CGO Institute – DipMTW Who are you ?

Every person considering the Diploma in Musical Theatre Writing will have their own story and their own reason for considering the course.  You will understand that this is a 20 week course involving collaboration with other members of the cohort. This synthesis of widely different pathways, passions, lived experience, and creative experience is what we want to build on.

Experience suggests participants will be drawn from one of the following groups.

  1. practicing musical theatre writers, composers, lyricists, playwrights, bookwriters working freelance.
  2. graduates from a University programme who believe musical theatre writing is a career to pursue whether you have studed music or writing at undergrad level, or gone down a different path (For example you may have studied Marine Biology but you were an essential part of the writing/creative process for the University societies or the town.)
  3. those who wrote music or plays/musicals at school, never went to University, got a job which paid the bills, knew they needed to refind the creative path, have some arts, fringe, project creation experience and now need 20 weeks collaboration and immersing to .
  4. those re-training who may have been performers, musicians, or engaged in a related industry and now need an intense training regime to get re-launched.
  5. those thinking of doing an MFA/MA but would like a kick-start or intensive immersion in the subject area first.

It is envisaged that the Diploma cohort will be a mix of the above. You may or may not fit one of these areas. If you don’t PLEASE still contact us.  If you are determined to be a Musical Theatre writer, and or to change the form. then we want to hear from you:

This course is about specificity, individuality, collaboration, determination, constructive critique and self knowledge, some ‘tools’ and few ‘rules’ and gathering a group of people who can dream and realise visions we have not yet seen. We are not a fast track to a Broadway or West End hit. There is no fast track. It is a long hard road from blank page to spotlit stage. There is a vast global audience for pieces of work and experiences which harness the emotion of music and the power of words, or the emotion of words and the power of music. I can’t wait to get in a room with 12 determined, generous, inspiring travellers” Chris Grady

Places are limited. We will take a maximum of 16 students (probably 12 in the first course), balanced between words and music. We want to get to know you, work in a single classroom (in the cloud) and ensure every voice is heard.  At this time we don’t know the competition for places. We have developed an application process that seeks to allow the widest range of applicants to be considered.

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