Introduction: From Spark to Scene is a 4-week playwriting series designed for beginning and intermediate playwrights (and any storyteller who wants the courage to write). Sharpen your skills in a fun, supportive, non-judgmental environment alongside other writers as you generate new work through prompts, games, practical craft tools, and guided writing time. Led by USA Today bestselling author and HART playwright April Aasheim, this series is built to get your creative juices flowing and words onto the page—so you leave with a stage-ready short scene and the confidence to keep going.

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From Spark to Scene: 4-Week Overview: What to Expect

Week 1: Building Blocks of a Great Scene - We’ll kick off with fun, low-pressure writing prompts, practical tips and tricks, and a variety of exercises to explore what makes a scene work.

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Week 2: Characters, Voice, and Relationships - Through guided prompts, scene deconstruction, and targeted exercises, we’ll sharpen character creation—who they are, what they want, and how they collide onstage.

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Week 3: Pacing, Tone, and Playable Storytelling - We’ll focus on how scenes move—pacing, escalation, humor vs. drama, and the craft details that make writing exciting and stage-ready. We’ll also begin layering in theatre-specific tools like stage directions and using setting/space in a way that supports performance.

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Week 4: Recap, Read-Alouds, and Optional Feedback - The first hour will be a recap of key tools from the series, plus time for questions and last-minute troubleshooting. The final two hours will be dedicated to student scene read-alouds in a supportive environment, with optional feedback for anyone who wants it.

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Throughout the series:
Each week will use a variety of techniques including writing prompts, games, tips and tricks, reading out loud, optional feedback, and short writing exercises to complete between sessions. By the end, everyone should have a 1–3 page scene ready to be presented, with a clear path to expanding it into a 10+ page submission for HART’s Fertile Ground Festival.

 

This class is located at the Downtown HIVE at 233 SE Washington St. Hillsboro, OR 97123.

Class size is limited to 12 participants.