ABSTRACT
The education of both playwrights and screenwriters in the dramatic writing program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts involves a progressive series of intensive writing workshops, in addition to a sizable liberal arts component, including studies in American, European, Latin, Asian, and African literature courses and required courses in history, philosophy, art history, and language. One part of the education of the playwright includes finding those people who are willing to give both financial and emotional support to the developing writer. There have also been courses dedicated to individual playwrights, such as Chekhov or Beckett, and, of course, Shakespeare has always had his own one-year course. An education is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the process of nourishing, rearing, training; the development of mental powers and growth, and the molding of some aspect of character. What playwrights want, more than anything, is a sense of belonging and of critical advice and support.
