bric-house-2015

BRIC House announces Spring 2015 schedule

IMAGE

The BRIC House, the multipurpose venue/studio/learning center from the folks behind Celebrate Brooklyn!, have just announced their 2015 Spring Season, which includes art, theatre, workshops and music. On the latter, performances include the previously-announced Matthew E White show on March 3, plus Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara on April 7, acclaimed Zimbabwe musician Oliver Mtukudzi & the Black Spirits on April 21, and Cuban composer Omar Sosa with Quarteto AfroCubano on April 30.

There’s also Kingmaker, a work-in-progress musical from Carl Hancock Rux (book and lyrics) and Toshi Reagon (original music & lyrics) which runs April 17 & 18:

Based on the true story of an African American (f to m) transgendered gospel quartet singer, and drawing upon the traditions of African American roots music (including gospel blues, polyrhythmic call-and-response harmonic singing and contemporary folk) the work is an exploration of the spiritual journey of gender, faith, and the forgotten history of the Great Migration.

Tickets to those shows and the entire BRIC House 2015 Spring Season are on sale now.

There’s a whole lot more going on at BRIC House this spring. Details on all the events are listed below…



BRIC HOUSE SPRING 2015 PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

CONTEMPORARY ART

OPEN (C)ALL: The Artist’s Studio
An Open Call Exhibition for Members of BRIC’s Contemporary Artist Registry
Gallery at BRIC House
January 14-February 8
FREE

BRIC announces OPEN (C)ALL: The Artist’s Studio, an open call exhibition that will be presented in the Gallery of BRIC House and will showcase the work of some 150 members of BRIC’s online Contemporary Artist Registry. This registry is free and open to artists who were born, live or work in Brooklyn, NY.

Artists will also submit photographs of their studios and work spaces, which will be projected alongside the exhibition as part of a special installation by guest artist Wendy Richmond. This inaugural open call takes on the theme of “The Artist’s Studio” to reverse the existing relationship that the artists have with BRIC’s Registry. Rather than being represented online digitally, the works of art will be now be manifested physically in the gallery; the studio will be represented digitally. While the search and query functions might not translate into our physical realm, the myriad art works in the Gallery will show, at true scale, the depth and breathe of talent in Brooklyn.

Pioneers! O’ Pioneers! A History of NY Artist Neighborhoods Panel Discussion
BRIC House Stoop
Wednesday, Jan 21 at 7:00PM
FREE

This panel discussion accompanying the OPEN (C)ALL exhibition will offer historic perspectives on the changing landscapes for artists’ work and exhibition spaces since the 1950s. Panelists include, Irving Sandler, among the most renowned American art critic alive today and a witness to the 10th Street in the 1950s, an early example of an “alternative” art scene in New York and a center for leading Abstract Expressionist painters; artist Joyce Kozloff and art critic and historian Max Kozloff, pioneers of the Soho art scene in the 1970s s; Walter Robinson, a painter and critic who documented the art scene in the Lower East Side in the 1980s; and Joe Amrhein, an artist and founder of the pioneering Williamsburg gallery Pierogi, who will discuss Brooklyn and Williamsburg in the 1990s. The discussion will be moderated by Paddy Johnson, founding Editor of Art F City and the Arts Editor for The L Magazine.

Mapping Brooklyn
Co-presented at BRIC Arts | Media House and the Brooklyn Historical Society
Gallery at BRIC House
February 26 – May 3
At the Brooklyn Historical Society: February 26 – September 6, 2015
FREE
Curated by Elizabeth Ferrer, Vice President, Contemporary Art at BRIC

A prime impetus for visual artists has been to better understand and interpret the world around them. In contemporary practice, artists observe, collect, explore, interact, depict, and diagram. Cartographers follow similar impulses in seeking to give visual form to geography and to physical space. The exhibition Mapping Brooklyn will juxtapose the work of contemporary artists working with historic maps, with examples of maps themselves, suggesting the myriad ways that maps can represent on the one hand, such practical matters as way finding, property ownership, population shifts, and war strategy, and on other, the terrain of the metaphorical, psychological, and personal. In the galleries at both venues, historic maps and contemporary works will be in dialogue, suggesting common themes – the desire to explore, chart, and analyze territory – and highlight the innovative ways that contemporary artists use mapping, cartography, and exploration, to reveal data, ideas, and emotions.

