Through Line Strategy Pod
Cheryl King joined Brionne on the Through Line Strategy Pod.
Watch on YouTubeMedia
Off Stage.
Still Loud.
Cheryl King's book, workshops, podcast, and press, the work that happens beyond the stage.
The Book
Writing Your Heart Out
User-friendly exercises from Cheryl's writing workshop. Twenty-five sessions. One big table. A lifetime of teaching distilled into a book you can actually use.
In 2000, Cheryl King hand-stapled a hundred booklets and gave them away to the actors, writers, and improvisers at her table in New York City. Twenty-five years later, those exercises have become Writing Your Heart Out: a practical, joyful guide to generating real dramatic material, one timed writing at a time.
Built for solo performers developing original material, and just as useful for playwrights, novelists, and screenwriters, this book offers:
- 25 complete sessions, each with a warm-up, writing exercise, and reflection questions
- A signature monologue-into-dialogue technique that lets characters reveal themselves
- Sessions on character traits, secret shame, contradiction, sensory memory, belief, and dramatic arc
- Thirteen real writing examples, including the timed writing that became the seed of King's novel Twisted Flower
- Guidance for working alone or in a group
Whether you're building a solo show, deepening a novel, or just remembering why you used to love writing, Writing Your Heart Out delivers exactly what its subtitle promises: enough structure to support you, enough freedom to help you fly.
“Cheryl King is the matriarch of the Off-Off Broadway Solo Show scene.”The New York TimesGet the Book on Amazon
The Workshop
Writing Your Heart Out, the Workshop
Cheryl leads the Writing Your Heart Out workshop, currently meeting Wednesdays, 10 AM to 1 PM PST, on Zoom. The group ran weekly in New York City and Los Angeles from 1999 to 2015. Since Cheryl left New York in 2015, it has continued as a national group of writers, now meeting online.
Cheryl is preparing to teach a second weekly writing workshop via Zoom or locally in Santa Rosa. Interested parties should reach out via the Contact page.
Coming October 2026
A New Podcast,
in the Works
Cheryl King and Marlene Nichols are launching a podcast on the writing and performance of solo shows. Both have spent decades writing, performing, and teaching in the field, and the show will follow a planned first season of twelve episodes, offering tips and advice on every stage of the process: writing, development, and performance, with audience questions addressed in upcoming episodes.
Recording begins in October 2026. Title to be announced.
About Marlene Nichols
An international performing artist, Marlene's original plays and solo shows have appeared at REDCAT (Los Angeles), the L.A. Women's Theater Festival, Stage Left Studio (NYC), American Theater of Harlem (NYC), and on a sailing ship in the Arctic Circle. As a story producer, she has produced for Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, AOL Studios, and the Discovery Channel. A dedicated teacher, she has led classes at CalArts, NYU, and engAGE, as well as Strong Words' storytelling classes. She holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA from the American University of Paris.
Press & Appearances
Hear Cheryl Elsewhere
No Cry, Just Laughs
Cheryl King appeared as a guest on the No Cry, Just Laughs podcast.
The Drive with Daedalus Howell
Cheryl King is a regular guest on The Drive, Wine Country Radio's weekday afternoon show, airing 3 to 6 PM on 95.5 FM and hosted by Daedalus Howell.
Visit The DriveRead
Cheryl King on Substack
Cheryl writes about the craft of writing coaching, playwriting, and solo performance on Substack, along with notes from her own novel-in-progress.
Read on Substack