Author of “Playwriting for Dummies” Again Offers Playwriting Workshop at Hudson Valley Writers’ Center

Angelo Parra, the author of Playwriting for Dummies and an award-winning playwright, will again be offering the successful six-week Playwriting Workshop at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow, beginning March 13.

Parra wrote the critically acclaimed play with music, The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, which ran Off-Broadway for more than a year. He also teaches playwriting at SUNY Rockland.

"Writing for the stage is easy: just give two people opposing goals and write what they say and do to each other," Parra says. "Well ... maybe not quite that easy, but playwriting is definitely doable, exciting, and fun."

The Playwriting Workshop is suitable for both beginners – those who would like to try scriptwriting for the first time – and for those who’d like to sharpen their scriptwriting skills. "We explore scriptwriting step by step in a supportive and relaxed environment," Parra says. The workshop ends with a public reading of students’ scripts for an invited audience (see photo).

The workshop sessions take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday nights for six weeks, March 13 to April 17. For information on registering for Angelo Parra’s Playwriting Workshop, go to http://writerscenter.org/index.html, click on "Classes and Workshops," and scroll down.

Parra, a Rockland County resident, has theatrical production credits in N.Y.C., Chicago, and L.A., at Hartford Stage, Florida Stage, Cape (Cod) Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Florida Rep, Cleveland Play House, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Penguin Rep (in Stony Point), and at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, among other venues.

His The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, was named among the "Top-Ten Off-Broadway Experiences" by the New York Daily News, was a 2012 Lucille Lortel Award and a 2012 Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee, and was performed as part of the 2012 Montreal International Jazz Festival.

A member of The Dramatists Guild, the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit, and member emeritus of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Parra also is literary manager of Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point.

With roots as far back as 1983, the mission of The Hudson Valley Writers' Center is to advance the art and craft of writing by encouraging writers and readers at all levels to participate in and enjoy the literary arts.

The center, located in the historic Philipse Manor railroad station, offers classes, seminars, and workshops in poetry, essays, fiction, memoir, and scriptwriting there and at satellite locations. Throughout the year, many literary-themed events, such as readings with local authors and even occasional music performances, are hosted by the HVWC.