Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Launching a New MFA Program in Writing for Stage and Screen


The last ten days of June were a special adventure for me and a talented group of writers.  In the beautiful and culturally alive village of Peterborough, New Hampshire we launched a new low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  I’m happy to report that the launch was a big success.

With a small number of students hailing from New York City, Los Angeles, and Canada and a faculty of established working professional writers, we gathered together to explore the process of developing stories for the stage and screen.
Working with story ideas put forth by the students, we spent a good part of our ten days together analyzing, testing, and expanding these ideas into structurally sound story outlines.  And by the end of these ten days we succeeded in our goal of sending each student off for their semester of writing on their projects with the guidance of a professional mentor drawn from our faculty. 

During the residency we also held many workshops and special presentations by faculty and guest artists from our program as well as from the other MFA programs being held at the same time in creative writing, visual arts, and photography.  It made for a very stimulating and intensive ten days and all of us—students and faculty—left recharged and excited about the work that was launched and we all look forward to our next residency together in January where drafts of student scripts will be tested and given voice by actors in a true lab environment.
 
We’re seeking to add a few new talented students to our “family” for the January residency that runs Jan. 3-12, 2014.  If you’re interested, check out our website and consider applying.   As Program Director, I can guarantee that you’d be entering a hands-on, professionally-oriented program that will guide you to your own unique voice and offer you the opportunity to create a body of work that will be industry-ready, not to mention that you’d be earning your MFA degree at the same time.  

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