Wheeling Around – Mini-Masterclass with Keith Turnbull

Hi there! I know it's been a while, but I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for a great workshop. It was a privilege to be included in such a talented, creative and intelligent group. I found the experience very stimulating and I hope to see everyone again at Playwrights’ Workshop events and workshops, and also to see and enjoy their work over the coming years. Also, it's great that this workshop was free. I don't know how you managed that, but it's great. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been writing away with new insight and perspective since the workshop. I find that I am like Keith in that some aspects of the wheel are coming to mind more now as I work on current projects, than they did when we were actually in the workshop. I enjoyed the whole process of preparing for each session and the great amazement of seeing what everyone else contributed to the wheel.

As a writer I did not find that it gave me any sense of paralysis whatsoever. On the contrary, I found it to be very stimulating. Perhaps this was also a function of the tone of the group, which was at one and the same time both challenging and supportive.

My only comment on the wheel itself and this workshop from the point of view of the writer is that I might have enjoyed completing the wheel earlier in the process and tried the last phase of the workshop, where you take a character around the wheel, with several different characters; especially if I had time to digest the first experience between sessions. An actor works with only one character at a time, but a writer has to deal with the entire cast and I did get ideas for a couple of other characters that I would've liked to try marching around that wheel, just to see what they would do. From my writer viewpoint, it might have been interesting to try out a variety of characters to feel how they responded at various stages of the wheel. It might also have been enlightening for several participants to try out different characters at the same time to experience how they interacted with each other at different phases of the wheel. Or it might have been a disaster.

Anyways, thanks again, and please keep me in mind for any future workshops and events.

Janice Benthin