About the Workshop
Whether you are an actor or a comedian, professional or aspiring, writing a one-person show allows you to take control of your career. Instead of relying on casting directors or comedy club owners to provide you with work, having your own show enables you to directly contact venues and festivals throughout the country and across the globe. The cast parties may be quiet, but the risk is low, the cost structure is very favourable and the opportunities are huge.
Drawing on the extensive experience of its teacher, this course will cover both the artistic and the business elements of writing and touring a one-person show: concept, title, structure, narrative arc, marketing pitch, finances, publicity and touring opportunities. The focus will be on how individual students can apply these elements to their own work and ideas, with the aim of producing and touring their own show.
Each workshop will be tailored to meet the interests, talents and ambitions of the students who attend. Consequently, the course content will vary somewhat depending on whether you sign up, and who else joins you. However, if you require specific help with any of the following, this course is for you.
• Stage presence and audience rapport.
• Getting the maximum impact from your jokes, and developing ideas to their full potential
• Translating your existing material into an engaging and commercially viable one-person show
• Touring theatres and festivals internationally
• Using the media to build a public profile and market your comedy
• Writing press releases/festival brochure entries for maximum impact
• ‘Cracking’ the Edinburgh Fringe, without losing €10,000 – maximising audiences, minimising expenses.
About the Teacher
Abie Philbin Bowman has taught comedy workshops, creative writing, and marketing for artists in the Irish Centre for Talented Youth, Trinity College Dublin, Big Smoke Writing Factory, University College Dublin and the Irish Writers Centre.
Abie is also the writer and performer of one of the most successful Irish one-man comedy shows of the decade. ‘Jesus: The Guantanamo Years’ – his debut – took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm. It got rave reviews, completely sold out and was reported by over 30 media outlets, including BBC News, Le Monde and the New York Times. The show then sold out throughout Ireland, as well as touring London’s West End, the USA and Pakistan. (Abie is the only Western stand-up stupid enough to have performed a religious, political comedy in Pakistan during the 2007 State of Emergency).
‘Jesus: The Guantanamo Years’ has since become a top 10 hit on iTunes in Japan and across Europe. Along with his second show, ‘Eco-Friendly Jihad’, Abie has sold out and turned a profit at Edinburgh for three years running. He was dubbed “a rising star” by Time magazine, given his own radio show by i105-107, and boycotted by Ian Paisley’s DUP.
www.AbieLaughs.com