The historic maps in the exhibition will all be drawn from the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection, which boasts one of the richest collections of maps of Brooklyn in the world. Included are such old and rare examples as the Ratzer Map of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, created by a British officer in the late 1760s, and more workaday examples such as Henry Ward Beecher’s hand-drawn map of his Brooklyn garden. There are demographic maps, fire insurance maps and more. Works by contemporary artists will range widely in scale and medium, and will likely include painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, installations, interactive projects, and appropriated and manipulated historic and contemporary documents.

Artists in Mapping Brooklyn include: Aaron Beebe, Daniel Bejar, Francisca Benitez, Gail Biederman, Justin Blinder, Christine Gedeon, Katarina Jerinic, Joyce Kozloff, Laura Kurgan, Peter Lapsley, Jennifer Maravillas, Simonetta Moro, Bundith Phunsombartlet, Jan Rothuizen, Patricia Smith, Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin, and Sarah Williams.

Many of these artists have conducted research into the BHS map collection and have selected the historic maps that will be shown alongside their work.

A key element of Mapping Brooklyn is its local focus. Brooklyn is not only an international center of the contemporary art world, but also the most populous of New York’s boroughs, with over 2.5 million residents. It is a place of astounding diversity – few Brooklynites can claim familiarity with all of its neighborhoods and diverse cultures. It is also a place of change – neighborhoods and demographics are in constant flux, as are the built environment and use of land. With this exhibition, we aim to introduce visitors to the remarkable range of historic maps that have sought to study and document facets of the borough to contemporary art works that reveal mapping as a powerful means of representation.

The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs and a brochure with essays by Elizabeth Ferrer, Vice President, Contemporary Art at BRIC and Deborah Schwartz, President, the Brooklyn Historical Society.

CLASSROOM AS STUDIO:
The 27th Annual Contemporary Art and Media Education Student Exhibition
Gallery at BRIC House
May 20 – June 21
FREE
Curated by BRIC Education and Jenny Gerow, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art

This annual exhibition showcases work in a wide range of artistic media created by students taking part BRIC’s school-based residencies and after-school programs which brings professional artists and their studio practices into the classroom. Residencies are held in public schools throughout Brooklyn and in Queens, and reach students from Grade K through high school. This year’s edition of the show will demonstrate the exchange that occurs between teaching artists, students, and the creative process. Student work will be juxtaposed with that of their teaching artist, all professional visual artists whose own work informs the classroom experience.

PERFORMING ARTS

MATTHEW E. WHITE: SOUTHERN LIGHTS TONIGHT
BRIC House Ballroom
Tuesday, March 3
Door time: 7:30pm
Show time: 8:00pm
$18 (Adv) / $22 (Door) General Admission Standing

Matthew E. White comes to BRIC from Richmond, Virginia with a full complement of musicians to debut Fresh Blood; his audacious, confident and masterful new record. White will share his new songs for the first time live, and for this wildly unique performance he will be flanked by strings, horns and singers backed by the inimitable Spacebomb house band. White took the world by storm in 2012 releasing Big Inner, a record that Uncut termed “one of the great albums of modern Americana.” After touring the world including performances at the Hollywood Bowl, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Sydney Opera House; White settled in to make what would become Fresh Blood, the brilliant bloom to Big Inner’s striking bud. Fresh Blood is a bracing, beguiling record and a bold advance for White and at BRIC House he will lay it out completely with a full armament of personnel; sharing his brand of sophisticated but instantly winning mix of soul, R&B, and rock and roll. A night not to miss, an artist not to ignore.

