Patricia Cotter: Playwriting 101 & Writing Musicals

This was my first ever Writing Salon class! I had no idea what to expect.

First of all, Patricia is a phenomenal teacher with a wealth of knowledge and advice she’s also warm, smart and funny! I was honored to meet everyone and listen to some truly inspirational stories. It was surprising and compelling to see how open and honest people were. People shared their darkest moments, and gave themselves permission to open their hearts and souls to a room full of strangers. Powerful stuff indeed!

Having never written a play before, I learnt so much from just one day, structure, pacing, format, character development etc. I really did not want it to end. I walked away, inspired, motivated, enriched and all fired up to write. I wrote my opening scene that evening and have been writing every day since!

Thank you to everyone for a truly magical day, and special thanks to you, Patricia! I will absolutely be back for more. I can’t wait!

Cheers,
Hannah Kelly

Hello Jane,

I just finished a class with Patricia Cotter and had a blast!  She’s a wonderful asset to your staff because she somehow was able to engage everyone in the conversation and make all of us feel comfortable in the awkwardness of sharing our scenes, etc.  I do have to say however, it would be wonderful to take a class of hers that lasts a little longer.  With playwriting, I feel like its hard to finish an entire play in a 5 week period of time.  Regardless, I plan to take her next class and just wanted to say thank you for making it all possible.

Happy Tuesday!
Sarah

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Hi Jane,

I think Patricia is an outstanding teacher—she is really positive and supportive, gearing her approach to each student based upon where they happen to find themselves in their individual creative process and not upon some artificial external standard.  At the same time she is able to gently push each student in the direction they need pushing.  The only negative thing I would say was that the course was too short—we just got into our plays and suddenly the 5 weeks was gone.  Either the class should be 10 weeks or there should be advanced classes for students to continue their work.

This is the second Writing Salon class I’ve taken (I took memoir writing with Alison Luterman 2 years ago) and both have been great experiences.  Thanks for doing this and thanks for having Patricia on staff.

Terry Anderson

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Patricia was so sensitive and thoughtful in her feedback. I learned a lot. The style was also very interactive, so important for keeping interest high in a whole day class…The setting was warm and comfortable. And by the end of the day , I  had solid idea and even a very skeletal outline of a play. Everything was great. I want to take more classes at the Writing Salon! Thank you.—A.