Hollins New Play Directing Certificate

Congratulations to Certificate Director Vanna Richardson who has been awarded the Leighton M. Ballew Directing Scholarship from SETC.

SETC’s Leighton M. Ballew Directing Scholarship awards $2,500 to a student to study directing at a regionally accredited graduate school.

Graduate Taylor Gruenloh took his students on a trip to New York to perform their original musical and connect the arts and sciences.

https://www.facebook.com/share/Ec3y3gZdzUteR2ST/?mibextid=xfxF2i

https://shakespeare.org/newsroom/2024/02/shakespeare-company-introduces-women-of-will-directing-fellowship/?fbclid=IwAR10YSQlMqVU7a21yq5BBigQmiNOyuYo-38kcfmjZTunyx90xPdRq2-72bE

Shakespeare & Company Introduces Women of Will Directing Fellowship - Shakespeare & Company A program designed for early-career directors has been launched in honor of Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer LENOX, Mass. – Shakespeare & Company of Lenox, Mass. has created the Tina Packer … Shakespeare & Company Introduces Women of Will Directing Fellowship Read More »

Congratulations to Taylor Gruenloh, graduate of the Directing Certificate. https://www.broadwayworld.com/st-louis/article/New-Musical-Written-For-STEM-Students-Premieres-In-St-Louis-After-New-York-Engagement-20240303?fbclid=IwAR1McCTtHDayksCB69CdVraDfOne4J0ouuJ9L4hdGCou7t4JgxknzazD8T8

New Musical Written For STEM Students Premieres In St. Louis After New York Engagement A new musical written for students at the Missouri University of Science & Technology will have a brief run in New York City this month before having its World Premiere at the Tesseract Theatre Company in St. Louis this July.

Hollins University's Playwright’s Lab offers an MFA in playwriting (with concentrations in dramaturgy, directing, performance, plays for youth, plays with music and/or applied theatre). We also offer an MA in theatre and New Play Development as well as certificate programs in New Play Directing, New Play Dramaturgy, and New Play Performance. We are also proud sponsors of the SETC 10-minute play festival! Come visit our booth at the Ed Expo and find out more about our unique programs! Application deadlines always extended for SETC participants!

Todd Ristau, Program Director explains it all... (2022) Todd Ristau designed and launched the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University and has served as program director since its launch in 2007. He is a distinguish...

We are currently taking applications for the summer of 2024, and only applications begun before February 15th will be considered for scholarships. Enrollment is limited to a total of 8 directing students per two-summer cohort. Early applications will get early decisions, and applications will be closed after 8 students have been accepted and those students have paid their deposit.

If you’d like to have a zoom meeting with the program director to discuss the program, please use this link to the program's website and request further information.

https://www.hollins.edu/programs/certificate-in-new-play-directing

At present, you cannot apply online, and you will also need to request a paper application.

If enrolled this summer, you’d be taking:

THEA 510: Playscript Analysis (4) Gogerty (Analytic)
Required of All First Year Students
T TH 9-Noon
Intensive critical analysis of the playscript as a blueprint for production covering representative texts from a range of theatre styles, genres, and periods. Plays are considered in both their original historical/cultural context as well as implications for contemporary audiences. Course covers major approaches to dramatic criticism and the tools used in theatre research. (Required for all first-year students)

THEA 520: Narrative Theory (4) Ristau (Creative)
Required of All First Year Students
W F 2-5
Introduction to the basics of storytelling and the creation of dramatic texts using both organic and formulaic models with an emphasis on the one act play. Students will learn to observe the world for meaning, build characters, place characters in settings, write monologues, create dialogue between characters, and lay the groundwork for longer, more substantive work. (Required for all first-year students)

THEA 524: DIRECTING THE NEW PLAY (4)
Directing Certificate, Playwriting Elective, Dramaturgy Elective, MA Elective
T TH 2-5
Focused instruction on directing and rehearsal techniques with particular emphasis on approaching the new play when the playwright is attending rehearsals. Students who complete this course will have the confidence to determine whether problems lie in the unfinished text or in the performer’s approach to the play and how to come up with practical ways to differentiate between them.

THEA 561: Directors and Playwrights in Collaboration (2) Ristau (Collaboration)
Directing Certificate, Playwriting Elective, MA Elective
M 9-Noon
Guided instruction leading up to the reading of a new play in Festival and functioning as a production meeting with participation of the playwright and performers discussing process and progress toward the presentation of the work to the public. All students enrolled in the certificate in New Play Directing will be required to direct a reading in the Hollins Playwright’s Festival, which presents ten new play readings to industry professionals from all over the world. This course is designed to guide directing students through the process of collaboration from the initial read and interview with a playwright, development of concept in consultation with the playwright, and included practical exercises to ensure that when it comes to the test the playwright and director are on the same page. Monday meetings function as a kind of production meeting for the festival readings and will include Festival playwrights. Repeated each summer.

Certificate in New Play Directing - Hollins University New Cohort begins Summer 2024Under special circumstances permission to begin certificate programs in off years may be given by the program director.  The New Play Directing Certificate provides practical experience […]

Tip o' the hat to Taylor Gruenloh!

Missouri S&T theater students to present 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown' and 'Dog Sees God' Theater students from Missouri S&T’s arts, languages, and philosophy department will perform “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” this December.

Opinion | Why theater (in its current form) does not deserve to be saved American theater is struggling to stay alive. Only artists can revive it.

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How a Free Show in Harlem Is Also an Act of Community Care With the Twelfth Night sequel Malvolio, Classical Theatre of Harlem is expanding the canon and how the company serves audiences

Faculty member Dominic Taylor is on a panel this month at the Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference. Taylor will be a guest speaker this summer and teach courses on directing the new play and also the Harlem Renaissance next year!

More from Hollins director Taylor Gruenloh!

Tesseract's 'Last Five Years' is a poignant musical showcase - KDHX This is a highly effective, moving production that benefits greatly from the inventive direction and the dynamic performances of the two leads.

https://playbill.com/article/physical-assault-vomit-in-the-aisles-stalking-in-the-streets-why-audience-misbehavior-has-gotten-out-of-hand

Physical Assault, Vomit in the Aisles, Stalking in the Streets: Why Audience Misbehavior Has Gotten Out of Hand Ushers and other front of house theatre staff share their horror stories, as Playbill investigates why bad audience behavior is on the rise.