WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLAY: WRITE PLAYS THAT GET PRODUCED at Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Announces WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLAY With Howard's Dr. Vera J. Katz

Write Plays That Get Produced — six live online sessions, beginning Oct. 11, with the Professor Emerita who taught Phylicia Rashad, Chadwick Boseman and Taraji P. Henson. Enrollment is limited to twelve writers and stays open through Oct. 25.

Oct. 6, 2026 — For 32 years at Howard University, Dr. Vera J. Katz taught actors how to take a script apart. This fall she turns to the people who write them.

On Sunday, October 11, the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop begins WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLAY: WRITE PLAYS THAT GET PRODUCED, a six-session online course led by Dr. Katz and limited to twelve writers. Sessions run Sundays from 3 to 5 p.m. Eastern on Zoom and end December 13, 2026.

The course works in two directions. Dr. Katz takes apart plays that succeed — what holds them up, where they turn, why an audience stays — and then turns the same reading onto the participants' own pages. Among the works she expects to examine is the musical PURLIE. No script in progress is required to enroll.

Dr. Katz is Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts at Howard University, where she taught acting and directing for 32 years, and spent 24 years on the faculty of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has directed more than 50 productions. Her former students include Phylicia Rashad, Chadwick Boseman, Taraji P. Henson, Debbie Allen, Anthony Anderson and Corey Hawkins.

"Vera Katz trained a generation of actors to know a good play when they read one. Putting that ear in a room with twelve writers is the most useful thing we can do for a script." — Garland Thompson, Jr., Executive Artistic Director, Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop

"A well-written play is the spine on which all the bones — acting, directing, producing, audience, designers, technicians, PR people and critics — stand." — Dr. Vera J. Katz, Professor Emerita, Howard University

The Workshop was founded in New York City in 1973 by Morgan Freeman, Billie Allen Henderson, Clayton Riley and Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. It moved uptown to Harlem by 1976 and has developed Black playwrights ever since. It reaches writers today through an online academy rather than a single room. WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLAY returns this fall for its fourth cohort.

Tuition is $500, and seats remain. Every session is recorded, and enrollment remains open through October 25, so writers who join after the first session can watch it before the class meets again on November 8. Writers can enroll at fswwonline.newzenler.com.

AT A GLANCE COURSE: What Makes a Good Play — Write Plays That Get Produced INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Vera J. Katz, Professor Emerita, Howard University DATES: Oct. 11 · Nov. 8 · Nov. 22 · Nov. 29 · Dec. 6 · Dec. 13, 2026 TIME: Sundays, 3–5 p.m. ET / 12–2 p.m. PT FORMAT: Live on Zoom · sessions recorded · no script required CAPACITY: 12 seats TUITION: $500 · enrollment open through Oct. 25 ENROLL: fswwonline.newzenler.com/courses/what-makes-a-good-play

ABOUT DR. VERA J. KATZ Dr. Vera J. Katz is Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts at Howard University, where she taught acting and directing for 32 years, and served 24 years on the faculty of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Brooklyn College and an MFA in directing and acting from Boston University, and has directed more than 50 productions. Her writing has appeared in Black Masks magazine.

ABOUT THE FRANK SILVERA WRITERS' WORKSHOP Founded in New York City in 1973 by Morgan Freeman, Billie Allen Henderson, Clayton Riley and Garland Lee Thompson, Sr., the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation, Inc. is an Audelco and Obie Award–winning nonprofit theater organization dedicated to the development of Black playwrights and their work. Its online academy, FSWW Online, offers courses in playwriting and screenwriting to writers and performers nationwide. Learn more at thefsww.org.

MEDIA CONTACT Garland Thompson, Jr., Executive Artistic Director Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop support@thefsww.org · 831-521-1895 thefsww.org

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