Barry Brodsky

Barry Brodsky
Professional Title:  M.F.A. Creative Writing Faculty
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:  
Writing for Stage and Screen
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:  
Distance-Learning Courses:
· Creative Writing I-IV
· Craft and Reflection I-III
· Graduating Seminar Preparation
· Creative Thesis
Residency Seminars:
· Aristotle and the Three-Act Structure
· Rewriting “Sea of Love”

Education:  B.A., University of Massachusetts Boston; M.F.A., Brandeis University
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:  

Plays: 
All Other Nights 

The Twelve-forty
The Surrender

Produced Plays:
The Boys of Winter
Patriotic Duty
King Street Mixup
After Shabbos
Late Truck
Miss Colleen's Abortion
Stopwatch
Debating Malcolm
The Last Interview.

Screenplays:
The Twelve-Forty
I Miss You

Teaching Philosophy: I have been teaching playwriting since 1990 and screenwriting since 1998. My total love for theatre and movies (and TV too) as well as the history of these genres, drives my instruction. I'm always intrigued at the seemingly infinite number of ways people want to tell a visual story. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, some student will come to a class, or send me an assignment, that will test the boundaries of everything I thought I knew about writing for the Stage and Screen. And that's when the fun begins. As I read something I'm working on, I'll often stop and think "I'd never accept this from a student," shake my head, hit the "delete" button, and try it again.

It all pays off when I'm sitting in a theatre, or a classroom, and watching (or listening) to a student's work being read or performed. I remember the piece's various drafts. I marvel when something I told the student wouldn't work does work after all. I can feel the attention being paid to the spoken word. And I can't imagine doing anything else.

Awards: Screenplay “I Miss You” shown at the 2012 Algerian Film Festival. Two-time semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Film Writer's Competition. Nominee for Best New Play in 2008 by Independent Reviewers of New England for The Boys of Winter. His play Returnees was named a finalist in 2008 at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. 

Past Affiliations: Emerson College, Boston University Film School, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Brandeis University, Mass. College of Art, Roxbury Community College, Bristol Community College.