TO APPLY
The OHIO Approach: Structure and Voice
STRUCTURE and VOICE are the twin pillars of the OHIO MFA Playwriting Program.
The OHIO curriculum provides a rigorous education in DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. Practicing the execution of structure begins in first-year Seminar, continues through three years of Workshop and Madness, and culminates in your thesis production. Coursework is designed to challenge you at each step, supporting the need to fail better, as structure gradually becomes second nature.
In an equal and reciprocal relationship to dramatic structure, OHIO coursework emphasizes VOICE. Studying voice is key, beginning with the primal elements that distinguish yours, through how voice invokes image and story, to how voice electrifies both artful revision and adept business practices. At OHIO, we teach that voice sparks every element along the arc of an effective creative process.
The consistently high level of accomplishment manifested by our current students and alumni demonstrates that a superior playwriting education is one buttressed by the twin pillars of structure and voice. Further, the pillars must be tested regularly (~weekly) in front of an audience, and explored intensively in seminars.
TO APPLY: Please read the above carefully before applying. The Ohio University MFA Playwriting Program is a vigorous, three-year educational experience. If you decide that such an approach meets your needs — including the “twin pillars”, regular stage time, and intense seminars — email us at ohioplaywriting@gmail.com to receive a brochure that includes application instructions and FAQ. The application deadline is March 1st. We typically review submitted application materials upon receipt throughout the fall and winter, and begin making final determinations in March.
Alumni Feature: Qui Nguyen
Q
ui Nguyen is a playwright, TV/Film writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys of NYC. His work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been lauded as “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times, “Tour de Force Theatre” by Time Out New York, and “Infectious Fun” by Variety.
Scripts include Vietgone (2016 Steinberg Award, 2016 LADCC Ted Schmidt New Play Award, 2016 Kennedy Prize Finalist); She Kills Monsters (2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award, 2012 GLAAD Media Award nom); War is F**king Awesome (Frederick Loewe Award); Soul Samurai (2009 GLAAD Media Award nom); Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin; Krunk Fu Battle Battle; Bike Wreck; Aliens vs Cheerleaders; and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Six Rounds of Vengeance, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, Men of Steel, and Living Dead in Denmark.
For TV, Qui’s written for PBS’s Peg+Cat and SYFY’s Incorporated. He currently writes for Marvel Studios.
Notable honors include a 2016 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program (Peg+Cat), a 2015 NY Community Trust Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, and a 2014 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Fellowship. He’s currently working on new plays for South Coast Rep/Manhattan Theatre Club (The Vietgone Saga), The Atlantic, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Kieu).
He is a proud member of the WGA, The Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab and an alumnus of New Dramatists and Youngblood.
His company, Vampire Cowboys, often credited for being the pioneers of “geek theatre”, holds the unique distinction of being the first and currently only professional theatre organization to be officially sponsored by NY Comic Con.
More at quinguyen.com.
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