NYTW and PTP Veteran Voices Playwriting Workshop 2023 Application
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: MONDAY, March 27th, 5:00pm ET
Back by popular demand! New York Theatre Workshop and Poetic Theater Productions’ Veteran Voices team are joining forces to present a free workshop series for veterans and the family members of veterans designed to take participants’ writing to the next level. The nine-week series will focus on honing skills specific to playwriting and on deepening participants’ professional development in the theater world. By the end of the program, all participants will have created a complete 10 minute play that will be shared at a Final Presentation.
This workshop series is ideal for artists who have participated in Poetic Theater Productions’ Veteran Voices Workshop Series or other writing workshop series, have a solid foundation in writing and sharing their own stories in the form of poetry or poetic storytelling, and now want to take their ability to create theatre to the next level. This series will help participants create a piece of theatre, excerpts from which will be cast by New York Theatre Workshop and read by professional actors in a staged reading at the end of the workshop series.
ALL WORKSHOPS WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAYS 6:00 – 8:00 PM ET, EXCEPT FOR ONE WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP ON MAY 24.
OUR SHOWCASE READING WILL BE TUESDAY MAY 23rd 7:00 – 9:00 PM ET.
THE DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Tuesday April 4 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Thursday April 6 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday April 18 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday April 25 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday May 2 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday May 9 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday May 15 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Tuesday May 23rd – FINAL PRESENTATION 7:00pm – 9:00pm ET
Wednesday May 24 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET – Final Reflection
The Veteran Voices Playwriting Workshop Series will be led by Dylan Guerra and assisted by Jenny Pacanowski.
Dylan is a New York City based playwright, director, and actor originally from Miami, Florida. His mission in the arts is to create diverse and challenging new works that promote cross sectional conversation. He’s a member of EST’s Youngblood, Ars Nova’s Playgroup and Interstate 73 with P73. He has been a finalist for The Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, NBC Universal’s Writers on the Verge Program, The MTC Directing Fellowship, The Drama League Hangar Directing Fellowship, and a semifinalist for the Sundance Episodic Television Writers Program. His solo-show “Find Him” recurs at Ars Nova.
Jenny is Poetic Theater Productions’ Veteran Voices Program Director. She is also the Founder and Director of Women Veterans Empowered & Thriving, a reintegration program utilizing writing and performance to empower experiences and facilitate skills to thrive in daily life. In the Army while deployed to Iraq, Jenny was a combat medic and provided medical support for convoys with the Marines, Air Force, and the Army. She also did shifts in the Navy medical hospital. Jenny is a professional poet, performer, public speaker and playwright. She has been featured on WFMZ, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Turner Classic Movies, Thriver Thursday’s with Robin Roberts, and The Chew on ABC. Her critically acclaimed play, “Dionysus in America,” was featured at the Vortex theatre in Austin, Texas. Jenny believes successful reintegration programming such as Women Veterans Empowered & Thriving is essential to diminishing the plague of suicide, addiction, and homelessness in the veteran community.
We are requesting that you submit with this form a writing sample from your past or present so the curators can get can a feel for your style as an artist. We welcome submissions from people with and without formal writing experience. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL WRITER TO SUBMIT.
Your writing samples can be of any style and genre (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, theater, song, short story).
The workshop series has space for up to 10 participants. Inclusivity is a key value to this program; registration is open to all veterans, all identities, all eras, all branches of service, as well as to family members of veterans. We are accepting submissions globally. There are no fees associated with participation in these workshops. Participation in previous workshops does not guarantee selection.
Throughout our workshop series, our team works to create a supportive, compassionate environment in which participants feel empowered to share vulnerably. This program does not have a mental health professional on board. We are an artistic model, not a therapeutic model. We recommend that all feedback and advice received throughout the program be taken in conjunction with the feedback and advice of a trained mental health care professional.
Feel free to reach out to jeremy@poetictheater.com or gavent@nytw.org with any questions you may have.