A multi-camera HD video capture of this performance will be produced by BRIC’s Brooklyn Independent Media.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA
BRIC House Ballroom
Tuesday, April 7
Door time: 7:30pm
Show time: 8:00pm
$18 (Adv) / $22 (Door) General Admission Standing

Born in Côte d’Ivoire to Malian parents, the strikingly beautiful and talented Fatoumata Diawara moved to France to pursue acting, appearing in several films and in the internationally renowned street theatre troupe Royal de Luxe. She later took up the guitar, writing songs that blend Wassalou traditions of southern Mali with international influences. Noted for her sensuous voice, she has performed and recorded with Oumou Sangaré, AfroCubism, Dee Dee Bridgewater and released her debut album in 2011. In 2012 she was featured in the campaign 30 Songs / 30 Days, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Fatoumata’s 2013 world tour was “one of the breakout performances of this year’s (2013) edition of Globalfest” – (NPR Music) and culminated in a landmark performance at Glastonbury and as part of the Clinton Global Initiative. At BRIC House she will perform a rousing show with her propulsive band.

OLIVER MTUKUDZI & THE BLACK SPIRITS
BRIC House Ballroom
Tuesday, April 21
Door time: 7:30pm
Show time: 8:00pm
$20 (Adv) / $24 (Door) General Admission Standing

Gifted with a deep, gutsy voice and a talent for writing songs that reflect on the daily life and struggles of the people of his homeland, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi is one of Zimbabwe’s greatest artists. His mix of pan-African influences and cosmopolitan pop forms has become widely known as Tuku Music. Featuring strong socio-political themes driven by a desire to see the world conquer hate, fear and greed, the band’s most popular tracks promote tolerance and non-violence including “Tozeza Baba” and “Ngoromera”. Bonnie Raitt, who has recorded several of his songs, explained, “The juxtaposition of what Mtukudzi sings about and his raw, imploring, vocal reminds me of Otis Redding and Toots Hibbert, an odd pairing of agonizing, thorny lyrics over lighthearted music.” His 2008 performance at the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival was an unforgettable joyous dance party. Don’t miss this one at BRIC House!

OMAR SOSA
BRIC House Ballroom
Thursday, April 30
Door time: 7:30pm
Show time: 8:00pm
$20 (Adv) / $24 (Door) General Admission Standing
$24 (Adv) / $28 (Door) Seated Balcony

Cuban composer-pianist-bandleader Omar Sosa began studying percussion and marimba in a music conservatory at age 8, and piano as a teenager at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Música followed by the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Among his influences, Omar cites traditional Afro-Cuban music, European classical composers including Chopin, Bartok, and Satie; jazz greats Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea; and the pioneering Cuban jazz group Irakere. Annually performing upwards of 100 concerts on six continents, Omar has appeared in major venues throughout the world, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC in 2003 for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States. At BRIC House he will perform with his virtuosic Quarteto AfroCubano. A multi-camera HD video capture of this performance will be produced by BRIC’s Brooklyn Independent Media.

BRIClab

BRIClab is a commissioning and residency development program for emerging and established local artists to explore and expand the possibilities of their work in music, dance, theater and interdisciplinary performance.

AMY EVANS, MARK ROSENBLATT & NOMA DUMEZWENI
THE CHAMPION (work-in-progress)
BRIC House Artist Studio
Residency: February 24 – March 7
Showings: Friday & Saturday, March 6 & 7, 7:30pm
$10 (Adv) / $14 (Door) General Admission

A new play by Brooklyn playwright Amy Evans, created with UK-based director Mark Rosenblatt and actor Noma Dumezweni, The Champion is inspired by the life of Nina Simone, and offers a rare look into the heart and mind of an artist known as much for her activism as her artistic brilliance. Based on extensive research including personal interviews with Simone’s former bandmates, friends and family members, the play is an intimate portrayal of a cultural icon, the outstanding musicians who worked with her, and the turbulent era during which they rose to fame.

CORI OLINGHOUSE
CARTOON KITCHEN (work-in-progress)
BRIC House Artist Studio
Residency: March 10-21
Showings: Friday & Saturday, March 20 & 21, 7:30pm
$10 (Adv) / $14 (Door) General Admission

Cori Olinghouse is Brooklyn-based choreographer obsessed with cartoons whose work explores the shapeshifting capacities of the body, space, and time. In Cartoon Kitchen she experiments with the visual techniques used in animation (squash and stretch, in-betweening, silhouette, postures/attitudes, exaggeration and rhythmic timing). Looking for absurd, unusual ways of translating these principles into a choreographic lens for a live audience, Olinghouse invites long-time collaborators Neal Beasley and Eva Schmidt to join her in inventing an assemblage of hybrid, non-sequitur characters.

