Writing for the Tangible: Playwriting for the stage

Scripting a live performance is a rewarding, if under-explored, form of creative writing, one shaped entirely by the practical realities of the stage. In this workshop, you'll learn to write within those constraints. From adapting fiction, poetry, and nonfiction into scripts or staged readings, to shaping scenes around limited space, props, and costumes, you'll explore how constraint becomes a creative tool. You'll be guided through a writers' room exercise and a table read, reflecting on how a piece shifts when it moves from page to voice.

Writers of all levels, especially those with less experience in playwriting.

W. Reid Kennedy (he/him) is an absurdist playwright and second-year student in the NEOMFA program at the University of Akron, where he teaches Composition I as a T/A. After writing his first play in 2019, he honed his craft performing stand-up comedy in the Greater Cleveland area. In 2023, he established Lunar Sun Theatrics, an independent theatre company in Akron producing new works. He is a member of The Rubbertop Review and The Dramatists Guild of America.