Go Out on a Limb and Write from your Leg: A 4-Week Writing Intensive

GO OUT ON A LIMB AND WRITE FROM YOUR LEG

A 4-Week Experimental Writing Class at The Lab on Santa Fe

Classes Recurring: 6/3, 6/10, 6/17, 6/24

Two-Hour Sessions from 6:30-8:30pm

In this class, we shift attention away from “good writing” and toward felt writing—language that begins in the leg, the spine, the gut, the jaw. Writing that limps, jolts, drags, pulses.

We’ll work with:

• irregular rhythm
• body scans that move in unexpected directions
• impulses instead of ideas
• sentences that arrive before meaning

This is not about polishing.

This is about catching something in motion before it disappears.

You may find yourself writing:

a sentence that stutters

a paragraph that sprints

a thought that collapses halfway through and becomes something else entirely

Good.

We’ll stay with that.

Each session includes guided prompts, live writing, optional sharing, and a space to track where the writing actually comes from—not conceptually, but physically.

Led by The Lab on Santa Fe’s Creative Director & Founder, Josh Berkowitz, this class has been described as mind-opening and transformative. Enrollment is intentionally capped at just eight participants so each person can be fully seen, heard, and challenged. Josh Berkowitz’s 17-year trajectory in avant-garde performance began at the University of Michigan, where he appeared in the world premiere of JONESIN' at the Arthur Miller Theatre. His tour-de-force portrayal of a Ginsbergian stream-of-consciousness meth addict earned him a scholarship and marked a turning point — ultimately leading him away from traditional acting and toward interdisciplinary performance.

That shift brought him into mentorship with internationally acclaimed performance artists and members of the NEA Four, Holly Hughes and Tim Miller.

“I have known Josh Berkowitz for almost 15 years and have been amazed to see what a wild, fearless, and funny performer he has become. His work is a high-wire act and a no-holds-barred disclosure of all the complexities of being human. Josh is also an incredible teacher of performance, and I encourage you to dive in with him to discover the performance brewing within you.”— Tim Miller, author of BODY BLOWS and 1001 BEDS

In this class, participants engage in inventive and dynamic prompts — including what has recently been coined “The Anti-Toastmasters Exercise,” where polished eloquence is set aside in favor of something more immediate, rhythmic, and alive. Writers are encouraged to move beyond the head and engage the whole body — generating work that feels grounded, energized, and honest.

Between sessions, optional poems, films, essays, lectures, and theatrical excerpts are offered to deepen the conversation around risk, vulnerability, and creative courage.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher The Lab on Santa Fe