Synopsis:

TheatreWorks invites Tony Perez back to Singapore to conduct our annual Writing from the Heart Playwriting Workshop.

Have you ever dreamt of writing your own play or found your mind wandering off and envisioning stories? If so, join us at this year's Writing from the Heart Playwriting Workshop: From Dreams to Drama.

Tony Perez - playwright, novelist and visual artist - will combine his repertoire of skills to guide you on a journey into your subconscious. Learn about writing your own play by using your own dreams as a source of inspiration. You will participate in practical exercises, utilise dream analysis and interpretation, and apply these techniques towards playwriting.

Come with an open mind and be ready to take emotional risks! From creative visualisation, hypnosis and regression exercises, your goal is to unlock your subconscious and use it in your writing.

After the workshop, you will have the opportunity to undergo a year-long mentorship programme to be led by Tony Perez. This includes writing a play and receiving dramaturgical guidance from Tony Perez. Upon completion of the mentorship, the plays will be read to the public in a dramatised reading.

Emerging playwright Shen Tan, who participated in the workshop in 2015 and went through the mentorship programme with Tony Perez, will have her play 13.13.13. presented this July as part of TheatreWorks' 2018 season. Playwright Helmi Yusof, first wrote his play My Mother Buys Condoms at the workshop in 2014 and it went on to be staged professionally in 2016. This year, two emerging playwrights Clara Chow and Pamela Tham from the 2016 workshops will have their works presented in a Dramatised Reading on 7 July. TheatreWorks is proud to have nurtured and supported these playwrights through our Writers' Lab programmes.

Join us for this year's workshop and you could be the next successful playwright!

This programme is part of TheatreWorks' Writers' Lab Month. For more information on all programmes, please visit https://tinyurl.com/writerslabmonth.

Date: 2 – 6 July & 9 & 10 July 2018
Venue: 72-13, Home of TheatreWorks
Time: 7.30pm – 10.30pm

Workshop Structure

Session 1 (2 July, Monday)
• Overview of Dream Journaling
• Dream Reentry
• Composing Literary Fragments as Dreams
• Dream Interpretation
• From Dreams to Drama: Premise and Point of Attack

Session 2 (3 July, Tueday)
• Dream Symbols
• Dialoguing with Dream Images
• The Dramatic Monologue

Session 3 (4 July, Wednesday)
• Altered States of Consciousness and Regression
• Using Dream Fragments
• Dream Incubation

Session 4 (5 July, Thursday)
• Dream Archetypes
• Dream Characters
• The Anima, the Animus, and The Shadow
• Eros and Thanatos

Session 5 (6 July, Friday)
• Dream Dramatisation
• Rewriting the Dream
• Lucid Dreaming

Session 6 ( 9 July, Monday)
• Writing: Developing a Play from A Significant Dream
• Exploring Stimuli and Patterns in Playwriting
• Painting Dream Scenes
• Eden Lost and Regained

Session 7 (10 July, Tuesday)
• Astral Travel in the Service of Playwriting
• Wrap-up and Group Dynamics

About Tony Perez
Tony Perez is a Filipino playwright, novelist, and visual artist with an M.A. degree in Religious Studies, an M.A. candidacy in Clinical Psychology, and an A.B. in Communication. He has authored two major, full-length trilogies of plays in Tagalog, some of which have been translated into English and Polish. His full-length play Trip to The South was performed in New York and in Singapore; another full-length play, On The North Diversion Road, was performed in Melbourne and in Singapore. After having more than 40 books published in the Philippines, he is devoting the rest of his life to posting his new and forthcoming books in cyberspace. They can be accessed through his main blog site, http://www.tonyperezphilippines.blogspot.com. His artworks have been showcased in more than 15 exhibitions.

Perez is also the founder of the Spirit Questors, a group of young, psychic volunteers who render service to the public free of charge. Among his other interests are fiber art, puppetry, the use of drama in psychotherapy. In his home country, he conducts workshops to under-served audiences such as victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse, children in conflict with the law, prison inmates, child combatants, and residents of drug rehabilitation centers.
Perez has worked with TheatreWorks since the 1990s. He led in workshops like Writing from the Subconscious (1990), Explore the Physical Psychic Sense for Creative Writing (1992) and wrote Trip to the South performed at the ASEAN Season Festival in 1991.