Kitty Dubin is no stranger to the stage, or the page.

Dubin is celebrating her 20th year as a playwriting professor at Oakland University by having one of her very own plays produced at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre (the JET) in West Bloomfield.

Dubin’s play, “Rights of Passage,” which opens the JET’s 2016-2017 season, is a series of short plays about Jewish rites of passage, but the conflicts that arise in each short play are universal.

“You don’t have to be Jewish to follow what’s going on to relate to the characters in the conflict,” Dubin said.

The JET’s website touts, “With her trademark blend of laugh out loud comedy and heartfelt drama, Dubin explores the defining moments in the journey of life from birth to death.”

She said that having her play produced at the JET, where she has been the playwright-in-residence since 2006, is “tremendously validating.”

It’s been a long road for Dubin to share her passion for playwriting.

She approached Oakland exclusively in the 1990’s to start a college playwriting class.

“I felt that with my knowledge of playwriting and my real-life experience, I would be the perfect person to teach playwriting,” Dubin said, “But it took me two to three years to convince the powers that be that this was a good idea.”

That “real-life experience” Dubin is talking about includes numerous productions of her plays around the country, along with teaching playwriting courses at Cranbrook and Macomb Community College, along with weekend workshops, such as the Young Playwrights Program. She also has a master’s degree in English and a postgraduate degree in stage, screen and television writing, both from Wayne State University.

She started teaching a two-credit playwriting class in the theatre department in 1997, after getting her foot in the door a couple of years prior. The class was expanded to a four-credit class and cross-listed as an English and a theatre class. Due to the popularity of the class, an advanced class was added to further playwright training.

Since then, her students have had over 100 plays done through staged readings, performed in festivals or produced for local theatres. Some have gone on to win awards.

“I’ve had many magical classes and wonderful students,” Dubin said.

Dubin advises students who want to go into playwriting to educate themselves about the craft.

“Don’t assume that just because you’ve seen plays means that you can write plays,” she said.

Dubin also says that having a writers’ group for support and feedback is very important, because writing can be very “isolating.”

And that’s what Dubin strives to provide in her playwriting classes.

Students who are interested can register for playwriting as either an English class (ENG 308) or theatre (THA 340). The only prerequisite is WRT 160 with a grade of 2.0 or higher. If students wish to continue their playwriting education, they can register for Advanced Playwriting with the instructor’s permission.

“Rights of Passage” premieres Oct. 20 and runs to Nov. 13. For tickets and more information, visit  http://www.jettheatre.org.