Stony Brook Southampton Expands Its Writing Programs

Stony Brook Southampton’s MFA in Writing and Literature Program is pleased to announce two new initiatives for 2009: a Playwriting Conference as part of the acclaimed Southampton Writers Conference, and the Young American Writers Project, an interdisciplinary writing program for middle and high school students.

Playwriting Conference

The new Playwriting Conference will be directed by Stephen Hamilton and Emma Walton Hamilton, long-time theater professionals and co-founders of Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre. The conference will run concurrently with the Children's Literature, Southampton Writers, and Screenwriting conferences, in three sessions from July 8th- August 2nd, 2009, and will provide established and emerging playwrights the opportunity to develop work in an intensive, collaborative laboratory setting in partnership with professional actors and directors. In addition to the labs, conference participants will attend play readings and seminars led by noted playwrights, directors, and producers.

This new Playwriting Conference offers participants the unique opportunity to collaborate with Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST). An award-winning theater based in New York City with over thirty years experience in the development of new plays, EST members include the industry's most esteemed actors, playwrights, directors and designers. Members of EST will be in residence throughout the three sessions as resources for playwrights, performing works in progress and providing feedback. Three graduate credits are available to eligible students in each conference.  

"When Stony Brook acquired the Southampton campus, we promised to build real strength in the arts," Robert Reeves, director of the MFA in Writing and Literature program said. "We are proud to be able to carry out that mandate by broadening and strengthening our programs. We are also thrilled that Emma and Steve accepted our invitation to become the newest members of the MFA program. They share our mission and our vision for the arts community on the East End of Long Island."

Stephen Hamilton, a producer, actor, director, teacher, and theater consultant, co-founded Bay Street Theatre in 1991 with Emma Walton Hamilton and Sybil Christopher. For seventeen years, Steve served as the Theatre's Executive Director and produced over 50 productions, including numerous World and American Premieres, many of which transferred to Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters around the country. Among his directing credits are the World Premiere of Ira Lewis’ Gross Points, starring Alec Baldwin. A long-time member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, Steve served as director of its annual Summer Conference and was a faculty member at the Ensemble's Institute for Professional Training.

"As passionate advocates for the arts and education, Emma and I are delighted to have been invited to launch this new venture," Hamilton said. “We are particularly excited about the opportunity to support new work for the theater and to join one of the country’s premiere MFA programs."

Emma Walton Hamilton is a theater professional and arts educator, as well as a best-selling author and editor. As a co-founder of Bay Street, she served as the Theatre’s Co-Artistic Director for thirteen years. Until 2008 she was Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences, and spearheaded the Young Playwrights Program in area schools, as well as Kidstreet, the Theatre's performance series for young audiences. Walton Hamilton has written sixteen children's books in partnership with her mother, actress Julie Andrews, and serves as Editorial Director for The Julie Andrews Collection publishing program. Her latest book, a solo venture, is entitled Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment.

Young American Writers Project

In addition to the new Playwriting Conference, Stony Brook Southampton's MFA in Writing and Literature program announces the establishment of the Young American Writers Project (YAWP), an integral part of the university’s commitment to Long Island middle school and high school students. The Young American Writers Project is dedicated to mentoring young people in the development of creative expression and critical thinking through writing. "In naming our program ‘YAWP’,” Reeves said, “we hope to summon the spirit of Walt Whitman, that Long Island teacher, journalist, poet—and restless seeker of the quintessential American voice—who first sounded his ‘barbaric yawp’ a century and a half ago."

The inaugural YAWP program, focusing on playwriting, will be offered to middle schoolers in the spring of 2009. The YAWP curriculum calls for teaching artists to visit designated classrooms twice weekly during a two-month period, guiding students to create and develop their own plays. Students will learn the basic elements of dramatic writing: how to develop ideas, characters, themes, dialogue and scenes. One play from each participating class will be produced at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater in April of 2009. Among participating schools in the inaugural YAWP program for 2009 are: Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, Shelter Island, and Eastport South Manor. Several other schools are currently in contract negotiations to acquire the program. Curricula are now being developed to encompass other disciplines represented in the MFA program, including essay writing, poetry, screenwriting and fiction. Beginning in Fall 2009, all of these YAWP disciplines will be available to high schools.

“The Young American Writers Project gives us a chance to give back to a community that has so faithfully supported us over the years,” Reeves said. “It’s a wonderful way for us to reach—and to help shape— the next generation of American writers, as well as an ideal way to offer training and teaching experience as teaching artists for our very talented graduates and graduate students.”

The Young American Writers Project will be administrated by Emma Walton Hamilton as Executive Director and Will Chandler as Program Director. Will Chandler, an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Nicholl Fellowship screenwriter, was formerly the Education Director and a Teaching Artist for Bay Street Theatre. In addition to writing a number of screenplays, he has been a story analyst/script doctor for Sony Pictures, Jim Henson Films, CBS and Viacom. He also worked on dozens of projects for ABC, CBS, NBC and HBO. “I am deeply honored to play a part in Southampton’s MFA in Writing and Literature program’s commitment to young writers through this important project,” Chandler said.

For curriculum development and program design, the YAWP directors will draw on the substantial strengths of the Stony Brook Southampton MFA faculty, including novelist and MFA director Robert Reeves; author and Distinguished University Professor Roger Rosenblatt; recent Whiting Award-winning poet Julie Sheehan; best-selling memoirist and editor-in-chief of The Southampton Review, Lou Ann Walker; and screenwriter and Emmy award-winning producer Annette Handley Chandler.

“Dramatic writing and production skills give young people unparalleled lessons in communication and collaboration,” Emma Walton Hamilton said. “It enriches their confidence, and has a direct impact on their ability to become engaged and compassionate citizens in later life. This project represents a wonderful synergy between all the creative disciplines and values about which I am passionate.”

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