I Will Be Teaching Quakers

Beginning in January, 2009, I will begin teaching in the Creative Writing program at The University of Pennsylvania. I am STOKED about this, and hope to make my creative writing class as creative as possible.

My class is called, "Creative Writing: Space, Place, and Character in Playwriting and Fiction" and has the following course description:

This course will take a close look at the relationships of space, place and character in the effort to illuminate, appreciate, and explore the differences and similarities in Playwriting and Fiction. Weekly writing exercises will allow you to look as three-dimensionally and as actively as possible at various physical spaces, using them as a ground to form your short plays and short fiction. Through writing assignments, we’ll ask what is a "theater" space? How do different uses of space change the writing, and vice versa? What kinds of writing/language do specific spaces inspire? What kinds of character?

Coursework will also involve readings of plays, short fiction, and articles/manifestos/dialogues about writing and space. Through in-class and out-of-class assignments, students will generate a large volume of work, turning in a 20-25-page portfolio of their own short plays and fiction at the end of the semester.

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If anyone reading this (or has a friend who) is a student at UPenn, you should totally take this class. You can go to the departmental page here.

Thank you to Jessica Lowenthal, Director of Kelly Writers House; and Greg Djankian, Director of the Creative Writing Program, for making me part of the team. I am totally looking forward to it.

Rock on,

ROMERO

On the Board

In late September, I was elected to the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Dramatists Center. I am very thankul for this opportunity and look forward to continuing to contribute to this organization now from a leadership position.

This year's board has an exciting task-- to develop and create the organization's new strategic plan. This new plan will reflect the organization's goals to expand and offer increased and varied services for the playwrights in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.

As for my part, it is my goal to contribute by organizing a least one new forum (in addition to the ones already in place) for playwrights to develop and explore their plays (a Writer's Laboratory, modeled in part on the "Monday Night Lab" I helped organize at The University of Texas); to help create and manage a National Advisory Board; to foster relationships between PDC and local producing companies and organizations (such as The Kelly Writers House), and to continue to identify and recruit new, talented member writers and theater artists to the organization.

I am thrilled to be part of this work, and look forward to continuing to help the organization grow and to continue to help Philadelphia find its legs as a "new play" culture.

Big thank yous to Richard Kotulski for asking me to submit my name for consideration, and to the organization's members for voting me in.

Sincerely,


ROMERO