Middle Schoolers Put on Original Plays Saturday at College

Local middle school students worked in concert with professionals at Stony Brook Southampton to write seven original plays through the school's Young Artists and Writers Project, and now the public is invited to see the fruits of their labor Saturday on the Avram Theater stage.

The culmination of the YAWP Middle School Playwriting Program features works by playwrights from Bridgehampton, Shelter Island, Eastport South Manor and Ross. The event is free, beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“Dramatic writing and production skills give young people unparalleled lessons in communication and collaboration,” YAWP Executive Director Emma Walton Hamilton said. “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.”

The actors are also middle schoolers, but professionals direct the plays.

“The YAWP programs are 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 to our very talented graduates and graduate students,” said Robert Reeves, the director of Stony Brook Southampton's MFA in creative writing and literature program.

Beforehand, that same evening, in the Shinnecock Hills campus' Avram Fine Arts building, works by young artists from Ross School who participated in a YAWP printmaking workshop will be displayed, along with an artists' reception. The workshop took place at both Ross in East Hampton and at Stony Brook Southampton in the Almost Beachfront Digital Studio, led by Sag Harbor artist Scott Sandell, according to a YAWP statement.

The exhibition begins at 5 p.m. Both of the evenings events are free. For reservations, email william.chandler@stonybrook.edu.