From Quill to Curtain: Crafting Plays Inspired by History
January 9, 16 and 30, 2027
This three-part workshop series invites writers of all levels to explore the craft of playwriting through the lens of historical figures and events.
Over the course of the three sessions, writers will work to develop their stories and identify how to connect the dots of time, place, history and circumstances that drive the narrative and the world of their plays. Each week participants are invited to bring in updated scenes and new discoveries about their work. The final session will culminate in a reading of excerpts from selected scenes followed by a discussion on the topic – What They Don’t Tell You: The Business of New Play Development. The workshop is under the direction of Helen Hayes Award winner, Chess Jakobs.
Please note:
- This workshop series would best serve writers who have a work already in progress and in its early stages of development.
- Writers will be provided with information and feedback that they can incorporate in their writing in-between sessions. Feedback will be provided by the workshop director as well as by fellow participants.
- Reading each other’s work will be part of the process. Participants may be asked to read roles aloud if necessary.
- Participation in all three sessions is strongly encouraged.
The workshops will take place at the Francis and Craig Lindner Center for Culture and Leadership.
Chess Jakobs is a North American writer, researcher and environmentalist whose play, The American Five, won the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play. Chess is a Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission playwright and a commissioned playwright with Theatre J’s Expanding the Canon. Chess is also the playwright-in-residence at Imminent Theatre Company. Chess’s poetry has been published by Be’chol Lashon’s Jewish& and Peace & Riot Magazine. Before writing, Chess was an actor, director and dramaturg, and worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway and regionally at theatres including Olney Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Indiana Repertory Theatre. Chess is an alum of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.