OKWUI OKPOKWASILI
POOR PEOPLE’S TV ROOM (work-in-progress)
BRIC House Artist Studio
Residency: March 24 – April 4
Showings: Friday & Saturday, April 3 & 4, 7:30pm
$10 (Adv) / $14 (Door) General Admission

Brooklyn-based choreographer, dancer and actress Okwui Okpokwasili’s multi-disciplinary performance piece Poor People’s TV Room considers the collective amnesia around women’s resistance movements in Nigeria, from the Igbo Women’s War of 1929 to the recent Boko Haram kidnappings and the “save our girls” campaigns. With collaborator Peter Born, she creates a dystopian narrative in which characters slip through the fissures of time, wandering in a bush of ghosts.

CARL HANCOCK RUX & TOSHI REAGON
KINGMAKER (work-in-progress)
BRIC House Artist Studio
Residency: April 7-18
Showings: Friday & Saturday, April 17 & 18, 7:30pm
$10 (Adv) / $14 (Door) General Admission

KINGMAKER is a new folk opera conceived by Carl Hancock Rux (book and lyrics) and Toshi Reagon (original music & lyrics). Based on the true story of an African American (f to m) transgendered gospel quartet singer, and drawing upon the traditions of African American roots music (including gospel blues, polyrhythmic call-and-response harmonic singing and contemporary folk) the work is an exploration of the spiritual journey of gender, faith, and the forgotten history of the Great Migration.

SPECIAL COLLABORATIONS

LOOK & LISTEN FESTIVAL
BRIC House Stoop
Friday, May 1, 8:00pm
$15 (Adv) / $20 (Door) General Admission

Now in its 14th year (2nd at BRIC), the annual Look & Listen Festival showcases the best of contemporary classical music in a visual art setting. Featuring solo works and chamber pieces, each show is chock-full of multi-faceted musicians, ensembles and composers who revels the breadth and depth of 20th and 21st century new classical music. “The Look & Listen Festival is a playground where sound, images and objects align for a seriously fun experience” – Terrance McKnight, WQXR host

THE BROOKLYN POETRY SLAM
BRIC House Stoop
Thursdays: March 12, April 16, May 21, (7PM)
FREE

An intergenerational showcase where Brooklyn-based poets investigate art work on display at BRIC House and their poems respond through verse. Hosted by Mahogany L Browne & DJ Jive Poetic

BRIC HOUSE PARTIES

Brooklyn’s best all-ages, all-day-into-night parties with special daytime activities including family dance classes, film screenings, art making, and more; and a nighttime music with live bands, NYC’s best DJs, the fantastic BRIC House Ballroom dance floor, and you!

MAPPING BROOKLYN featuring
The Rub
The Commons Choir
Saturday, March 14
2-8PM FREE PROGRAMS
8pm-12am DANCE PARTY $10 (Adv) / $14 (Door)

Inspired by BRIC’s contemporary art exhibition of the same name, we’ll be mapping out an all-day event with artists and activities which observe, collect, explore, interact, depict, and diagram all that is Brooklyn. Live music, film screenings, dance classes and more; including The Commons Choir performing a sound and movement “investigative musical” Brooklyn Resound, which explores Brooklyn as crucible for the whole nation. An evening dance party by The Rub, voted by The Village Voice “Best party in Brooklyn to dance sweatily” will complete the picture by adapting with the times but never forgetting the foundation of hip-hop, classic disco, funk and soul.

SPRING FEVER! Featuring
I Love Vinyl
Saturday, April 11
2-8PM FREE PROGRAMS
8pm-12am DANCE PARTY $10 (Adv) / $14 (Door)

Clean out the closets and get ready for warmer weather as we celebrate spring with family-friendly live music, film screenings, dance classes and more. Followed by an evening dance party by I Love Vinyl, their approach is mind-wide, foot-friendly and snap, crackly, poppin’; meaning that genre, time period and recognizability take a back seat to quality, taste and skill. Disco, house, soul, boogie, jazz/funk, hip hop, techno, no wave, new jack swing, Latin, electro and Afrobeat are woven into a cohesive, funky and irresistibly danceable sonic manifesto. Laptop-free since 2009.

