If your middle schoolers gets really inspired after participating in the Teen Poetry Contest in my earlier post, then NC State University has a summer camp that might be right up their alley. The Young Writers' Workshop, sponsored by the NC State College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of English, is a two-week, nonresidential summer camp with daily afternoon activities to help students in late elementary and middle school to develop their creative writing abilities.
The students spend two and a half hours on campus each afternoon with lessons on four different tracks: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and drama (each students lists their preferences, and are placed in two different areas). Established professional writers, most of whom also teach at area colleges or high schools, give lectures, assign writing activities, put students into small groups to discuss or create something together, or work with students one-on-one on their writing.
The students-to-teacher is kept low (a maximum of 12 students per instructor) to assure that all writers get individual attention. The teen writers get instruction in such creative writing components as plot, character development, conflict, action, and more. On the final day, students invite friends and families to celebrate the creativity of the group through a public reading of the work they have produced; they also get to take home a journal of work created by themselves and their peers.
The Teen Writers' Workshop costs $250, and is open to rising 4th through 8th graders. They are now accepting applications, which require students to express what they hope to achieve through their participation as well as to submit up to two pages of their current creative writing. The deadline for applying is Monday, June 3.
For more information, check out their website or contact the program director, Laura Giovanelli, at lbgiovan@ncsu.edu.
Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Monday, April 1, 2013
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Jungal Book
The weekends are often times we catch up on arts and cultural classes. Last weekend it was art and poetry; this weekend it is drama.
Today we went to see the Raleigh Little Theater production of Jungal Book, an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's book, The Jungle Book. This is RLT's 75th year of community theater, which is certainly something to celebrate. Another thing to celebrate about RLT is that they have a wonderful educational program, operating a number of classes for children from preschoolers through teenagers throughout the year as well as an entire calendar of family-appropriate plays (of which Jungal Book is one of the four regular productions this year).
I have to begin by admitting our bias. One of my son's good friends, a boy whom we homeschool with, is playing the lead role of Mowgli, the human boy who is raised by wolves. So we were pre-disposed to like the show. Even so, I think it was a marvelous show. The cast, many of whom were young people who participate in the RLT student drama classes (like our friend), was very professional and talented for their ages. The costuming is beautiful; rather than dress everyone up in animal costumes, most people play colorful Indian outfits with hats or face make up that suggests their animal parts. There is also a good bit of dance throughout the show--the fights are choreographed to suggest violence, and such key roles as Kaa the Python and Chil the Vulture are danced, rather than merely acting. Plus, important features, such as the River or Rain, are portrayed by a chorus of women dancing with sequined and mirrored blue silk, providing quite an arresting visual display of natural phenomenon.
The themes of the adaptation are also appropriate for a young audience. One major issue is the rule of law--for even in the jungle, the animals have adopted a set of laws that facilitate their living together. The reality of nature--the fact that animals kill each other in order to eat, and the fact that the weak and old are eventually conquered by the strong and the young--is presented honestly, but not brutally. But one of the major topics addresses a concern that is critical for a middle school audience: namely, where do I belong and how do I fit in? Mowgli's big question in the play is whether he belongs to the wolf pack that took him in and raised him, or to the community of humans to which he physically is linked. The play ends with a great message of love, but also of the need to accept who we are, whether we like it or not. Mowgli's dilemma is a great metaphor for the young adolescent quest of figuring out where they fit within a social group while still being true to themselves.
The play has another week to run, with shows during the week and weekend. If you live in the Raleigh area, I recommend trying to see it before it ends. But be advised that many shows, such as today's matinee, are sold out, so reserve your tickets soon if you want to see it.
Today we went to see the Raleigh Little Theater production of Jungal Book, an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's book, The Jungle Book. This is RLT's 75th year of community theater, which is certainly something to celebrate. Another thing to celebrate about RLT is that they have a wonderful educational program, operating a number of classes for children from preschoolers through teenagers throughout the year as well as an entire calendar of family-appropriate plays (of which Jungal Book is one of the four regular productions this year).
I have to begin by admitting our bias. One of my son's good friends, a boy whom we homeschool with, is playing the lead role of Mowgli, the human boy who is raised by wolves. So we were pre-disposed to like the show. Even so, I think it was a marvelous show. The cast, many of whom were young people who participate in the RLT student drama classes (like our friend), was very professional and talented for their ages. The costuming is beautiful; rather than dress everyone up in animal costumes, most people play colorful Indian outfits with hats or face make up that suggests their animal parts. There is also a good bit of dance throughout the show--the fights are choreographed to suggest violence, and such key roles as Kaa the Python and Chil the Vulture are danced, rather than merely acting. Plus, important features, such as the River or Rain, are portrayed by a chorus of women dancing with sequined and mirrored blue silk, providing quite an arresting visual display of natural phenomenon.
The themes of the adaptation are also appropriate for a young audience. One major issue is the rule of law--for even in the jungle, the animals have adopted a set of laws that facilitate their living together. The reality of nature--the fact that animals kill each other in order to eat, and the fact that the weak and old are eventually conquered by the strong and the young--is presented honestly, but not brutally. But one of the major topics addresses a concern that is critical for a middle school audience: namely, where do I belong and how do I fit in? Mowgli's big question in the play is whether he belongs to the wolf pack that took him in and raised him, or to the community of humans to which he physically is linked. The play ends with a great message of love, but also of the need to accept who we are, whether we like it or not. Mowgli's dilemma is a great metaphor for the young adolescent quest of figuring out where they fit within a social group while still being true to themselves.
The play has another week to run, with shows during the week and weekend. If you live in the Raleigh area, I recommend trying to see it before it ends. But be advised that many shows, such as today's matinee, are sold out, so reserve your tickets soon if you want to see it.
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