Playwriting in Movement Workshops this Summer 2024

Workshops

Open Heart Surgery has taught workshops in Canada, France, UK, USA and Cairo.  Please contact us for further information on booking a workshop in Physical Theatre, Devising, Playwriting in Movement or Creative Writing at your institution. coleen.macpherson@gmail.com

Upcoming Workshops

Playwriting in Movement 2024

This intimate intimate weekend workshop will journey playwrights through a unique exploration of dramatic text through a movement perspective; inspired by the teachings at Ecole Jacques Lecoq.

Playwriting in Movement focuses on how to develop dramatic texts; journeying participants through exercises that bring writing into movement. We will observe, play and write, while also developing our individual writing style and voice.
Exploring the concrete, dramaturgy, neutral mask, physical action, language and writing from the body. Inspired by the Lecoq tradition, Coleen MacPherson, writer and theatre maker, will lead the workshop with the goal of inspiring writers, theatre makers and creative individuals to capture the world in words.

This 8-hour workshop series is divided into four parts and is recommended for both the veteran and the curious closet writer, and is a great way to dive into 2024 with a weekend ritual of writing.

Please email: Coleen.macpherson@gmail.com if you’re interested in enrolling or click the button to the right and sign up. There are limited spaces, so please sign up soon!

Course Breakdown

Part 1: The Concrete and Observation

We will explore the concrete in our writing through a series of exercise that provoke the writer's imagination. Beginning in neutral we write purely through observation, searching for specificity. We will work with the principal of beginning from neutrality, working on the body in space and the search for a state of essentializing action. These weeks are spent connecting to the body, to breath and developing a deeper connection to our subconscious voice, while also writing from pure observation.

Part 2: Painting, Poetry and Music

During this part we will be inspired by paintings, poetry and music to stimulate the development of character, voice and scenes. We look at the dynamics of movement in painting and music and see how this can be transposed to the stage. What world does the painting provoke? What space and mood?

Part 3: Forms of Writing / Dramatic Structures

We look at the principles of narration and the strategies to be a teller of stories. How can we drive the story? How can we provoke and play with action? We look at rhythm of language and the counter-mask of character. We explore dramatic forms by analyzing movement and applying this to the structure of a monologue or a play as a whole. We look at other writer’s work and begin to be inspired by the possibilities of form and structure.

Part 4: Editing / Refining / Sharing Work

Throughout the workshop will be sharing work, taking in feedback and doing the real work of the writer: editing, shaping the clay. The class invites students to write actively and engage with each other's work and give critical feedback so each writer leaves the workshop series with clear goals ahead. The final hour of the class will involve each student sharing their works-in-progress.

Sat August 17 & Sun August18th

1:00-5:00 pm @ University of Toronto

$203.68 (tax included)* early bird fee until July 12th 11:59pm

$239 (tax included)* general fee

* subsidies available

Student Testimonials:

"With Playwriting in Movement you go on a journey with a talented inspiring insightful teacher who combines my two earthly loves the Body and Word. Anyone who knows movement knows it is more than mere entertainment, but rather a profound meaning-maker, will benefit in this writing workshop."

"It allowed me to see what I do in my writing and to kickstart what I couldn't do on my own"

About Your Instructor

This workshop series is led by international theatre creator, Coleen Shirin MacPherson, and aims to provoke the imagination and stimulate your ability to play and transform image into words. Coleen taught Playwriting I at the University of Toronto; Devised Theatre Workshops at York University, Sheridan College and Brock University. She has been teaching Playwriting in Movement for over 7 years in Canada and internationally.

After studying at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris and taking part in the UK's Off-West End Arcola Theatre's Writers' Group and attending workshops led by playwrights James Graham (National Theatre) and Michel Azama (Bled, The Life and Death of Pier Paolo Pasolini), MacPherson has developed her own approach to writing for the stage to provoke the imagination and develop each artists' unique voice. Her plays have appeared at Camden People's Theatre, Mimetic Festival (London, UK), Falaki Theater (Cairo, Egypt), Plateau 31 (Paris, France) and The Theatre Centre (Toronto). Her play This Is Why We Live recently toured to New York City's La MaMa (Off Off Broadway) and Poland (Krakow and Katowice) to be part of the Miłosz Festival of Literature at Nowy Theatr. She has worked and toured to China, UK, Northern Ireland, Spain, Egypt, USA and France.

Her company, Open Heart Surgery Theatre has been known to create multilingual work that stretches borders and experiments with form and was part of the 58th Season La MaMa in New York City with This Is Why We Live. This work earned an OFFIE nomination in London, UK at the VOILA! Europe festival 2022. Coleen is Playwright in Residence at Cahoots Theatre and was part of the Bedrock Creator’s Initiative at Factory Theatre, where she’s developing a new work. She is also part of the Young Vic Theatre’s Creators Program in London, UK and recently Assistant Directed Richard III at the Stratford Festival.

MacPherson's joy in teaching is also a joy gained from the desire to collaborate and develop relationships with working artists in Toronto, and to stimulate new methodologies of creation with her company Open Heart Surgery Theatre. She teaches Musical Theatre Lab, devised theatre at Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts and teaches Playwriting I at the University of Toronto. Coleen wishes she could fly.

Open Heart Surgery Theatre is committed to hiring individuals form diverse communities and encourages submissions from equity-seeking groups, including those who identify as Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Women, Trans, Nonbinary, Queer, Seniors, and intersections of those identities and beyond. We are committed to creating a safe, equitable, open workspace that is accessible and inclusive and abides by the principles of anti-oppression.