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June 2020
The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World
Member Price: 100 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 14 Instructor: Almeta Whitis Age Group: 10-13 Our environment is vital to our very existence. Indigenous Peoples have known and passed on this important fact—we are neither separate from nor superior to Mother Nature; rather, we’re one tiny yet pivotal part of a vast picture. In this camp we will read, research, write about, and discuss the ways in which people and systems of power have impacted our Earth, and…
Find out more »Create A Modern Day Radio Drama
Member Price: $105 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on June 28 Instructors: Rashida Burch-Washington & John Watson Age Group: 12+ Imagine if the Twilight Zone or War of the Worlds was on the air today. In this weeklong camp, we will write and produce a thrilling audio play. We will work together to author a script, learn voice techniques, create sound effects that heighten the mood, and use audio production equipment to perform our creation live at the end of…
Find out more »July 2020
Acting Exploration
Member Price: $83 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 5 Instructor: Alexa Scott-Flaherty Age Group: 7-9 Do you enjoy pretending to be other people, putting yourself into someone else’s life and experiences? Through games and age-appropriate scene work, young actors will investigate the various tools used in developing character work for performance. Students will form a cohesive ensemble and learn to trust themselves and each other. By exploring different characters, stories, and activities, students will build skills related to…
Find out more »Musical Theater “Book Club”
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 21 Instructor: Katherine Varga Age Group: 14+ Think of this as a book club where, instead of discussing novels, we discuss musicals. From Sondheim to Six, musical theatre can be more than just jazz hands and smiles; many musicals are rich with social commentary and brilliant uses of language. We’ll learn about the history of musical theatre and talk about recent trends in the industry, especially the rise of musicals…
Find out more »Fiction in a Flash
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 21 Instructor: Rylie Day Age Group: 12-14 How many words do you need to create a compelling story? Fewer than you think! Flash fiction is the art of crafting a story in which every word is essential. Looking to examples from authors of all backgrounds, in this camp, we will learn about the elements of fiction writing and how they relate to this unique form of storytelling. We will learn…
Find out more »Tomar espacio, Hacer espacio: narración a través de la poesía en dos idiomas/Take Space, Make Space: Storytelling through Dual-Language Poetry
Precios de Miembros/Member Price: 125 Fecha Limite para Registarse/Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 21 La Instructora/Instructor: Neyda Colón-DiMaria Grupo de edad/Age Group: 10-13 Todos tenemos una historia y ahora necesitamos unirnos para contarlas porque cada cuento importa. Durante este programa vamos a ‘tomar espacio, hacer espacio’ por la poesía para contar la historia de nosotros, de nuestra culturas, y nuestra gente. Al fin del programa, los estudiantes van a mostrar, en forma de poema, el tema central siendo…
Find out more »Writing a Fiction Series
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 21 Instructor: Caren Barth Age Group: 10-13 What is better than seeing your favorite series stretching out along the library shelf, going on and on? What beats the thrill of a favorite author releasing a new novel? How about writing your own serial adventure? We will start with strong beginnings that hook and ground the reader, and consider the best ways to give your readers background, depending on whether this…
Find out more »Louder than Social Media: Writing Creatively in the Digital Age
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 21 Instructor: Jessica Merrills Age Group: 14+ The saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Now, during the new decade of 2020, so many of us have created the very picture we want others to see on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and even YouTube. How authentic is this picture? What stories are these images and posts telling? Through a series of thoughtful writing prompts, we will explore the superficial…
Find out more »Novel Tools
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 12 Instructor: Wendy Low Age Group: 12-14 Whether you aspire to write fantasy, science fiction, historical, or contemporary realist novels, you’ll want to develop the skills and discover the tools that successful fiction writers use to bring their stories to life. We will focus on examples and exercises that help develop characters, setting, and atmosphere; choosing point of view; and creating and sustaining interest through conflicts. We also will look…
