CoHo Productions To Present SCENARIO! Playwriting Workshop & Showcase
The program will examine the art of playwriting, and ask the question: How does one create a uniquely compelling storytelling experience for the stage?
By: A.A. Cristi Jan. 06, 2025
PDX Playwrights will present SCENARIO! A Playwriting Workshop & Showcase, running February 3-7, 2025.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
In this seven-day workshop at CoHo Theatre from February 3 – 9, with evening classes Monday- Friday 6-9 PM, and a festival of staged readings on the weekend, the program will examine the art of playwriting, and ask the question: How does one create a uniquely compelling storytelling experience for the stage? Investigate how to build a world, give voice to distinct characters, incite a cause-and-effect story arch, and visually manifest a story with props, body movement and gesture, and minimal lighting and sound effects.
Specifically placing focus on the script: setting, stage directions, dialog and subtext, the use of metaphor, timing, and finally, the all-important role of the audience. Participants may be new to the craft, or experienced playwrights aiming to take a work-in-progress to the next level. With diverse backgrounds, ideas and experiences, Scenario writers will learn from one another, in addition to three theater coaches from PDX Playwrights. On the weekend, invite friends and family to view the pieces and offer feedback. This workshop provides writers with the opportunity to develop an ongoing working relationship with CoHo Theatre, as well as the potential to produce your show during Fertile Ground. Join us!
RESERVE SPOTS FOR THE WORKSHOP
ABOUT THE SHOWCASE
After 5 days of workshops, the Scenario experience will conclude in two days of showcase performances on February 8 & 9, 2025 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM. During the weekend showcase, workshop participants will present a short piece in development. Each night features a unique banquet of innovative works, followed by a lively and deep conversation in which YOU the audience are an essential ingredient.
MEET THE SCENARIO! TEACHERS
Ajai Tripath (he, him) is an actor, director, playwright, screenwriter and educator. At Teatro Milagro in Portland he worked as Education Director and wrote three plays for young audiences that toured regionally in schools: ¡Corre!¡Corre!, Sueños de Fútbol, and Mijita Fridita. He worked as an education consultant and acting coach at Northwest Children's Theatre & School, and served on PDX Playwright's administrative team and produced his one person show Osho Returns and shadow plays: The Madness of Dionysus and Cosmogonos. He received an MFA in Screenwriting from the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts at Maharishi International University. His screenplay The Pooka was named a quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Horror Film Competition. The script for The Rainbow Passage won Best Feature at the Geneva International Science in Fiction Awards, and the play version received a reading at Desert Island Studios and the PNMC Festival.
His two-person show Great White Gets Off also played at the PNMC Festival and will receive a full production with Fuse Theatre Ensemble this winter. He is currently working on his MAT with an endorsement in Drama at Pacific University. His screenplay The Rainbow Passage was named a semi-finalist in NYC Screenplay Awards. Ajai is currently a member of the Fuse Theater ensemble, most recently presenting Great White Gets Off and Great White Gives It Up. He's proud to help emerging writers develop new work in ScenariOlga Kravtsova (she/her) is a movement director, actor, and graduate of the University of Washington's Acting Program, with a background in Russian Folk Dance and Acting from Moscow's Russian Academy of Theater Arts. She specializes in integrating movement with storytelling, creating performances that blend physicality, design, and emotional depth. Olga has served as a lead producer for Heart of Stone at CoHo Theatre and has received three Grow Awards at Fertile Ground Festival, including for Far From Home, an autobiographical exploration of immigrant experiences.
Currently a CoHo resident artist, Olga is developing Harvest of Women, a movement-based solo performance debuting at Fertile Ground 2025, followed by a series of events including an immersive installation and workshop, with its full version presented at CoHo in June.
Karen Polinsky is a Portland writer, director, and teacher. She serves on the leadership team of PDX Playwrights. In the past several years, a half dozen of her scripts have been featured in the Fertile Ground Festival, including two full-length plays: Fly Away, Breath, and The Bad Hour. Her script for choreographer Alisher Khasanov's Heart of Stone was performed at CoHo last fall. Karen has also published a 19th-century mystery set on the Olympic Peninsula, Dungeness. A non-fiction work, Ian's Ride, about an environmentalist and quadriplegic who has defied all limits, will be released in April by Mountaineers Books. In the past, she has been a community college and high school English teacher, as well as a high school theater director. She is thrilled about the chance to work with CoHo Theater, and Ajai and Olga, encouraging and honing future talent.
Julia Rahmanzaei (she/her), originally from Tehran, is a recent graduate of the University of Washington's School of Drama. She also holds a bachelor's degree in French translation and a master's degree in theater directing. Julia began her acting career in Iran with student theater productions and went on to present her work at various festivals across the country. Later, due to the restrictions placed on her as an actress in Iran, she decided to immigrate to the US to continue her journey in acting.
Some of her notable productions in Iran: Abharia, The Only Possible Way, Ingrid Bergman with the Smell of Qorme Sabzi, The Dear Dead Day, and What If I Did Not Dream About You. Her credits at the University of Washington include Bull in a China Shop, The Saint Plays, In the Blood, The Moors, and Harry Smith. Additionally, Julia has performed at Seattle Public Theater and Taproot Theater. Last spring she performed her solo show Far From Home at the Fertile Ground Festival in Portland.
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