Young Playwrights Workshop
Dates: Wednesdays 3:30-5pm 9/9-11/18. Plus Saturday 11/21 10-12, Monday 11/23 & 11/30 3:30-5, Wednesday 12/2 3:30-5:30pm
Staged Readings: Fri 12/4 at 5pm & Sat 12/5 at 2pm
Location: The Philipstown Depot Theater
Age: Grades 5-8
Instructor: Kira Onodera
Cost: $405
Class size: Max of 12
Unleash your inner storyteller and bring your ideas to life! In this collaborative workshop, middle school writers will explore the essential building blocks of a play, from crafting characters and settings to writing authentic dialogue.
Through a fun mix of creative writing sessions and improv exercises, students will learn how to navigate conflict, challenge stereotypes, and write with curiosity about characters both like and unlike themselves.Halfway through, each writer will develop an outline for their very own one-act play.
The second half of the course is a true writer's room. Students will flesh out their scripts, collaborate in small groups (with options to co-write!), and hear their words come to life as peers read their scenes aloud. Constructive feedback is a skill we will also work on while keeping our ideas fresh and our spirits high. This series will culminate in two staged readings open to family and friends.
Kira Onodera has been acting since the age of 10, her first professional theater role was Peasblossom in San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” and again with the company at age 16 in “As You Like It”. She was also a regular at the Asian American Theater Company for most of her childhood before moving to New York to attend SUNY Purchase's Acting Conservatory.
Kira wrote and performed her one-woman show “The Crease Question” in NYC as part of the Starbucks Salon, Estrogenius Festival and a short run at Three Legged Dog. Her short film “Crosswalk” (writer and director) won Best Experimental Short at the Oakland Film Festival in 2023. Onodera has also worked as a teaching artist with The 52nd Street Project and Living Voices Theater Company. She loves sharing her love of theater with children of all ages.