Upcoming
Two Playwrighting Workshops
Sketch Writing with Connor King
February 13, 7-9 pm, Zoom
Ages 16+
$30 YAC & TO Members
$35 Non-Members
Online registration will end at noon on February 13th.
The workshop will benefit not only sketch writers but also improvisers. If you have a strong idea for a concept but struggle to get ideas fully written out before the idea leaves your head, this workshop is for you.
As a participant, you will learn about sketch format, foils, three-beat notes, and using a recording set up to brainstorm and record dialog. During portions of the workshop, participants will work in pairs to “riff” and transcribe dialogue into a conversational format using transcript technology. We will also discuss formatting for submitting your 10-minute play festival script.
The workshop is a great opportunity to explore technology assists, transferring work successfully from one app to another, as well as basic improvisational techniques to get the creative juices flowing.
Character Research for the 10 Minute Play with Desta Wondirad
One workshop with two meetings
February 14th, 4-6 pm &
February 15th, 10-12 pm
Ages 16+
$50 for YAC and TO members
$55 for non-members
Online registration will end at noon on February 14th.
Multi-Media Creative Artist and Playwright Desta Wondirad will be visiting from New York to lead a workshop focused on character research, guiding the writers on methods to approach writing characters from different backgrounds. As a participant, you will be guided through writing prompts that will help you write from the perspective of someone who has had starkly different life experiences than your own (socio-economic cultural, gender, race, etc.).
About the Workshop Instructors
Connor King is a stand up comedian, improviser, and co-author of 2023 10 Minute Play Contest Winner “AI Gangster.” His favorite pastimes are annoying depressed strangers at weekly open mics, performing in monthly variety shows in Water Valley, and puzzling with his partner while their dog Milton and cat Shiloh supervise.
Desta Wondirad‘s 10-minute play “Hanging Carpets” was selected for production for the 25th Anniversary celebration of Theatre Oxford’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, and his new play, “Intruder,” will be Theatre Oxford’s featured commissioned play for the 2025 Festival. Desta Wondirad is a multimedia professional, playwright, and filmmaker born in Ethiopia. His work explores the complexities of the human experience as it navigates the unavoidable forces of life, including its challenges, institutions, and the certainty of its end. With nearly a decade long background in audio and video production, he has collaborated with diverse creatives across three continents and has produced work in different mediums. Currently, he manages a production studio in New York City, where he oversees the production pipeline for clients in podcasting, advertising, and news. Desta is also the founder of Wondir Studios, a creative studio with the mission to provide low cost production solutions to clients. With Wondir Studios he provides content creation and media production consulting services, catering to individual creators, artists and corporate clients seeking to enhance and optimize their media production workflow. Desta’s commitment to storytelling extends to his playwriting, where he seeks to craft narratives that resonate with audiences and provoke thought. Above all, Desta is passionate about his work and feels grateful to pursue it every day.
Theatre Oxford provides an array of workshops to develop skills on and off stage: storytelling, adult acting, children’s theatre, set painting, and playwriting.
Scroll down to learn more.
If you have a theatre-relevant skill and want to teach, submit a workshop proposal. We’ll help you organize, secure a space, and advertise.
Festival Workshops
at the Powerhouse
Expanding the 10-Minute Play
with George Kehoe
February 16 | 4:00-5:30 PM
The Art of Directing
with John Davenport
March 2 | 10:00-11:00 AM
Director & Playwright Collaboration
with Kate Leslie
March 2 | 11:00 AM-Noon
1 class $30 | 2 classes $50 | 3 classes $75
About the Workshop Leaders
George Kehoe grew up in New Orleans but has lived in Oxford for over forty years. Now retired, he had a decades-long career working with words: as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and university writing instructor. His love of language is also evident in his expansive theatrical experience, mostly as an actor, but also as a playwright. His acting credits include eight seasons with the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Among his playwriting achievements was the premier of his play Hungry at the 2009 New York City Fringe Festival. His play “Patients” placed second in Theatre Oxford’s 2023 Ten-Minute Play Contest. He is currently working to expand “Patients” to full length.