THE STOOP SERIES

BRIC’s Stoop Series illuminates the arts and life around us in Brooklyn through artistic performances, presentations, participatory activities and dynamic conversations. Explore music, visual art, film, media, storytelling, comedy and other creative fields. Engage with some of the most innovative artistic voices in Brooklyn’s ever-expanding cultural scene on the monumental interior stoop of BRIC House. Most Tuesday nights at 7pm; all events are FREE.

March 3, 7:00pm
Digital City: Google Map Hackers
Brooklyn artists Justin Blinder, Brian House, and Jennifer Maravillas present and discuss the inventive ways in which they’ve used Google Maps and technology as platforms for the creation of their work. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, Mapping Brooklyn.

March 10, 7:00pm
Soul Inscribed and The Spinning Wheel
BRIC Fireworks resident artists Baba Israel and Yako 440 and their “new rare groove” project Soul Inscribed perform original material and musical excerpts from the Fireworks 2016 production and exhibition The Spinning Wheel Keeps On Turning; and invite guest producers to create on-the-spot remixes of audio from the archives of Israel’s late father, the “longhaired, card-carrying pacifist, anarchist, comedian, performance artist” and star of the Living Theatre, Steve Ben Israel.

March 17, 7:00pm
Improv Comedy with Magnet Theater and Adam Wade!
New York’s finest improvisers come together for a night of comedy! 20 time SLAM story teller from The Moth, Adam Wade, is the “monologist”, who will take a word from the audience and share true stories from their suggestions. These stories are then brought to life by a cast of Magnet Theater’s improv all-stars, who take the audience on a high minded, exhilarating comedic joy ride that will leave mouths tired of smiling.

March 24, 7:00pm
Drink and Draw with Chromat and the Witches of Bushwick
Bring your paper, pencil, and creative eye for an unconventional sketch night where DJs spin House music, the models are also the performance artists, and clothing is by local fashion designer to the stars Chromat.

March 31, 7;00pm
Conversation with Bernice McFadden and Terry McMillan
In collaboration with Akashic Books, BRIC is hosting a night with writers Bernice McFadden and Terry McMillan. These long-time friends will discuss McFadden’s novel Loving Donovan which includes a new introduction by McMillan.

April 7, 7:00pm
Brooklyn Queer Indie Folk: Songwriter’s Circle
Join Julia Weldon and friends for a night of Brooklyn queer Indie music. Julia is an out and proud, queer and genderqueer, nationally touring Indie-Folk Pop artist who derives lyrical and musical inspiration from the rooftops of Brooklyn as well as the vast expanses of middle-America. She’s invited a few other talented Brooklyn artists to share their songs and stories with you. Come out for an intimate and interactive night of music on the stoop.

April 14, 7:00pm
Not Your Typical Saturday Morning Cartoons: Animation For Adults Screening and Panel Discussion
This event, co-presented by the Sunday Film Series, is designed to enhance the interactive movie-going experience by presenting very intimate content in a very intimate setting! Hear from the filmmakers about their choices in drawing adult content (sex, religion, death, mental illness), as well as their drawing and coloring techniques! Learn the history of animation, how it evolved over time, and somewhere along the way got “kidnapped” as a children’s medium. Throughout the evening, the filmmakers’ will present some of their favorite adult short films! Stick around for an opportunity to ask your burning questions, with an open discussion and Q & A with the animators afterwards. Those who pay extra close attention might even walk away with some amazing party favors!

April 21, 7:00pm
The Commons Choir Presents BROOKLYN RESOUND
Brooklyn residents, choreographer Daria Fain, poet-architect Robert Kocik and composer Ben Barson present an investigative musical exploring troubled-but-indestructible Brooklyn as a crucible for the entire nation. An intersection of movement, voice, political economy and theater, performed on an embodied sonic map of prosody – the musical aspects of language without which we’d have no idea what we’re saying to each other.

