KINGSTON, R.I. —Nov. 3, 2023—Steve Kaplan, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after comedy consultants, will conduct a comedy workshop at the University of Rhode Island on Monday, Nov. 6 at 1:30 p.m. The workshop, which is free and open to the public, will be in room 402 of Lippitt Hall, 5 Lippitt Road.

The public workshop kicks off a weeklong visit by Kaplan as part of URI’s Distinguished Visiting Artists Program. During the week of Nov. 6-10, Kaplan will visit 12 classes in URI’s Film/Media, Professional and Public Writing, and English Departments, in addition to conducting one-on-one sessions with students.

“I read Steve’s books and was able to work with him this past spring and summer,” said Mary Healey Jamiel, a professor of film/media and communication studies. “We felt that inviting him to our classrooms would ignite students’ imaginations and enhance their capacities as creators and critics, empowering them to understand comedy from the inside out.”

In addition to having taught at UCLA, New York University, Yale, and other top universities, Kaplan has consulted and taught workshops at HBO, DreamWorks, Disney, Aardman Animation, NBC-Universal’s Writers on the Verge, and others. He is the author of two books: The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero’s Journey.

Kaplan was also co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, where he developed writers such as Peter Tolan (Analyze This, The Larry Sanders Show), writer and producer David Crane (Friends), writer/producer Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty, Will & Grace), Michael Patrick King (Sex and The City, And Just Like That), David Ives (Venus in Fur), and introduced such performers as Lewis Black, Mercedes Ruehl, Oliver Platt, and Nathan Lane.

Jamiel says she looks forward to the insights Kaplan will share with her students.

“Most aspects of comedy are not normally taught in narrative filmmaking courses,” said Jamiel, who worked with Rebecca Romanow, chair of film/media, to bring Kaplan to URI. “We hope students will come away with an understanding of principles such as Comedic Character, Comedic Structure, and Comic Premise, to name a few. Ideally, students will leave their one-on-one sessions with Steve next week feeling enlightened and empowered to practice some of these principles in their current projects.”

The Distinguished Visiting Artists Program aims to provide students, faculty, and the community at large with opportunities to cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation of the arts in contemporary culture. The program facilitates critical discourse with artists of national and international recognition and develops meaningful ongoing collaborations.

Kaplan’s visit is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Harrington School of Communication and Media, the Film/Media, Communication Studies, English, and Professional and Public Writing Departments