Special Perq for Festival Ticketholders

Join playwright Gary Garrison for a workshop:

Story Through Character

There are few absolutes in creative writing, but here’s one that’s probably close: “You will never write a story more interesting than the people that are in it.” Why? Stories are finite in details; people are infinitely complex. This workshop will explore how we construct complicated characters – whether for short stories, novels, cinema, theatre or television – by building detailed behavior that is a generated by age, gender, health, politics, religion, education and so on.  How do train our ear to hear how a seven-year-old speaks versus a seventy-year-old? And more importantly, how do we translate that onto the blank page? We’ll discover all of this in a workshop that explores how to build character. 

For the last 30 years, Garrison’s professional work and creative life have centered on being a playwright, educating and nurturing playwrights, and administrating a variety of playwriting organizations, educational programs, and theatre companies that promote dramatists and the development of new plays. In 2014, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts instituted the National Gary Garrison Ten-Minute Play Award given to the best ten-minute play written by a university dramatist. And, of course, he wrote the book on the subject: A More Perfect Ten: Writing and Producing the Ten-Minute Play

Festival ticket holders are welcome to attend the workshop, Sat May 13, 3-5pm, at Center for Arts & Humanity, 1226 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Seating is limited—sign up here—and add your name to the growing list of attendees.

Not attending the Festival? Shame on you. However, if a seat is still available, a $20 donation at the door will get you in.