John Davenport has been teaching theatre at Oxford High School for nearly twenty-four years. The upcoming performance of Shadow of the Son will mark John’s 125th production directed at OHS. John received his BFA from the University of Mississippi in 1999, then proceeded to earn his MFA. He has directed many productions in the Oxford community as well, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe for Theatre Oxford and The Music Man at the Gertude C. Ford Center this past summer.
Kate Leslie is originally from Oxford, Mississippi and currently lives in Los Angeles. Kate spent nine years in Chicago working as a director, playwright, and teaching artist. Kate completed an MFA in Playwriting from Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University in 2022, and also received a concentration in Directing New Plays. Kate’s full length play The Love Code won the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award in 2020, and “Ashes to Dust, a ten-minute play was a national finalist for the Gary Garrison Award in 2019. A full-length production of her play Shadow of the Son will be performed by Oxford High School February 22, 23, & 24. Kate is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America. You can find her plays on The New Play Exchange.
Youth Theatre Workshop
Jackie Joyner and Jennifer Mizenko
$185 for YAC members / $200 for non-members
Arena, 70 F.D. Buddy East Parkway
July 10-15, 2-5PM | Ages 8+
Theatre Oxford is excited to offer a Youth Acting Workshop for ages 8+. Through a series of acting exercises, students will create their own play devised from a familiar fairytale. The workshop will result in an informal performance on Saturday, July 15th. Each day participants will receive lessons in scene work, character development, and movement from professional actress, Jackie Joyner, and internationally recognized movement expert, Jennifer Mizenko. As a part of creating an original play, participants will learn to create their own costumes and props using fabric and simple craft techniques. By the end of the workshop, students will have become the authors, designers, and performers of their own play!
Actor Physicality: What is it and how do I do it?
with Jennifer Mizenko
April 22 | $35 member, $40 non-members
Arena, 70 F.D. Buddy East Parkway
1-2:30 PM, Ages 10-15 | 3-4:30 PM, Ages 15+
Internationally renowned theater movement expert, Jennifer Mizenko, will take you through the basics of how to apply physicality to the characters you play. You will examine the relationship between physicality and personality, as well as the significance of posture & gesture. Through this workshop you will gain a basic tool kit on how to make unique physical choices for every character you play.
How to Audition Workshop
with Rene Pulliam
February 26 | 4-6 PM
Powerhouse | 413 S. 14th St.
$35 members, $40 non-members | Ages 16+
Learn how to have a successful audition. Rene Pulliam has decades of experience casting shows. She was head of the BFA program in Musical Theatre at the University of Mississippi from 1993 to 2019. She has directed and/or choreographed hundreds of musicals across the United States, including the West Coast premiers of Smile, Closer than Ever, and Over Here. Her performance credits include television (The Carol Burnett Show), commercials (Dr. Pepper), and touring companies (The King and I, Godspell, Oklahoma).
2-Day, 10-Minute Playwriting Workshop
by Neil White and Leonard Madrid
Powerhouse | 413 S. 14th St.
February 10 (5-7 PM)
& February 11 (10 AM-Noon)
$50 members, $65 non-members | Ages 16+
Learn what makes a good 10-minute play. How is the format unique? What are the elements that make-or-break successful results? Leonard Madrid has received the Kennedy Center’s Latinx Playwriting award three times. Aurora was part of the Ignition Festival at Victory Gardens and the Festival Internacional de Teatro Universitario in Mexico City. Las Arañas was part of the Ground Floor residency at Berkely Rep. Cebollas will be part of the Colorado Playwright Summit in 2022. He is currently the Artistic Director at Blackout Theatre and teaches playwriting at Eastern New Mexico University. Neil White (Lepers & Cons, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir) runs The Nautilus Publishing Company, is the ghost author of many memoirs, and editor/publisher of 10-Minute Plays from Oxford.
