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Playwriting – From the Page to the Stage

Two-part series, January 14 and 28

Come to this highly interactive session with your ideas, and ready to create.

In this workshop, you will learn the vocabulary of the theater, the structure and formatting of a traditional play, the importance of character and story arcs, as well as the value of critique and the rewrite/revision process. You will also learn how to network and build relationships in the theater ecosphere, and how to market your piece. In the week between the two sessions, participants will write their own 10-minute play using a set of prompts provided in the workshop. We will read our 10-minute plays in the workshop and give and receive constructive feedback on the work. This workshop will conclude with a description of local opportunities to get your play in front of an audience. There will also be a brief overview of select professional organizations for theater writers.

Playwright Jeanne Madison is a member of the Dramatist Guild, the Playwrights Center, and the New Play Exchange. Her play, “Showin’ Up Black," earned a National Endowment for the Arts grant for the 2025 world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre. Her plays, “Showin’ Up Black” and “Eyes of the Bridge” were selected for the Test Flight New Play Development Series and Workshop productions at Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT). Jeanne was named the 2021-22 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow at CPT which earned her a mentorship with playwright Eric Coble, whose work has been produced on Broadway.

She is the recipient of the Room in the House Fellowship at Karamu House, where her plays “Black Coffee," “Sales Call," and “Off-Site Meeting” are licensed by Karamu for use in their corporate diversity training for The Greater Cleveland Partnership (Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce) and select private firms.

Jeanne’s plays have been featured at Station Hope Cleveland, a celebration of the themes of freedom of the Underground Railroad; at the 2022 National Black Theatre Festival, Winston-Salem N.C.; and the Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland where she is a member of the Stagewrights Unit. Jeanne has presented at numerous conferences, and in the Master Class theater program at Oberlin College.

Avid theatergoers recognize her for her numerous acting roles and credits including: Cleveland Scene Theatre Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy for “Sassy Mamas," and The Cleveland Shakespeare production of “The Taming of the Shrew”; the PBS broadcast of “Greenwood, An American Dream Destroyed”; and on Netflix in “White Noise” with Adam Driver.

Jeanne holds a BA, cum laude, with a Theater Arts Minor, and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. She recently completed the Directing Creation Master Class at CPT with EAD Raymond Bobgan; and Scene Study and Playwrighting Master Classes at The Cleveland Playhouse. After many years in the corporate and non-profit sectors in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., Jeanne makes her home in Cleveland, Ohio where she finds inspiration for her writing. Visit her at jeannemadison.com