Playwriting (M.F.A.)

This course is designed to equip students of exceptional talent with the skills necessary to pursue a career in theatre and related industries through the development of skills, professional practices and creative approaches to writing for performance.

Course Syllabus

Through a series of skills-based writing workshops and tutorials with professional playwrights, directors and a dramaturge the individual voice of the student writer will be nurtured and developed. Classes in dramaturgy and contemporary theatre practice will supplement the training. The course will culminate in the writing of a full-length play for the stage. Students on the course will work in a dedicated space for writers in The Lir building. In addition to the core classes and workshops, individual tuition from The Lir’s dramaturge will be a key feature of the training. In addition, master classes by visiting practitioners will supplement the student experience.

Core Modules 

1. Contemporary Theatre Practice: enables students to become conversant in the styles, forms, theories and practices that constitute contemporary theatre making in Ireland.
2. Dramaturgy: introduces students to a range of dramatic texts for the theatre or related media with an emphasis on the dramaturgical composition of those texts.
3. Writing Workshop: students share their creative writing in a workshop format, and receive both group feedback and individual tuition in the development of their craft.
4. Play: individual supervision and showcase staged reading of a student’s full-length play.

Career Opportunities  

This course is designed to equip students of exceptional talent with the skills necessary to pursue a career in theatre and related industries through the development of skills, professional practices and creative approaches to writing for performance.