Middle School Playwrights Festival Presented At Avram Theater On May 12

Six short plays written and performed by East End middle school students will be presented at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater on Saturday evening, May 12, as the culminating event of the 2018 Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP) Middle School Playwriting program.

Playwrights for the festival were drawn from YAWP playwriting classes at Bridgehampton School, Pierson Middle School, Ross School and Shelter Island School. The festival is a collaboration between student playwrights, actors and designers who have been taught and mentored by theater and writing professionals affiliated with Stony Brook Southampton’s master of fine arts in creative writing and literature program. Professional directors stage the plays, with subject matter drawn from the students’ own lives.

YAWP works with both middle school and high school students in the development of creative expression and critical thinking through writing, and is an integral part of Stony Brook Southampton’s commitment to its community and to the next generation of readers and writers, according to organizers.

“Dramatic writing and production skills give young people unparalleled lessons in communication and collaboration,” YAWP Executive Director Emma Walton Hamilton said in a statement. “They build confidence, and have a direct impact on young people’s abilities to become engaged and compassionate citizens in later life. This project represents a wonderful synergy between all the creative disciplines and values about which we are passionate.”

Professional writers and teaching artists visit classrooms to lead workshops in an array of writing disciplines, including playwriting, screenwriting, poetry, personal essay and fiction. This spring’s YAWP Middle School Playwriting Residency comprised more than 100 students. One play from each participating class was then selected for production in the festival.

“Learning dramatic writing is a great way to improve overall writing skills, but what we’re really teaching them is that each student has a ‘voice,’ and we want to hear it,” said Will Chandler, YAWP’s program director.

The YAWP Middle School Playwriting Festival takes place on Saturday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at the Avram Theater, in the Fine Arts Building on the campus of Stony Brook Southampton, 39 Tuckahoe Road, Southampton. Tickets for the performance are free. For reservations and more information, email william.chandler@stonybrook.edu.