WORKSHOP & COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
STAGE FOR CHANGE: Writing Forum Theater to Ignite Social Transformation
Wednesdays, 12/3 - 12/17 & 12/22
7pm-9pm ET
This online December course is a four-week series will be led by playwright and Director, Alejandra Ramos Riera.
This one-month Forum Theater course invites participants to explore the transformative power of theater as a tool for social change. Forum Theater, pioneered by Augusto Boal as part of the Theater of the Oppressed, is a participatory performance practice designed to challenge injustice, raise awareness, and empower communities to rehearse real possibilities for change.
Guided by playwright, director, and educator Alejandra Ramos Riera, participants will co-create original theatrical pieces based on real-life stories and social concerns. Together, we will rehearse not only the performance but also the act of resistance, giving both performers and the audience the chance to imagine new ways of responding to oppression.
Course Objectives
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Develop creative and critical thinking skills through collaborative theater-making.
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Understand the principles and techniques of Forum Theater.
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Use performance as a medium to spark dialogue and social reflection.
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Build trust and ensemble collaboration within a small, supportive group.
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Present an in-person Forum Theater piece to a live audience, engaging them as “spect-actors” in the search for change.
Course Price: $300
(payment plans available)
Examining Writing The Truth Across Genres
Thursdays, 11/6 - 12/4 (except Thanksgiving)
7pm-9pm ET
This online November course is a four-week series will be led by playwright and Social Impact Consultant/Educator Julissa Contreras.
In this 4-week class, we’ll explore how to authentically represent identity—our own or our characters’—in inclusive ways. Through guided prompts, we’ll experiment with techniques for crafting authentic, multidimensional characters and narratives that reflect the complexities of identity. We’ll also discuss assigned readings from impactful works that serve as inspiration and frameworks for our storytelling. Sessions also include personalized feedback from the instructor and group discussions to reflect the impact of each other’s work in a supportive environment. By the end of class, writers will gain fresh perspectives and tools to bring their unique voice to the page for new works and works in development.
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Week 1: Defining Truth
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Week 2: Socializing Your Characters
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Week 3: Language
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Week 4: Standing by your character
Course Price: $350
(payment plans available)
*Seating is limited; $75 discount for the first 5 people who sign up!*
Alchemic Ofrenda
Sunday, Nov 2nd 4pm-6pm ET
This transformative workshop to kickstart November will be led by Playwright, Interdisciplinary Artist & Activist, Raquel Almazan
Memory meets craft. A ritual writing lab for Día de los Muertos: bring a photo or object, turn memory into short performable pieces, or the beginning of a larger work and leave with a distilled piece to honor what you carry. Using monologue, scene-fragment, elegy, letter, and recipe-form prompts, we’ll conjure ancestors, transmute grief, and create short pieces ready to read at an ofrenda or keep private. Alchemic Ofrenda invites writers into a gentle, ritual-forward space to transform memory into art. Through five focused forms — autobiographical monologue, memory-play fragment, elegy, letter to the dead, and recipe-as-memory — participants will work from a single object or image to produce performable, distilled pieces. Expect sensory prompts, guided imagery, and a closing ritual to honor what you carry. Bringing in a photo or small object is encouraged; reading material that is generated aloud is optional, as we hold space for all capacitates of sharing.
Workshop Cost: $35