Playwriting/Dramaturgy

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Why Study Playwriting/Dramaturgy at the University of Houston?
The Playwriting/Dramaturgy program offers students extensive practical experience in both disciplines, in a combined approach that is unique in the nation. Students learn not only how to write for the stage, but also for television and film. They build simultaneous skills in research, revision, theatre history and literature, dramatic structures, acting and theatre production. The program also features one-on-one guidance from top-notch faculty, including Broadway playwright and Hollywood screenwriter Theresa Rebeck. It also welcomes nationally prominent guest instructors each year, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, Tony Award nominee Robert Askins, Rajiv Joseph, Will Eno, Chana Porter, Mickle Maher and many others.
There are opportunities to have original work fully produced as a part of UH’s theatre season, as well as an annual 10-minute play festival. Students also participate as dramaturgs for the season’s shows, while taking a rotating series of specialized workshop classes, including Comedy, Realism and Myth & Ritual.
Juniors will complete a full-length play with Rebeck. In their senior year, students write either a second full-length play or a TV pilot and series guide as their capstone project.
Throughout the program, students become part of a tightly knit, supportive community of theatre artists in Houston’s thriving professional scene. Our students have gone on to win dozens of regional and national playwriting awards, internships and premieres.
Program Faculty
“The University of Houston gave me the gift of freedom — a city that allowed me to follow my passions and a university that opened doors. During those four wonderful years, my play ‘Brick Wall’ was fully produced on the main stage and later read at the Kennedy Center. I wrote some jokes for Robert Wuhl’s new play that transplanted to New York. I was allowed to personally shadow the head-writer on the set of the CBS sitcom ‘Mike & Molly’ and somehow much more. NONE of these amazing opportunities were publicly listed or pre-planned. I just had to be in the right place, and ask UH’s generous gatekeepers at the right time with the right attitude. It was a great lesson for life, one of the many that this special program taught me.”
Our students, both current and alumni, have worked for an impressive list of companies as playwrights, dramaturgs and interns:
- Actors Theatre
- Actors Theatre Playhouse
- Alley Theatre
- Berridge Conservatory
- BETA Theatre
- The Blank Theatre
- BooTown
- BoxFest Detroit
- Cape May Stage
- Capital Repertory Theatre
- The Catastrophic Theatre
- Classical Theatre Company
- Cleveland Public Theatre
- ComedySportz Houston
- Cone Man Running Productions
- Cupcake Lady Productions
- Dorset Theatre Company
- Dundee Rep Theatre
- Elephant Room Productions
- Emerging Artists Theatre
- Ensemble Theatre Company
- The Foundry
- 14 Pews
- Funky Little Theater Company
- The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre
- Glasgay! Festival
- Horizon Theatre
- Houston Shakespeare Festival
- William Inge Theater Festival
- Ignition Arts
- Ignition Productions
- InterAct Theatre Company
- Itinerant Theatre
- Kansas City Fringe Festival
- The Kennedy Center
- Kitsap Island Theatre
- Lady Plays Podcast
- Lakeshore Players Theatre
- Theatre Arts Society of Lake Sumter State College
- The Landing Theatre Company
- The Lark
- Letter of Marque Theater Company
- Little Black Dress INK
- Little Fish Theatre
- Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma
- Main Street Theater
- Manhattan Repertory Theatre
- METdance
- Midtown International Theatre Festival
- Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company
- Midwest Dramatists Conference
- The New American Theatre
- New York Theater Festival
- Normal Ave Productions
- North Carolina Women’s Theatre Festival
- Nylon Fusion
- O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
- Open Hydrant Theater Company
- Otherworld Theatre
- The Parish Players
- Playwrights’ Round Table
- The Prince Theatre
- Queens Theatre
- Scriptwriters/Houston
- The Second City
- Smyrna Opera House
- Squeaky Bicycle Productions
- Stages Repertory Theatre
- Stageworks Theatre
- Steppenwolf Theatre Company
- St. Edward’s University
- The Strand Theatre
- Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA) TheatreFest
- Texas State University
- Trustus Theatre Company
- Upright Citizens Brigade (New York and Los Angeles)
- Warner Bros. Television
- What If? Productions
- The Wilma Theater
- YoungArts Foundation