YAWP Returns

Six short plays written and performed by local middle school students will be presented at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater on May 11, as the culminating event of the 2019 Young Artists and Writers Project Middle School Playwriting program.

The plays in this year’s festival were penned by playwrights in YAWP classes at Bridgehampton, Ross School, and Shelter Island, along with one student from Hampton Bays who took part in the 2018 YAWP Summer Scriptwriting Workshop.

The Young Artists and Writers Project is helmed by Executive Director Emma Walton Hamilton and Program Director Will Chandler. More than 100 students participated in the YAWP Middle School Playwriting Residency this spring. Over the course of two months, students explored the basic elements of dramatic writing: how to develop ideas, characters, themes, dialogue, and scenes. One play from each participating class was then selected for production in the festival.

“Dramatic writing and production skills give young people unparalleled lessons in communication and collaboration,” Hamilton says. “They build confidence, and have a direct impact on young people’s abilities to become engaged and compassionate citizens in later life.”

The YAWP Middle School Playwriting Festival takes place this year on Saturday, May 11, at 7 PM 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.