Find out more »Me, Myself, and I: Exploring the Creative Self
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 28 Instructor: Gary DeWitt Marshall Age Group: Teen This brand-new workshop, led by an acclaimed director and actor, allows for exciting exploration and skill-building through the world of theatre. With theatre-based games, activities, and exercises that combine writing and acting, students develop character-building skills that focus on self-expression. Dramatic arts can strengthen character and support an improved self-concept when providing students opportunities to work in a liberated, non-judgmental environment. The…
Find out more »Visible and Invisible Characters: Reading and Writing Disability
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 28 Instructor: Kimberly Morgan Age Group: 8-11 Popular books like Wonder, El Deafo, The Hunger Games, Cinder, and the Percy Jackson Series all portray characters with disabilities and tell a story about how the community interacts with these characters. Did you know that 1 in 5 people has a disability? Some disabilities you can see on the outside, some you can’t. In this workshop, we will focus on how disabilities…
Find out more »Percy Jackson’s Greek Myth Theatre
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 28 Instructor: Marna Rossi Age Group: 8-11 When New York middle school student Percy Jackson finds out he is a Demi-god, the Greek myths come alive in a way he never before imagined! We’ll explore his adventures and learn about myths, Greek gods, heroes, and modern-day Demi-god heroes. We’ll create our own heroes; act out brief role-plays based on the adventures of Demi-god heroes; learn about dramatic action, style, character,…
Find out more »Every Day Heroes: Creating Characters who Fight for Justice
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on June 28 Instructor: Tracy Cretelle Age Group: 12-14 Do you believe that anyone with a desire to fight for justice can do extraordinary things when they set their mind to it? Do you have a passion to help others, and a desire to use your creative writing skills to help guide others on a path toward justice? We will explore developing characters who advocate for citizens' rights, solve mysteries, help their…
Find out more »Classical Monologue Intensive
Member Price: $83 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on June 12 Instructor: Sara Bickweat Penner Age Group: Teen Are you a high-school student who is working on material for college auditions? Are you an actor who wants to expand your rep and experience by adding a classic piece? Do you love Shakespeare and want to work on a new piece? Is it your first time exploring classics and you need some guidance? This camp is for you. Come experience the…
Find out more »Magical Doorways and Portals
Member Price: $42 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 12 Instructor: Alexa Scott-Flaherty Age Group: 5-7 Stories, books, and poems are our first doorway into a magical world as young people, and this camp will celebrate the MAGIC of going into our imaginations and into imaginary worlds. By exploring such stories as Malcolm Mitchell's The Magician's Hat, Mac Barnett's Extra Yarn, Grace Lin's A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Nancy Tupper-Ling's The Yin-Yang Sisters and the Dragon Frightful, and…
Find out more »Hogwarts Express: Harry Potter’s First 4 Years
Member Price: $162 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 19 Instructors: Chris Fanning & guests Age Group: 8-10 "Come immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter! This brand-new workshop is for young wizards and witches who haven’t yet read the full series. With dramatic read-alouds, creative projects, and visits from special professors, students will have a chance to dig into the first four books of the series in a supportive environment. Using the Floo Network we'll Zoom together…
Find out more »Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing: World Building with Today’s Social Issues
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on July 5 Instructor: Melissa Michal Slocum Age Group: 14+ Are you passionate about important social topics and silenced voices? Can you see robots taking over the world, or creatures trying to steal each other’s land? Science fiction and fantasy are generative spaces for social justice dialogue. Considering such writers as Octavia Butler, M.K. Jemison, and Margaret Atwood, we will be inspired to write stories that immerse readers in worlds that illuminate…
Find out more »Write a Short Play!
