Classes & Workshops For Youth

Creative Writing Day Camps & Workshops
for Children & Teens

For details about SummerWrite 2002, including registration fees, see the SummerWrite 2002 General Information Page.

Week 5: July 29–August 2

Ages: 9–12

Pages & Stages (second of two weeks)

• Instructor: Paula Marchese [ bio ]
• Ages: 9–12
• Mornings, 9–12 a.m., two weeks, July 22–26 & July 29–August 2,

Write yourself into the spotlight!

Using theatre games, writing exercises and stories of old, you will learn the elements of dramatic writing and performance. Each class will combine theatre games and writing exercises. Over the course of two weeks you will develop and cast your play.

On the last day, you will present your play to an audience of family and friends.

Ages: 9–16

ARTWalk: The Many Faces of Poetry

• Instructor: Donna Marbach [ bio ]
• Ages: 9–16
• Afternoons, 1–4 p.m., July 29–August 2
• Note:
  • This class has a slightly higher limit of 16
  • It will have two assistants and can accommodate a wide age range of ages

Whether your favorite poet is Shakespeare or the Backstreet Boys, this workshop could be the adventure you've been waiting for!

• Ever want to write a rap song?
• Or a tongue twister?
• Design a special card for someone?
• Tell a friend how you feel deep down?

These are just some of poetry's many faces.

We will use the resources of the ARTWalk in the Neighborhood of the Arts as a path to look at poetry and verse in its widest possible interpretation—from nursery rhymes to serious poetry, both "classical" and modern.

On our walks, we will write from visual art objects and nature and enjoy different kinds of poetry, from different cultures. We will discuss what makes a poem, exploring image and metaphor. We will listen for the music of poetry, observing techniques of rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia. We will learn to write in different poetic formats, such as Haiku, List Poems, Acrostics, and Clerihews. We will also learn to write in different places: cafés and gardens. We will look at ways to use poetry and verse in everyday life.

If you start now, you'll have a lifetime of image, rhythm and rhyme ahead of you!

Ages: 13–16

Dramatic Characters: Inside-Out (second of two weeks)

• Instructor: Judy Molner [ bio ]
• Ages: 13–16
• Mornings, 9 a.m.–Noon, two weeks, July 22–26 &. July 29–August 2

The best actors "dive into" their characters fully, and create a WHOLE person on stage or screen.

When we watch this kind of acting work, we are seeing a REAL, living, breathing human being who happens to be in extraordinary circumstances, which is "the story." But what makes this person seem so real to us is the fact that the actor has created an entire life for his or her character.

In this workshop, we will embark on an in-depth character process journey. We will explore a character's whole life, physically, vocally, through writing and researching, as well as through a multitude of acting and improvisational exercises. Students will take on specific characters of their choice from dramatic or other literature, and we will bring them to life.

The culmination of our work will be a performance of these characters through dramatic monologues and/or scenes.

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