Foundations: An introduction to the building blocks of play structure, the language of dramaturgy, and the NJPL approach to play development.
We recommend this workshop for:
- Playwrights who are brand new to playwriting.
- Playwrights who have written a body of work from instinct and imagination and are now ready for the next steps of learning how to apply structure and craft to their work.
- Playwrights who have had some formal training, but wish to deepen their grasp of the language of dramaturgy to assist them in their own projects: to learn what you don’t know you don’t know.
- Playwrights who are engaged in other NJPL Development programs and wish to optimize communication in our work together.
- Emerging Dramaturgs looking to expand their knowledge base and facility of language around the new play development process.
- Actors and Directors interested in sharpening their tools and deepening their understanding around the specific process of bringing new work to the stage.
Upon completion of this foundational workshop, participants will have:
- A firm foundation in the craft of playmaking and the language of dramaturgy to ensure maximum benefit from any subsequent play development process. When you receive feedback, you will know how to act on it!
- The insight and language to offer your fellow playwrights clear and actionable feedback on their work. You will be the most cherished member of your writing group!
- The tools to act as your own dramaturg in the creation and revision of your plays. Learn the concepts and how to apply them!
Please note that there will be approximately 1-2 hours of work required between sessions.
If you are unsure whether or not this workshop is for you, we are always happy to speak in real-time to assess your specific goals and to help you identify the best point of access within our programming. Please contact info@njplaylab.org.
Foundations
with Dramaturg Erin Gruodis-Gimbel
Mondays 6:30 to 9pm
5 Weeks: October 6th, 13th, 20th, 20th, November 3rd 2025
The Foundations Workshop will take place on Zoom.
Fee: $200
Class limit: 3 participants
Register Here!
Meet the Dramaturgs
Alexis Krysten Morgan is a playwright, educator, and advocate who desires to use her art to create healing spaces for communities of color and individuals with exceptionalities. She has been a fellow with Company One Theatre in Boston, MA, and TC Squared Theatre Company in Cambridge, MA. Her short plays CONCRETE DREAMS, THE POLITICS OF MARRIAGE, and KNOW WHO YOU ARE were produced by TC Squared. Her play, CONCRETE DREAMS had a full staged reading with TC Squared in 2020. Other works including SHOW ME and ACTS OF JOY were presented and commissioned as part of Company One’s series. Her television pilot, BY THE WAYSIDE, made it to the 2nd round of Sundance’s 2021 Episodic Lab. Most recently, her play, FOLLOWING THE RULES was part of Boston’s Theatre Marathon’s festival. Her one-act play, REPAST, has an upcoming online reading with TC SQUARED.
Erin Gruodis-Gimbel is a New York-based writer, teacher, dramaturg, and chicken wrangler. Her work has been described as “comedy that makes you cry,” or at least that’s what she thinks she read written on a tear-stained tissue someone left in the audience. Her plays have been performed at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, the Queens Short Play Festival, and with No Exit Theater Collective and Walking Shadow Readers Theater. She is an apprentice dramaturg with the New Jersey Play Lab. Her short story, “There’s Nazis in Them There Fredonian Hills” was selected as the best fiction piece published by JAKE Magazine in 2023, and earned her a Best of the Net Literary Award nomination. MFA: NYU.
The New Jersey Play Lab 