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 19 Instructor: Katherine Varga Age Group: 12-14 Do you love theater? Have you always wished you could see the characters and stories in your head come to life in front of you? Then this class is for you! Through games, writing exercises, and reader's theatre, we'll learn the basics of playwriting and write short plays to be performed over Zoom! Scholarships Available
Find out more »Writing Movies
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 19 Instructor: Michael Galvin Age Group: 14+ All the best stuff happens before the cameras roll! In this camp, we’ll talk about what makes screenplays work, and learn basic techniques by focusing on structure, story, characters, dialogue, and format. We’ll watch scenes from different movie genres, and break down their scripts to see how the writer made it all happen. Students should come in with ideas for a plot or…
Find out more »Fabulism: Writing the Absurd as Real
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on July 5 Instructor: Melissa Michal Slocum Age Group: 12-14 Do you like creating weird stories? Are you interested in odd plots, characters, and places that you don’t see in other books? Do you like inserting absurdity into real-life situations? Have you ever wanted to write a modern-day fairy tale? Then you like fabulist writing, where the weird enters our human world. In this workshop, we will experiment with different earthly settings…
Find out more »Leaders, Rebels, and Innovators
Member Price: $42 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 19 Instructor: Alexa Scott-Flaherty Age Group: 5-7 Be a change-maker! We all have the power to make the world a better place, one action at a time. And stories, true and fictional, have the power to guide us. This camp will help us learn about the heroes among us, at all levels of society and in different times, and encourage us to stretch our “social good” muscles. We’ll learn about…
Find out more »Shakespeare’s Comedy Camp
Member Price: $83 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 19 Instructor: Sara Bickweat Penner Age Group: 9-12 Calling young thespians! Are you a world builder, a lover of language, a reader with a flare for expression and imagination? We’ll spend the week walking into the world of William Shakespeare, exploring his life and times, and unlocking the secrets to his use of language. We’ll play theatre games and bring to life wildly fun stories. Join this workshop to cook…
Find out more »Dumbledore’s Army
Member Price: $215 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 26 Instructor: Christine Green Age Group: 14+ Are you considering a career as an auror? Do you look up to the members of the Order of the Phoenix? Do you wish you had more opportunities to gather with like-minded wizards and witches? We will use the Floo Network to Zoom you into Hogwarts for activities and advanced study, which will include Wands, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Magical Creatures, History…
Find out more »Hogwarts Academy
Member Price: $215 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on July 26 Instructors: Chris Fanning, Rylie Day, Katherine Varga, Alexa Scott-Flaherty, Tracy Cretelle, Tracy Nemecek, Jamie Bozek, Sara Bickweat Penner, Michelle LaVarnway, Ben Callahan, Sarah Brown, Paul Moyer Age Group: 8-13 Immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter as we use the Floo Network to Zoom you into Hogwarts classes! Throughout the week, students will attend Hogwarts classes such as Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Transfiguration, Divination, History of…
Find out more »August 2020
Writing Characters: Heroes, Villains, and Everybody in Between
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on July 19 Instructor: Alex Sanchez Age Group: 14+ What makes Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, or Twilight’s Bella and Edward so real and beloved? Bringing characters to life in words can feel almost magical. We'll create some of that magic through fun exercises, discussions, videos, and lots of writing. You’ll learn to develop unique, dynamic, and passionate characters from the inside out, making them as vivid as your best friend or worst…
Find out more »Stand Up for Young Comedians
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 2 Instructor: Julie Donofrio Age Group: 12+ Have you ever seen a stand up comedy routine, a comedic monologue, or a funny speech and thought, “That looks like fun”? It is fun, and now you can try it at SummerWrite! In this camp, students will be introduced to stand up comedy and given a brief introduction to other types of live comedic performance. We will learn different techniques to add…
Find out more »Citizens: A Conversation on Race, Ethnicity, Identity, and Democracy
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on July 19 Instructor: Almeta Whitis Age Group: 14+ Using Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen: An American Lyric as a jumping off point, we will engage in discussion and writing around racial identity and social justice issues. We will examine the question of what makes a person the “other.” Through open, ongoing dialogue and an arts process, students will create original stories of everyday encounters with nuances of racism and identity to facilitate…
