product----1
Cynthia L. Dorsey

On August Wilson & Spike Lee: Writing the Voice of Your Neighborhood | 4-Week Online Writing Workshop

$279.00

What does your block sound like? Who sits on the porch? What music spills out the corner store? What slang, traditions, arguments, laughter, grief, and joy shaped the people around you?

In On August Wilson & Spike Lee: Writing the Voice of Your Neighborhood, students will explore how to write stories rooted in place, culture, and community by studying the work of August Wilson and Spike Lee, two legendary storytellers who transformed their neighborhoods into living, breathing characters.

Through scenes, monologues, film clips, writing prompts, and discussion, students will examine how Wilson captured the spirituality, oral traditions, and everyday rhythms of Black Pittsburgh while Lee brought the energy, politics, humor, and heartbeat of Brooklyn to the screen.

This course focuses on the details that make a neighborhood feel alive:

The nosey neighbor watching from the window. The mailman making his daily route while trying to avoid the pit bull three doors down. The neighborhood cat roaming porch to porch. The ice cream truck melody drifting through the summer air. Kids racing bicycles before the streetlights come on. The sound of trash pickup early in the morning. Somebody sneaking out at 3:00 AM. Block parties taking over the pavement. Cars flying down the street with subwoofers blasting music so loud the ground shakes beneath your feet.

Students will learn how sound, memory, environment, and community can shape character, dialogue, and storytelling.

Students will create original monologues, scenes, short stories, and screenplay concepts inspired by their own neighborhoods and lived experiences while developing characters, dialogue, and worlds that feel deeply authentic and culturally grounded.

Perfect for emerging and established writers alike, this course is for anyone interested in crafting authentic stories that feel specific, textured, and unapologetically rooted in culture, memory, and community.

4 class sessions
Tuesdays, October 27-November 17
8p-10p ET
5p-7p PT
7p-9p CT

All class meetings will be held via Zoom. For more information on how to download or use Zoom, please click here. Please note: At this time, to protect the confidentiality of the space and sharing of students' work, classes are not recorded.

    Course Takeaways

    • Learn how to build authentic characters rooted in community and lived experience
    • Explore the storytelling styles of August Wilson and Spike Lee
    • Develop stronger dialogue, scene writing, and character voice
    • Transform neighborhood memories, sounds, and culture into compelling stories
    • Create original monologues, scenes, short stories, and screenplay concepts
    • Strengthen observational writing and world-building skills
    • Gain tools for writing stories that feel culturally specific, textured, and emotionally honest

    Course Expectations

    • While there is no formal pre-work required, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the work of August Wilson and Spike Lee before the first session.
    • Students should come ready to write, reflect, and actively participate in discussion. This course encourages writers to draw inspiration from personal memory, community, observation, and lived experience, so openness and specificity in storytelling are highly encouraged.
    • Throughout the course, students will complete weekly writing exercises and creative prompts while workshopping and sharing their work in class.
    • Students should also be prepared to give and receive thoughtful, respectful feedback in a collaborative creative environment.

    Course Skeleton

    • Week One: The Sound of the Block
      Introduction to the storytelling styles of August Wilson and Spike Lee. Students will explore how neighborhood, memory, culture, and sound shape storytelling while beginning development of the original piece they will build throughout the course. Guided references: Jitney and Crooklyn.
    • Week Two: Writing Folks That Feel Real
      Students will focus on character voice, dialogue, and relationship dynamics. Through scenes, monologues, and writing prompts, writers will continue developing their final piece while exploring how everyday conversations, neighborhood personalities, humor, tension, and oral traditions create authentic characters. Guided references: Fences and Do the Right Thing.
    • Week Three: Turning Memory Into Story
      Students will deepen their original monologues, scenes, short stories, or screenplay concepts by focusing on atmosphere, symbolism, conflict, pacing, and world-building. This week emphasizes revision, layering detail, and transforming lived experience into compelling storytelling. Guided references: The Piano Lesson and He Got Game.
    • Week Four: Workshop the Neighborhood
      Students will share and workshop excerpts from the original piece they have developed throughout the course in a collaborative creative environment. The final session will focus on revision tools, sharpening artistic voice, collaborative feedback, and discussing pathways for continuing the work beyond the class. Guided references: Radio Golf and Red Hook Summer.

    For Classes: We offer full refunds for cancellation with written notice up until 7 days before your class start date. From 6 days to more than 24 hours before class begins, we offer a 25% refund. If you drop a class less than 24 hours before the class begins or after it has started, you are ineligible for a refund.

    The Write-In Bundle is non-refundable once purchased. If you are unable to attend a session, your spot is held and you are welcome to attend any remaining sessions in the bundle period.

    By signing up for a class, you agree to our refund policy and code of conduct here.

    For Editing packages: Refunds are not offered after your story or manuscript is submitted for review.

    Meet Your Instructor

    Cynthia L. Dorsey

    View Page

    Cynthia L. Dorsey is a multi-disciplinary artist, director, producer, writer, and arts educator committed to amplifying the stories of communities of color on stage and screen. She earned her BA from Columbia College Chicago and her MA from Syracuse University. A Tony-nominated arts educator with over two decades of experience, Cynthia is the co-founder of SoulFLY Theatre Society and has received regional and national recognition for her work in theatre and film.

    Honored as a 2024 Woman to Watch on Broadway by the Broadway Women’s Fund, Cynthia’s writing has appeared in BroadwayWorld, MadameNoire, xoNecole, and on her personal blog, Confessions of a Purse Carrier. Through all of her work, Cynthia is dedicated to liberating the silenced stories of women of color from the page.