A Member of the Dramatists Guild Network
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The Dramatists Guild Institute offers hands-on, rigorous, continuing education for playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all skill levels.
Founded in 2016, the DGI is a continuing educational offering from The Dramatists Guild of America. Designed for writers of every age and every level of skill in our profession, our classes will satisfy every need of theatre writers in terms of writing workshops, best practices, craft classes, and seminars. Students are given practical experience in everything from developing a full-length play with actors to dissecting basic dramatic structure to synopsis writing and the foundations of musical composition, lyric writing, and dramatic structure in musical theatre.
Start with one of our foundational courses, examining the structure of plays or musicals. More experienced playwrights, lyricists, librettists, and composers hone their craft by participating in our writing workshops and master classes, led by top industry professionals.
From learning how to analyze component theatrical parts to any play or musical in our Architecture of… series to understanding the obstacles of writing a web series, one of our many offerings is certain to suit your theatre writing needs.
All of our 2023 course offerings will take place online.
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What People Are Saying About The Dramatists Guild Institute.
“You deserve more than my words could say for what you are achieving with the DGI. It provides both a place for playwrights to learn at a heightened quality level and a place for those who are winning awards and notice but not as much financially, or established playwrights who want to give back by working with those who are experienced and committed to playwriting a flexible venue to pass on to others what they have learned.”
— Carla Conway, DGI Student
-“I finally understand how musical theatre can work its magic. John revealed that it is not completely magic -- that there is an intellectual and emotional construction underneath the magic. I now want to take that knowledge and apply it to my book and lyric writing, and use the language of it all to better work with composers and music directors. THANK YOU, JOHN DIETRICH and DG INSTITUTE.”
— Anonymous, DGI Student
“I really appreciate everything DGI has done to make me a better playwright by giving me the requisite tools and opening my mind to new ways of thinking about writing for the theatre.”
— Jean W., DGI student
“DGI provides a variety of classes to choose from, with interesting topics, along with opportunities to study with playwrights across the country.”
— Chas B., DGI Student
“DGI is successful in building communities among playwrights -- and in my experience, offering classes with a variety of playwrights who are diverse in backgrounds and instruction methods.”
— Jane W., DGI Student
“The DGI offers a community that values and enhances the playwright's journey. I'm grateful to be part of it.”
— Leslie C., DGI Student
