By Gabrielle Harradine
Special to the Daily Press

MAIN STREET A management consultant by trade, Paul Kuzniar has been trying to figure out what to do with “Cell Hell,” the unwritten play that’s been stuck rolling around in his mind for the past few years.

On Tuesday, inside the historic, Greek Revival facade of the Ocean Park Branch Library, he might just have found a way to get it all down on paper.

The library’s newly renovated community room hosted a free workshop on playwriting. It was the first of six meetings instructing scribes of all levels about the ins and outs of penning plays.

The instructor, Anna Stramese, is a big fan of the Ocean Park library.

“She wants to use this new space well,” said Ceila Carroll, the library’s branch manager.

Stramese has an extensive background in theatre and has taught both playwriting and screenwriting at the University of Southern California and in France. She also has experience in acting, including studying at the Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio in Los Angeles.

“Working with actors and writers is a passion of mine,” said Stramese.

Although, Stramese has done work in both film and theatre, she wanted to see if there was “a desire for writers in the area to focus on playwriting rather than screenwriting”.

The six-week long workshop has a capacity of 16 students, with about 10 attending Tuesday’s opening session.

Phyllis Grossman, another writer in attendance, said she had felt very disconnected from her community and went to the library to reconnect. She found a lot of resources there, including the playwriting workshop. Grossman has also taken writing classes at Emeritus College, a college for seniors on Second Street, and said she’s always loved writing.

“Somewhere in my writing, I have the starting of a play,” declared Grossman.

The playwriting workshop is structured into six parts. Tuesday’s dealt with imagination and the creative process of story. The five remaining meetings will focus on character and place, the first moment, believable actions, playable dialogue, and crisis to climax, respectively.

While the workshop is free, attendees must register.

For more information, call (310) 392-3804.

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