IPC News and Notes: September 15, 2024

Welcome to issue #6 of our occasional communication to keep you updated on IPC happenings. It ain’t fancy, but we promise to make it informative. Happy almost-fall, y’all!

In this issue:

· IPC large group meeting: October 13 at The District Theatre: using improv for playwriting

· Foundations of Playwriting class starts October 8

· Scene Night returns this Wednesday, September 18

· Upcoming shows featuring IPC members & friends

Our next IPC large group meeting: Sunday, October 13 at 5:00 PM at the District Theatre on Mass Ave. Topic: ways to use IMPROV to help develop your playwriting project.

Featuring:

· Pauline Moffat from the District Theatre

· Joe Wagner and Kelsey VanVoorst from Behind the Couch Comedy on how to use improv as a playwriting tool.

· Participate in a writing exercise: take a couple of scenes from possible plays and experiment with using improv techniques to "build them out"

Plus, as always, there'll be time for networking and fun with our stellar community of local theatre artists. (Also: snacks. Because we love snacks.) Everyone is welcome! Please RSVP via Eventbrite.

IPC Founder Andy Black brings back his popular Foundations of Playwriting class. Tuesday evenings starting October 8. Online via Zoom, so it’s open to all. If you’re looking to get started with writing for the stage (or you want to brush up on the basics), this is for you!

Playwriting allows writers to tell stories using a unique medium–live performance. But how to leverage the opportunity so that writers harness the full power of the audience’s imagination?

This class reviews the fundamentals of narrative structure, with a focus on the creation of a ten-minute play. The principles will be applied to full-length works as well. Just click your magic ruby heels together and say: “there’s no place like a theater”.

The workshop unfolds in five consecutive sessions over five weeks. The first session is an overview of the key elements of narrative structure. In the second session, students present an outline for a ten-minute play utilizing the key elements. In the third/fourth sessions, plays are read. Professional actors come to bring the plays to life. In fourth/fifth session, rewrites are heard. At the end of the seminar, student playwrights will have a full ten-minute play.

Scene Nights return this Wednesday, September 18! This is one of the main ways that we at IPC serve you, the writer. Bring up to ten pages of your play-in-progress. Our amazing actors will bring it to life and our supportive community will give you feedback. Most Wednesday evenings via Zoom. Free for IPC members; $10 for nonmembers.

· The minimum number of writers has increased from three to four. If we don’t get four writer RSVPs by Tuesday at 5:00 PM, we’ll cancel that week’s Scene Night. Writers, please remember to let Rick know you’re coming by Tuesday. Reach him at [email protected] or at our group addy [email protected]. Remember that after you RSVP, you’ve still got until Wednesday at 5:00 PM to submit pages.

· Writers, you may bring pages to three consecutive Scene Nights. Then we’ll ask you to sit the next one out, to give others a turn. Remember that you’re always welcome as an audience member & feedback giver, even when your pages aren’t being read!

UPCOMING SHOWS involving IPC members & friends

Southbank Theatre presents the revival of Seeking Nietzsche. Written and directed by IPC member Marcia Eppich-Harris and featuring IPC friend Alaine Sims. September 26 at the JCC Indianapolis and October 4-6 at Butler’s Shelton Auditorium. Buy tickets and see all of Southbank’s upcoming events here.

Bard Fest says goodbye to Indy (sad face) with their last season. Shows include Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew (ticket link coming soon), and an original musical, Andersen: A Fairy Tale Life by local writers June McCarty Clair, John Clair, and Derek Hakes. Shows start October 11 at IndyFringe, Shelton Auditorium, and Mud Creek Players and feature many IPC friends.

IPC friends the Naptown African American Theatre Collective (NAATC) present the Indiana Premiere of Loy A. Webb’s Judy’s Life’s Work. October 17-November 3 at the Phoenix.

Got an upcoming show we can share? Email us at [email protected]. Please be sure to include a ticket link. You can also send any questions you have about the Indiana Playwrights Circle. Or snack requests for upcoming meetings. Or compliments about this newsletter. You know. Whatever. We just like getting email.