“Tectonic Theater Project is a monumental and pioneering voice in American theater. Their work gracefully merges the political and the poetic to excavate truths about the human condition.”
- Lynne Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright
FALL 2024 / WINTER 2025
IN-PERSON + REMOTE TRAININGS
INTRODUCTION TO MOMENT WORK
with NJ AGWUNA
New York City
Friday, December 6, 2024 | 6 - 9 PM
New Students: $75 | MWI Alum: $50
Moment Work is the groundbreaking process of devising theater developed by Tectonic Theater Project to create new works such as Here There Are Blueberries, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations, and The Laramie Project, among others. This three-hour course is an introduction to the technique of Moment Making, exploring the theatrical potential of the elements of the stage (lights, sound, costumes, architecture, movement) in order to discover their inherent poetic and narrative potential. Moment Work begins with the premise that powerful storytelling employs much more than words.
MOMENT WORK FOR THE ACTOR
with Moisés Kaufman
New York City
December 7 & 8, 2024 | 10 AM - 6 PM
New Students: $300 | MWI Alum: $225
Tony and Emmy Award-nominated director and playwright, Moisés Kaufman empowers actors to use Moment Work, Tectonic Theater Project's devising method, to hone their craft. Kaufman provides actors with tools they can use in both rehearsal and performance to develop their characters and deepen their expertise. Participants will select a character from a play as well as a monologue to work on in collaboration with Kaufman.
*For new students: Introduction to Moment Work is a prerequisite to taking Moment Work for the Actor
MOMENT WORK DEVISING: TRAINING LEVELS 1-3
with Jimmy Maize
New York City
January 17 - 19, 2025 | Friday 6 - 9 PM, Saturday & Sunday 10 AM - 6 PM
New Students: $300 | MWI Alum: $225
Our world-renowned devising training for theater practitioners. Open to playwrights, performers, directors, choreographers and designers. Artists from other disciplines -- writers, visual artists, and filmmakers -- are also welcome to attend. Train in working with the elements of the stage and learn and practice constructing narratives using Moment Work.
WRITING THE BLACK PLAY
with jeremy o’brian
10 Week Online Course
January 15 - March 19, 2025 | Wednesdays 6 - 9 PM
New Students: $225 | MWI Alum: $175
This playwriting workshop is dedicated to the exploration of what it means to write Black plays and characters. Through practice exercises and discussion, students will study components of playwriting using the works of contemporary Black-American playwrights and works featuring Black-American characters as students construct a metric for measuring whether or not a play is "Black."
VIRTUAL WRITERS RETREAT
with Leigh Fondakowski
January 31 - February 2, 2025 | Friday 6 - 9 PM, Saturday and Sunday 12 - 6 PM
New Students: $300 | MWI Alum: $225
Devote a weekend to your writing. This retreat is a deep dive into the world of the play, how to think theatrically about your material, and how to develop the overall narrative, structure, and theatrical life of the play. Participants can work with an original script at any stage of development from idea to draft to completed play.
“Moment Work is an invaluable method for exploring existing work and devising new plays from scratch. A uniquely diverse and imaginative process.”
“Moment Work has become the foundation of my devising methodology: these practices elevate the theatre maker’s ability to precisely articulate their artistic intentions, which makes for strong devisers as well as actors, directors, designers and playwrights.”
- RICH BROWN, Professor, Physical Acting & Devising at Western Washington University
