Sinan Unel
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:
• Scene Writing for Stage and Screen
• The Art of Dialogue
Education: B.A., Creative Writing, University of Kansas; M.F.A., Playwriting, Boston University
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:
Plays:
New Life
The Cry of the Reed
Off the Cliff
Pathetique
Tolstoy’s Den
Screenplays:
Pera Palas
Race Point
The Prophet’s Wife
Productions:
US: Huntington Theater Company, Long Wharf Theater, The Lark Theater Company, Theater at Boston Court, Counter Productions, Open Stage Theater, Boston Playwrights’ Theater, Provincetown Theater Company, Stage Left Studios
Europe: Arcola Theater (London), Gate Theater (London), Theater Kozmos (Austria), Landestheater Tubingen (Germany).
Teaching Philosophy: In the movie Julia, Lillian Hellman, brilliantly portrayed by Jane Fonda, gets so frustrated that she flings her typewriter out the window. It's 1934 and she's working on her first play, The Children's Hour, which will go on to win her the Pulitzer and make her famous. As a largely self-taught playwright, I've thrown a few typewriters out the window myself. As a teacher, my job is to help you realize your own brilliance, no matter how many typewriters get flung about. What I try to convey to my students is that playwriting is a private, solitary, and sacred occupation. Each play is a problem the playwright poses herself and sets out to solve. With each play, the writer must learn how to write a play all over again. Your best assets are your instincts and subconscious. Your greatest tool is craft.
Awards: The John Gassner Memorial Award, The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award; Fellow with the Huntington Theatre Company from 2003 to 2005. Winner of the 2001 New Century Writer Award for Race Point.
Affiliations: The Lark Play Development Center, The Huntington Theater Company, Boston Playwrights' Theater, Provincetown Theater Company, Cape Cod Writers' Center.
Website:www.sinanunel.com/