AATE and the Dramatist Guild Foundation Co-Host Playwrighting Symposium With David Henry Hwang

On February 6th and 7th, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education and the Dramatist Guild Foundation will be co-hosting "Everyone's a Playwright: Writing as a Teaching Tool and Expressive Engine." The craft of writing can be isolating and also challenging, now more so than ever. When writers are brought together to hone their skills, we all remember the crucial impact these artists have in keeping the American theater alive and vibrant. Based on two years of work with the AATE Playwright's Network, we will program two days of events and opportunities to support these unsung heroes of the medium and to draw attention to the importance of writing in the scope of theater and education. We look forward to sharing our membership's diverse background, experience, and skills with all AATE members, educators, and industry professionals in attendance. This event is being presented in partnership with the Dramatists Guild Foundation.

This two-day symposium will present a keynote led by playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor David Henry Hwang. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the most-produced living American opera librettist, whose works have been honored with two Grammy Awards, co-wrote the Gold Record Solo with the late pop icon Prince, and worked from 2015-2019 as a Writer/Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair. Hwang serves on the Board of the Lark Play Development Center, as Head of Playwriting at Columbia University School of the Arts, and as Chair of the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. M. Butterfly recently returned to Broadway in a revival directed by Julie Taymor, which marked Mr. Hwang's eighth Broadway production. His newest work, Soft Power, premiered at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre. David Henry Hwang's stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney's Tarzan.

The "Everyone's a Playwright" Symposium will present sessions focusing on fostering emotional wellness through playwriting, virtual learning during this global crisis, trauma playwriting, student voices and authentic storytelling, social justice, as well as sample playwriting lessons.

To learn more about AATE's upcoming "Everyone's a Playwright" Symposium and to register, please visit aate.com/playwright-symposium.