to take part in the Hansberry Welcome (DRAM 7a), Fall Workshop (DRAM 47a), Spring Workshop (DRAM 47b), and The Playwrights’ Studio (DRAM 177a/b). The required sequence of courses is detailed below. Each term, a student is required to take four courses for credit, at least one of which must be a writing course and/or master class. More than one writing workshop/course may be taken. In addition, throughout the year, the playwriting department hosts master classes and workshops with visiting artists.
Year One
Survey of Theater and Drama
Hansberry Welcome
First-Year Master Class
Founding Visions
Fall Workshop: Lessons from My Teachers
Spring Workshop: Readings with Actors
The Collaborative Process
New Play Lab
Industry Practice I
Fall Tutorial I
Writing for the Ensemble
The Playwrights’ Studio
Visual Storytelling
Year Two
Hansberry Welcome
Second-Year Master Class
Second-Year Master Class
The Production Process for Playwrights
Fall Workshop: Lessons from My Teachers
Spring Workshop: Readings with Actors
Lyric Writing for Musical Theater
Libretto Writing for Musical Theater
Television and Screenwriting
The Playwrights’ Studio
Draft to Draft
Langston Hughes Tutorial
The Choreographic Imagination
Year Three
Hansberry Welcome
The Production Process for Playwrights
Spring Workshop: Readings with Actors
Television and Screenwriting
Industry Practice II
The Playwrights’ Studio
Carlotta Tutorial
Fall Tutorial III
Spring Tutorial
Production
First-year playwrights participate in The Collaborative Process (DRAM 50a) and also write a one-act play for the New Play Lab (DRAM 51b) in the spring. In the spring and summer of the first year, playwrights write a full-length play that is then redrafted, rehearsed, and staged in the first term of their second year (Langston Hughes Festival). By the third year, playwrights will have written a roster of full-length plays, and one of those plays is selected to be fully designed and produced in repertory in their final term (Carlotta Festival of New Plays). All plays are subject to the approval of the chair prior to rehearsal.
Electives
Students are encouraged to take electives as audits beyond their required credit courses. Electives may be selected from other departments of Yale School of Drama or from Yale College with the approval of the chair. The department recommends playwriting students enroll in at least one course in Design and an additional course in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism during their three years at YSD. Among the electives for consideration are DRAM 102a/b, Scene Design; DRAM 141b; Law and the Arts; and DRAM 191b, Managing the Production Process. All plans of study must be approved by the chair.