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Charlene A. Donaghy

  1. UNO
  2. College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media
  3. Writer's Workshop
  4. MFA in Creative Writing Program
  5. Charlene A. Donaghy
Charlene A. Donaghy

Charlene A. Donaghy

  • Fiction and Stage & Screen Mentor
  • MFA in Writing

personal website:
charleneadonaghy.com

Additional Information

Biography

CHARLENE A. DONAGHY is the author of Bones of Home and Other Plays, published by Hansen Publishing Group. Her plays, monologues, and fiction works have been published in Best American Short Plays (3x), Estrogenius Celebration of Female Voices (2x), Best Ten-Minute Plays, 25 *10 Minute Plays for Teens, In the Eye, Louisiana Literary Journal, and Mad River Review (2x), among other publications. Charlene’s stage plays have been produced and awarded nationally in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and other locations, as well as internationally in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Great Britain, and other international locations. Of her writing, Pulitzer & Tony Award Winning Playwright Doug Wright states: “With plays that are intoxicating and mysterious, Donaghy has a gift for finding the truth that lurks below our eccentricities.” Charlene is Founder and Festival Director for the Warner International Playwrights Festival, Producing Consultant for the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and Co-Founder of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education's Judith Royer Award of Excellence in Playwriting. She teaches at the University of Nebraska Omaha's MFA in Creative Writing, as well as UNO’s Department of Theatre. She is a founding member of Boston’s Proscenium Playwrights, and a member of New York’s The 9th Floor Artists’ Collective, The Playwrights Center, Honor Roll!, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and The Dramatists Guild of America where she served as inaugural Connecticut/Western New England Regional Representative. Charlene holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Stage & Screen and Fiction.

Teaching Philosophy

“Make Voyages!  Attempt them!  There’s nothing else!”  So writes Tennessee Williams and I completely agree. Every student is on a voyage, and everything I do as an educator is to encourage you to find your voice, muse, self, bliss, fun, and fulfillment in your art and craft. As a writer you have the joy of knowing words live both on the page and also come alive, breathe, and twist on the stage and on screen with language, song, ideas, and spectacle. You can create anything! We will work together, in true collaborative nature, through discussion, question, thought, and imagination. We will embolden you to develop critical writing and reading skills to express your art and to revel in the heart of who you are as a writer.

"My real-world stage, screen, fiction, publication, and production experiences add invaluable levels of education and writing development for my students. I write every day, energized by my place in our art, whether a first draft or a fiftieth because, eventually, everything comes together, and the voyage is as wondrous as the destination. My teaching philosophy is about that world where craft, practice, and thought mingle with individuality, exploding into something rewarding to the writer and moving to readers and audiences. Finally, I hope that my students recognize my enthusiasm for this voyage that we travel together: there’s nothing else!”

donaghy-charlene-400x600-2022.2022.jpg

Additional Information

Biography

CHARLENE A. DONAGHY is the author of Bones of Home and Other Plays, published by Hansen Publishing Group. Her plays, monologues, and fiction works have been published in Best American Short Plays (3x), Estrogenius Celebration of Female Voices (2x), Best Ten-Minute Plays, 25 *10 Minute Plays for Teens, In the Eye, Louisiana Literary Journal, and Mad River Review (2x), among other publications. Charlene’s stage plays have been produced and awarded nationally in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and other locations, as well as internationally in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Great Britain, and other international locations. Of her writing, Pulitzer & Tony Award Winning Playwright Doug Wright states: “With plays that are intoxicating and mysterious, Donaghy has a gift for finding the truth that lurks below our eccentricities.” Charlene is Founder and Festival Director for the Warner International Playwrights Festival, Producing Consultant for the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and Co-Founder of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education's Judith Royer Award of Excellence in Playwriting. She teaches at the University of Nebraska Omaha's MFA in Creative Writing, as well as UNO’s Department of Theatre. She is a founding member of Boston’s Proscenium Playwrights, and a member of New York’s The 9th Floor Artists’ Collective, The Playwrights Center, Honor Roll!, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and The Dramatists Guild of America where she served as inaugural Connecticut/Western New England Regional Representative. Charlene holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Stage & Screen and Fiction.

Teaching Philosophy

“Make Voyages!  Attempt them!  There’s nothing else!”  So writes Tennessee Williams and I completely agree. Every student is on a voyage, and everything I do as an educator is to encourage you to find your voice, muse, self, bliss, fun, and fulfillment in your art and craft. As a writer you have the joy of knowing words live both on the page and also come alive, breathe, and twist on the stage and on screen with language, song, ideas, and spectacle. You can create anything! We will work together, in true collaborative nature, through discussion, question, thought, and imagination. We will embolden you to develop critical writing and reading skills to express your art and to revel in the heart of who you are as a writer.

"My real-world stage, screen, fiction, publication, and production experiences add invaluable levels of education and writing development for my students. I write every day, energized by my place in our art, whether a first draft or a fiftieth because, eventually, everything comes together, and the voyage is as wondrous as the destination. My teaching philosophy is about that world where craft, practice, and thought mingle with individuality, exploding into something rewarding to the writer and moving to readers and audiences. Finally, I hope that my students recognize my enthusiasm for this voyage that we travel together: there’s nothing else!”

donaghy-charlene-400x600-2022.2022.jpg

Additional Information

Biography Teaching Philosophy

College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media

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