Outline to Rough Draft
Course Type: ONLINE
Maximum of 8 participants/teams
Writing teams of two or more people (no single-author musical theatre projects) will be involved in this eight–week immersive on-line experience designed to leave each team with a rough draft of a new musical. The first two weeks consist of detailed analysis and discussion of the characters, plots, and themes of the proposed shows as defined in a detailed outline. Each subsequent week requires the submission of 10 – 20 pages of dialogue, culminating in a rough draft of the book. Composers and lyricist must be involved in the discussions and should not write music or lyrics until after the scenes have been written and discussed – meaning that the score will lag behind the script by at least one week.
Each team should create at least a sketchy outline of the proposed work prior to the first session. At a minimum, the outline must clearly state the beginning, middle and end of the story, identifying the central character and important supporting characters, and have the general agreement of the writing team. There should also be a brief discussion of the planned style of the show (rock opera, contemporary musical, etc.) with notes on the musical genre(s) in mind. The outline SHOULD NOT YET attempt to title or otherwise identify any songs the team plans.
All team members must attend every session. One enrollment fee covers the whole team regardless of the number of writers on the project.
There will be a follow-up session to include an on-line table reading of the completed draft sometime in April or May (to be scheduled based on participant availability).
8 Saturdays - Mar 2 - Apr 20 (plus ad hoc reading sessions) / 10am to 1pm PST / $295 per team
About the Instructor
- John is the Founding Director of New Musicals, Inc. He also founded the Writers’ Workshop at Theatre Building Chicago in 1987 and served TBC as Artistic Director from 1999 through 2009.
- Between the two workshops, John has mentored the work of over 250 writers, including Mark Hollmann, composer/lyricist of Urinetown; George Gorham and Dan Sticco, A Change in the Heir; Susan DiLallo and Ken Stone (both Kleban Award winners); and several Richard Rodgers Award winners. About 400 shows written by workshop members have been produced in theatres across the country. Musicals for which John wrote the music, lyrics or book have been produced in Los Angeles and Chicago, including Buddy’s Plane Is Down; Babes In Barns, Hans Brinker, On The Brink and Wanting Miss Julie and most recently, Seagull Song, which will be seen in a workshop at the Broadwater Black Box Theatre in March 2024.
- John served on the board of directors for Mercury Musical Developments in London for 20 years until 2022, and he recently co-founded Write4Art Productions, a non-profit company devoted to developing and producing new musicals, plays and screenplays.
Testimonials
- “John Sparks is a wonderful teacher and was a real help to me. I still think about the things he said in that workshop. He’s a real boon to people writing musicals.”
- ~Mark Hollmann, 2002 Tony Award, Urinetown
- “We just wanted to say thank you SO much for the time and wisdom you shared with us about Vanya’s. It was really lovely to connect, and we appreciate you making the space to talk through our material in so much detail.”
- “I feel really inspired to tackle the next draft - this was just what I needed.”
- ~Barlow and Smith, Mercury Musical Developments, London
- “I am so keen to get together with you to look through a new show of mine. You have been INVALUABLE for previous outings.“
- ~Chris Burgess, London
- “Just the best I know – dramaturge, writer, producer, director – he does it all and he does it better!”
- ~ Sherman Yellen, bookwriter The Rothschilds and Rex (Broadway), scripts for The Adams Chronicles (PBS, Emmy Awards)