April 28, 7:00pm
Sekou Kouyate & Joe Driscoll
A collaboration between a rapper, beatboxer, singer-songwriter and guitarist from Syracuse, NY and an electrifying African kora sensation from Guinea. Their music is a musical blending of hip-hop, spoken word, funk and soulful rock with Afrobeat, reggae and irrepressible African groves. Driscoll speaks no French, and Kouyate, little English. Brought together at the Nuit Metis (Mixed Night) festival in Marseille, France in 2010 and given a week to produce a concert, music was the only way they could communicate. It turns out, they have a lot to “talk” about! Their collaboration led to the formation of a band, the recording of an album, over 120 concert dates across Europe and rave reviews. At BRIC House they will perform as a duo. http://joeandsekou.com/about-the-project

May 5, 7:00pm
AUNTS
AUNTS is about having dance happen. A choreographic apparatus for organizing simultaneous performance and art activities in a shared space organized by Laurie Berg and Liliana Dirks-Goodman, this live performance event will include multiple artists from varied disciplines creating an immersive dance/performance/party.

COMMUNITY MEDIA

B Free Awards
BRIC House Ballroom
Saturday, March 21, 2015
6:00pm – 10:00pm
FREE (Space is Limited)

BRIC’s second annual B Free Awards will celebrate the diversity and excellence of Brooklyn Free Speech Television programming. Join us for a special awards ceremony dedicated to the producers who share their programs with the community. You can also watch the B Free Awards LIVE on your local cable channels or online streaming at BRICartsmedia.org/BPN.

BHeard Community Town Hall
Brooklyn For Sale: The Price of Gentrification Community Town Hall
BRIC House Ballroom
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
7:00pm -9:00pm
FREE
Brooklyn Independent Media will present the third in a series of town halls focused on exploring the community’s take on timely social issues. The town halls are a way to keep the conversations going beyond mass media hype while finding empowered ways to move forward in a borough and nation where gentrification is happening too fast to comprehend.

Concrete Stories – Brooklyn Youth Media Festival
Thursday, May 28, 2015
1:00pm & 6:30pm
FREE
Produced and curated by a group of media-savvy Brooklyn high school students as part of the BRIC Youth Media Internship Program. This media showcase, produced by youth under the age of 20, celebrated talented young media makers who are telling short films, documentaries and animations.

BK Live
Mondays-Thursdays, Noon
Airs live on Brooklyn Independent Media (Time Warner Cable 756, Cablevision 70, Verizon 46)
BK Live is Brooklyn’s first ever daily news and information program featuring a diverse line-up of local tastemakers, politicians, business leaders, artists, athletes, and more.

B-SIDE
Thursdays at 8pm
Free (limited seating)
Airs live on Brooklyn Independent Media (Time Warner Cable 756, Cablevision 70, Verizon 46)
B-Side, Brooklyn Independent Media’s live, in-studio music series, features interviews and performances with emerging Brooklyn musicians on most Thursday’s at 8pm. Arists include FUNKFACE (January 15), Paul Beaubrum & Zing Experience (January 22), Meta and the Cornerstones (January 29), Indige Soul (February 12) and Mesiko (February 26).

MEDIA EDUCATION

This winter/spring season, BRIC continues to offer their free and low-cost classes in television production, video editing, new media, and more. Upon completion of BRIC’s basic production classes, students become Certified Community Producers and gain full access to use BRIC’s production facilities and equipment, and airtime to show their own programs.

Media Education Orientation Sessions: January 6, 6:30-8:30pm; January 17, 11am-1pm; February 3, 6:30-8:30pm; February 21, 11am-1pm; March 3, 6:30-8:30pm; March 21,11am-1pm; April 7, 6:30-8:30pm; April 18, 11am-1pm

Intro to DSLR Filmmaking
February 24-26, 2-5pm; March 20, 10:30am-4:30pm; Apr 20-22, 6:30-9:30pm; $20
This course covers the fundamentals of DSLR filmmaking from equipment setups, tips for getting great audio, lighting considerations, as well as common challenges and pitfalls of shooting video with DSLRs.

Fundamentals of Screenwriting
March 20, 6:30-9:30pm, April 17, 6:30-9:30pm; $10
This course guides students through the creative process of brainstorming, writing, and publishing a screenplay. Topics covered include the 3-act story structure, character development, and building tension.