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Meet THe Team
Every year, ten-minute plays form the foundation of countless short play festivals, theatre conferences, and developmental staged readings across the theatrical world. Theaters are constantly putting out calls for ten-minute plays, and savvy playwrights have a diversity of short pieces at the ready to fill various festival themes, from “new beginnings” and “crossroads,” to plays highlighting the LGBTQ experience and world holidays. Whether you’re a veteran playwright looking to get an untested short on its feet or a newcomer to playwriting interested in exploring short form work for the stage, Writing the Ten-Minute Play is a three-week workshop class meant to help guide writers from a blank page to having a short piece ready for the stage.
During and between each class, participants will read and discuss model examples of ten-minute plays, experiment with various generative prompts, and choose one of their play ideas to develop into a workshop-ready draft, to be read, discussed, and critiqued by their fellow playwrights. Participants will leave the class with a submission ready or near ready draft of a new 10 minute play and a broader awareness of production and development opportunities available for when their piece is ready to send out into the world.
• In-Class Writing Lift: Medium
• Homework: Required
• Workshopping Drafts: Intensive
Sam Heyman (he/they) is a gay, non-binary playwright, fiction writer, and educator based in Nashville, TN. A graduate of Denison University and a long-time member of The Porch, Sam has written, taught, performed, learned, and lived in the Nashville area for much of his life. Their prose has been published in Hashtag Queer, Typehouse Literary Magazine, and Ordinary Space, and their plays have been presented and produced on physical and virtual stages across the country, including the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival and The Exit Theatre’s Short Play Festival in 2024. Sam’s plays have been developed with support from the Sewanee Writers Conference, the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, the Valdez Theatre Conference, the Desert Playwrights Retreat, and the Midwest Dramatists Conference, among other organizations. Sam is passionate about new play development, adapting his own fiction for the stage, and experimenting with form in whatever way he can. Currently, Sam serves as the producer of the monthly virtual Playwrights Thriving Reading Series and facilitates play readings for friends and colleagues as he is able.
"I went from knowing almost nothing about playwriting to feeling capable of actually creating something cool. Thanks, Sam!"
"Sam taught an excellent class. I liked the blend of instruction and practical exercises. More playwright content, please!"
"This was a great class that felt very accessible as someone just entering this specific sphere of playwriting, but also back into creative writing in general after years out. Sam delivered good examples of the subject matter and breakdowns that gave thought and insight."
