Storytelling / Outlining: The Basics
Instructor: Elise Dewsberry
Course Type: HYBRID
Maximum of 15 participants/teams
An outline is an invaluable writer’s tool for clarifying the structure and story arc of a musical’s story. The outline serves as a blueprint for the collaboration team, giving them a game plan for their enormous creative undertaking. Writers who skip this important step in the development process often find themselves bogged down with a partially written show that does not compellingly deliver the intentions of the creative team.
This course will teach the basic six steps to creating a musical’s outline. During this four hour seminar, participants will learn the basics of the six-step outline process, write an outline for a 10-15 minute musical, then receive specific feedback on their work.
Saturday, March 16 / 2pm to 6pm PST / $95 per team
About the Instructor
Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc., Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over forty years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer.
While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s annual Musical Theatre Writer’s Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto’s Script Lab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with Nine Months – a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote Any Body Home?, which was produced by the Cordova Bay Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia, and published by Dramatic Publishing.
Elise joined ANMT as Associate Artistic Director in 2003; joined Founding Artistic Director John Sparks as Co-Artistic Director in 2010; and became Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc. in 2013. Elise is also the author and evaluator of the Book Lab and the Outlining Lab, offered online through www.writingmusicaltheatre.com, and publishes a monthly blog on the craft of musical theatre available at https://nmi.org/elises-video-blog/.
Testimonials
“We really did appreciate all your help - you’ve got just the right tone to critique. It’s a matter of ‘A Spoonful of Sugar Helps The Medicine Go Down’!”
- George Stiles (Mary Poppins, Honk, Soho Cinders)
- “Elise is the Sherlock Holmes of dramaturgy. With her keen eye, extensive knowledge and thoughtful commentary, she has managed to suss out exactly what the creatives must do to improve their story-telling. I’d love to have her expertise on all new shows I work on.”
- Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Director/Choreographer (Ragtime, High Society, Secret Garden)
- “Elise Dewsberry is spot on. Her approach is thorough, extensive, direct and supportive. Her comments resonated as she identified and made suggestions for the hiccups and obstacles that had been thwarting us for too long. We wish we had her help years ago, and we look forward to working with her again soon on all of our projects.”
- Caroline Sherman & Robert Hull (Empire the Musical)