Free Playwriting Workshop | March 6 | 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM | Ages 15+

Join us for a FREE two-hour playwriting workshop led by bi-coastal playwright Eva MeiLing Pollitt. In From Dreams to Stage, participants will explore how playwrights transform ideas into compelling visual stories for the stage.

Through guided meditation, generative writing exercises, and collaborative feedback, students will uncover a “dream-like kernel” — a character, image, or location — and develop it into a short scene. We’ll explore story structure, dialogue, conflict, and theatrical world-building, ending with a group reading and reflection.

No experience necessary - just bring your imagination.

Space is limited. Advance registration recommended.

About the Teaching Artist

Eva MeiLing Pollitt is a writer/director, whose plays have been produced in LA, NYC, and Dallas and whose short films have been featured in festivals in New York and LA. She has taught theatre in New York, France, and China to all age groups. She is currently based in LA where she works as a paid screenwriter for Bytedance Vertical Series. Everything she has ever written has started with a dream-like kernel. www.eva-mei.com

About the Project

This workshop is part of ÉLÉPHANT, presented by Rising Sun Performance Company, led by Bronx resident Artistic Director Akia Squitieri. ÉLÉPHANT is a powerful theatrical project exploring adolescence, identity, and womanhood through performances, talkbacks, workshops, and open rehearsals across the Bronx.

This workshop is presented as part of the Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO Award public service component (Artists for Community Enrichment – ACE), supporting Bronx artists in sharing their work with the community.

Hosted in partnership with Bronx River Art Center, a multi-arts organization dedicated to providing a forum for community, artists, and youth to transform creative vision into action.

This project is made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Bronx Council on the Arts.

About the Hosts

Akia Squitieri is an award-winning stage director, producer, and arts leader. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Rising Sun Performance Company and Executive Director of Bronx River Art Center. She has received critical praise for her direction including “Hellcab”, “Goodnight Lovin’ Trail”, “The Last Supper”, “Bug” (By Tracy Letts), “The Glory of Living” (By Rebecca Gilman), “Elephant”, and “Untitled Calamity Jane Play” in theaters across NYC. She has served in leadership roles at Blue Man Group, 14Y Theater, Horse Trade Theater Group, Drunk Shakespeare and NY Innovative Theater Awards. She is an anti-sexual harassment advocate and the founder of “creating safe spaces”- the first theatrical based training program in the US. Member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, Directors Lab North, Directors Lab West and The League of Independent Theatre.

Rising Sun Performance Company is an Award Winning Theatre Company dedicated to fostering a nurturing and safe artistic home while creating innovative theatrical experiences in NYC. Committed to the principle of ensemble process and performance through the collaboration of a resident company of theatre artists, Including Actors, Directors, Playwrights, Designers, & Producers, Rising Sun Performance Company's (RSP) mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships, and contributing new works and revitalized pre-existing work to the national canon. Rising Sun Performance Company realizes this goal by providing a safe artistic home which stimulates risk-taking without limits of genre or agenda.

Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) is a culturally diverse, multi-arts, non-profit organization that provides a forum for community, artists, and youth to transform creative vision into action. Our Education, Exhibitions, Artist Studios, and Presenting Programs cultivate leadership in an urban environment and stewardship of our natural resource — the Bronx River.

About the Grant

For over 36 years, BCA’s BRIO Award has recognized artists from a wide range of creative disciplines who demonstrate proficiency, knowledge, and intense practice in their chosen artform. Each year, BRIO provides direct support to individual Bronx artists who create works in the literary, media, visual, and performing arts with awards of $5,000. Artists who have received a BRIO award represent the vast diversity of Bronx residents, inclusive of all ethnicities, ages, and genders. Awardees complete a one-time public service activity known as Artists for Community Enrichment (ACE), an essential component required of all BRIO recipients to be completed within a year of receiving the award. ACE provides artists with additional visibility and demonstrates to the Bronx community the wealth of artistic talent available in our borough.