Find out more »Comedy Improv
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 2 Instructor: Julie Donofrio Age Group: 11-13 Have you ever seen a comedy improv show, or the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and thought, “That looks like fun!” It is fun, and here is your chance to see for yourself! Comedy improvisation is the art of acting without a script. You will try many theatre games, some with the use of audience suggestions, with results that are always…
Find out more »It Could Happen Here: Mixing Reality and Fantasy
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 2 Instructor: Wendy Low Age Group: 10-13 Everything seems normal…on first appearance. Your main character seems like just another kid, with the usual hopes and anxieties, off to just another summer day camp, until another kind of world shows through the surface. Using maps, blueprints, photgraphs, and virtual tours we will find the magic in the historic Writers & Books building and the eccentric Neighborhood of the Arts, which will…
Find out more »Percy Jackson’s Magic Pen
Member Price: $128 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 9 Instructor: Wendy Low Age Group: 9-12 Percy Jackson is mighty with his sword; his creator, Rick Riordan, is mighty with his pen. Try the writing methods Riordan uses to weave a siren spell. You will need to prepare by reading the first book of the series, The Lightning Thief. In class we will mine it for models of how to develop vivid characters and hold readers across chapter breaks,…
Find out more »Fantastic Beasts 101
Member Price: 135 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on July 26 Instructor: Chris Fanning Age Group: 8-11 Ever caught a Bowtruckle poking around your backyard? Marveled at a Merperson in Lake Ontario? Discovered a Doxy in your desk drawer? Yes or no, it’s high time you brushed up on your magizoology notes so you’re prepared when the time comes. Welcome to Fantastic Beasts 101. In this camp, we’ll discuss the fantastic beasts from JK Rowling’s magical world. We’ll travel around…
Find out more »Teen Comedy Improv
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 9 Instructor: Julie Donofrio Age Group: 14+ Have you ever seen the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and thought, “I’d like to do that!” Here’s your chance. Comedy improvisation is the art of acting without a script. In this camp, we will try many theatre games, some with the use of audience suggestions, and create scenes that are entertaining and often hilarious. We will learn the craft of…
Find out more »I Wonder: Exploring Eternal Questions
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 16 Instructor: Almeta Whitis Age Group: 14+ Do you enjoy arguing in defense of your ideas? Are you endlessly curious? What about searching for what lies beneath the surface? If so, this is the camp for you! Become a philosopher, learning how to debate and write creatively. Your personal journal will help capture your impressions and refine your philosophy. Activities include invigorating discussions, meaningful writing prompts, all in a setting…
Find out more »Find a Mystery
Member Price: $83 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 16 Instructor: Caren Barth Age Group: 7-9 There's something mysterious about Writers & Books. Was the building designed by a man who talked to ghosts? Where does the staircase go, and what's with the little door at the top? What happened to the cracker I left on the mantle last month? It's a mystery! Whether your favorite sleuth is Nancy Drew, Herculeah Jones, Dink Duncan, or Encyclopedia Brown, you're sure…
Find out more »Poetry Rocks!
Member Price: $83 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 16 Instructor: Marna Rossi Age Group: 7-9 Learn about sound imagineering and imagineer poems that can rock, dance, and sing to the beat! We’ll read poetry with sounds we hear made in the world around us from people, animals, objects, robots, and vehicles. We’ll explore rhythms and syllables that vibrate, ring and resonate; learn about sound effects in letters, syllables, words, and phrases; and make our poems come alive. With…
Find out more »World Building
Member Price: 125 Deadline to Register: 11:59 pm on August 2 Instructor: Emma Lynge Age Group: 12-14 Are you passionate about important social topics and silenced voices? Can you see robots taking over the world, or creatures trying to steal each other’s land? Science fiction and fantasy are generative spaces for social justice dialogue. Considering such writers as Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemison, and Margaret Atwood, we will be inspired to write stories that immerse readers in worlds that illuminate today’s…
Find out more »College Essay Prep
Member Price: $125 Deadline to Register: 5 pm on August 23 Instructor: Christine Green Age Group: High school seniors College-bound students can get an early start on their Common Application personal essay. Students may be asking themselves, “Where do I start? How can I make this essay the best it can be?” This workshop offers rising seniors a supportive, creative, and fun environment in which they can draft their Common App essay with the help of a professional writer and…
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