My Story: Transforming Personal Stories for College Access
Learn to show your best self! Using theater techniques including improvisation and playwriting, these intensive classes offer teens the chance to create and refine their own personal stories for use in the college application process.
New Spring Sessions!
My Story: Essay Writing
Students in this workshop will create “monologues” drawn from personal experience that can be used as Common Application essays. Finding compelling stories by practicing speaking and writing about themselves, students will engage in collaborative theater writing exercises to free up their ability to express themselves fully and openly in writing, and present their work in written and oral form for feedback from professional theater artists.
Tuesdays, March 19 – April 16
Where: ONLINE
When: 5:30-7:30pm
Instructor: Francisco Mendoza
About the Teaching Artists
Francisco Mendoza is an Argentinian-born, Brazilian-raised writer. He’s a graduate of Tisch’s MFA program, a Princess Grace Award and Neukom Prize winner, and a MacDowell Fellow. His play Machine Learning recently premiered at Central Square Theater. His work has been developed and presented at New Dramatists, The Lark, the New Group, Two River Theater, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Northern Stage, San Diego Rep, and Central Square Theater, among others. His writing has been published in outlets such as The Brooklyn Rail and American Theater Magazine. He has taught at the New School, ART/New York, the New Group, and the 24 Hour Plays. He’s a co-founder of the Immigrant Theatermakers Advocates initiative and a passionate supporter of immigrants in the theater field. He’s currently the Director of Marketing at The Playwrights Realm, and acts as a consultant and educator for other non-profit theater companies. notrealmendoza.com
Upcoming Sessions to be Announced!
My Story: Interview Edition
Practice basic – and fun! – acting techniques with professional theater artists to gain new confidence and facility in talking about oneself in interview settings. Students will work with other members of the group on popular interview questions from the past three years of college admissions. They will discover what they really want to say about themselves, and how to say it most effectively and with greatest clarity.
This workshop will be offered later in 2024. Please stay tuned!
This program is supported in part by the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation and the Laura B. Vogler Foundation. The New Group’s programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.Programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
