Beginning a Play with Hilary Bell

Through writing games and exercises participants will create characters, conflict, story and structure, and begin to write a new play.

Using a number of playful exercises, together we’ll investigate the elements of writing for the theatre – character, dialogue, conflict, subtext, stakes, structure, story – and what sets it apart from other forms of creative writing. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have gained an understanding of what makes a play work, generated several starting points for future projects, and started writing a new play.
         

Learning outcomes

As part of this workshop, you will:

• Understand the elements of dramatic writing.
• Know where to look for new ideas.
• Generate kernels for other projects.
• Learn to commit to an idea and follow through with it.
• Walk away with the bones of a new play, and a sense of where to go next.

Format

This is an in-person workshop with a focus on writing craft; it will be held at the State Library of Queensland. This workshop is suitable for playwrights of all levels and backgrounds.

About Hilary

Hilary Bell is a multi-award-winning playwright and lyricist. Her work has been produced around Australia, and internationally by theatres including Atlantic and Steppenwolf (USA), London’s National Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe. She won a scholarship to Juilliard’s playwriting program, was the 2003-04 Tennessee Williams Fellow in Creative Writing at Tennessee’s University of the South, and the 2013 Patrick White Playwriting Fellow at the STC. As well as Juilliard, Hilary is a graduate of NIDA and AFTRS, and a founding member of 7-ON Playwrights. With composer Greta Gertler Gold, she is currently writing a musical adaptation of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’.

For more information about Queensland Writers Centre’s Program of Events and answers to FAQs, please visit: www.queenslandwriters.org.au/program-info