Practical Information
Course given by the artist-facilitator: Nick Carpenter
Dates: Tuesdays, from September 22nd to November 24th 2026, 6:15pm to 8:15pm
Age requirement: Must be 18 years or older on the first day of the session
Prerequisite experience:Participants of all levels of experience are welcome
Price: $350 +tax
Notes: This class is offered in English
Questions about the class? Contact us: courspublics@ent-nts.ca
Class Description
This course will introduce new and emerging playwrights to the essentials of writing for the stage. A brilliant idea may arrive in a gust of inspiration. But a strong play is built upon solid, well-planned foundations. We’ll explore dramatic structure(s), plot, character, action, conflict with a view to each student crafting a short one-act play by course’s end.
If you already have an idea for a play, or are simply curious about the nexus of story & stage, this course — through vibrant in-class discussion, dynamic exercises, focused readings, monologuing and dialoguing — will prove an inspiring, anchoring and patient first companion for your first steps into the world of playwriting.
Artist-Facilitator: Nick Carpenter
Nick’s plays, radio plays, short stories and librettos have been presented across Canada, the US and Germany. He is currently part of PWM’s Cross Cultural Adaptation Lab. His play Arco took 2nd place in Infinitheatre’s 2021 Write-on-Q Competition. Nick wrote the screenplay to the film Maz (Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, 2018). His play Stained Glass won the Canadian Peace Play Competition in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Prism International Residency Award (2003). He is an alumnus of Tapestry Opera’s Lib Lab, the Banff Playwrights Colony, Theatre Centre Residency and Writers’ Units at NAC/GCTC and Playwrights Workshop Montreal. He has worked as a dramaturg for PWM (Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal), NACO (National Arts Centre Orchestra) and JMC (Jeunesses Musicales Canada) where he also creates mise-en-scène for touring concerts.
As a composer, musical director and musician for the stage, Nick has worked and collaborated with the National Arts Centre; Centaur Theatre, National Theatre School of Canada; Great Canadian Theatre Company; Repercussion Theatre; Geordie Theatre; Lucion Media; CAM en tournée, The Theatre Centre; Imago Theatre; Infinitheatre; Hudson Village Theatre, Theatre Lac Brome; Concordia University; National Circus School; McGill and Ottawa Universities, among many others. Nick is co-founder of Summersett. (summersettband.com).
