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Acting for Writers: A Two-day Generative Workshop

Workshop #1 — Writing Through the Actor’s Lens

A MidnightRose Special Event led by Elizabeth Bruce and Robert Michael Oliver, this two-part workshop takes place August 22 & 29

About the workshops

Workshop #1 — Writing Through the Actor’s Lens This session helps writers deepen narrative texture by borrowing from the actor’s study of human behavior. Through guided, generative prompts and examples, participants explore a character’s desire or objective; obstacles or conflicts; given circumstances (external conditions); and the character’s movement, gestures, and facial expressions to create more vivid, embodied writing that unites psychological intention with concrete, sensory detail.

Workshop #2 — Writing Through the Theatre Artist’s Lens This session expands upon the actor’s toolkit to include the full palate of the theatre artist’s toolkit. Specifically, we’ll guide prose writers and poets through generative exercises to include the many elements of “stage picture” (or “screen picture” to reference film): scenic and costume design, props, music and sound, mood or lighting, gestures and facial expression, stillness/silence, and pacing/tone. This workshop will take place Saturday, August 29 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

About the instructors

Elizabeth Bruce's collection, Universally Adored & Other One Dollar Stories (Vine Leaves Press, 2024) won five indie awards, and received rave reviews in City Paper, Washington Unbound, Literary Titan, and other publications in the US and UK. Her debut novel, And Silent Left the Place, won Washington Writers’ Publishing House’s Fiction Prize, as well as ForeWord Magazine’s Bronze Prize and the Texas Institute of Letters’ Finalist Award. A character actor and co-founder of DC’s Sanctuary Theatre, Elizabeth co-hosts Creativists in Dialogue: A Podcast Embracing the Creative Life and its Theatre in Community series.

Robert Michael Oliver considers himself a Creativist: poet, theatre artist, novelist, writer, playwright, filmmaker, educator. He has published poems, stories, essays, and articles in journals and online sites over the years, but when Finishing Line Press published The Dark Diary: in 27 refracted moments, he made his official entry into the world of poetry-makers. Holding an MFA in Directing from Virginia Tech and a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, Michael co-founded The Sanctuary Theatre in 1983.

About the MidnightRose series

MidnightRose is a monthly boutique literary series that showcases multigenerational and multiracial award-winning writers from the Washington Metro area. It is presented by Esther Productions Inc. in partnership with the DC Public Library and The Black Student Fund. It is curated by jonetta rose barras with assistance from the MR Advisory Committee that includes Anne Becker, Elizabeth Bruce, Sierra Fisher, Leroy Nesbitt and Ellen Pechman. Funding is provided by KSP LLC; additional support for MidnightRose comes from The Luger Charitable Trust.

Author photos by Nicolas Ortega Ward

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