New Play Development

In this course, students will workshop three new plays with Professors Rush Rehm and Samer Al-Saber. Based on the enrolment in the class, the students will be cast in one (or more) of the following plays: As Soon As Impossible by Betty Shamieh, My Arab by Samer Al-Saber, and Writing Fragments Home by Jeffrey Lo. If needed, the instructors will expand these selections to include other plays. By the end of this course, students will have first-hand experience in the development of news plays, involving rigorous work as a production team for Zoom readings, with a focus on acting, dramaturgy, and conceptual design. Students are expected to rehearse outside the assigned class time and to report back to the instructors based on rehearsal prompts and tailored assignments. Each play will receive a virtual staged reading, followed by comments from the class, and a re-worked reading. Students will be involved in all the plays as actors (sometimes double-cast), dramaturgs, assistant directors, and virtual designers. Graduate student enrollment by permission. Contact the instructors: mrehm@stanford.edu or salsaber@stanford.edu.