2008 Calendar of Events and Workshops

August 14 - September 18
Critics Corner: People and Places with Barbara Apoian

This class will feature "People & Places" and writing will be directed to fiction, memoir or essay involving characters in a particular place.  This could be a childhood memory or a visit to a new and exciting foreign city, or summers spent at the shore, but where the place itself influences the action and mood of the writing. Critic’s Corner is designed to help participants edit, rewrite, change or enhance works they bring to class.  This may involve a piece previously written or specially prepared for this course.  Each member will receive careful and succinct evaluation of the work.  Critiquing is particularly helpful in pieces initiated by memoir or journal, where the original experience can be expanded into fiction.  Our object will be to consider each piece, with emphasis on pacing and details that move the story forward.  Classmates reactions and suggestions bring insight and clarity.  Barbara Apoian’s careful guidance directs and confines the group’s discussions to the writing itself and the success of the author in making the reader  understand the direction and purpose of each piece.

Thursdays from 6 - 8 PM
Conference Room at the Roxbury Run Village Office
6 sessions for $65

To register click here

Maximum of 8 participants

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August 17 - September 14
Writing A Ten Minute Play with Frank Canavan

Anyone interested in dramatic writing or creative writing will find this year’s Playwright’s Workshop an exciting and rewarding experience. Only new works will be accepted so come to the first workshop with a blank page and an open mind.

As in prior years, the goal of the first three sessions of the series will be writing 10-minute plays. The focus of these three sessions will also be on enhancing skills in:

• the fundamentals of dialogue
• character development
• building dramatic action
• scene structure
• the creation of causality and conflict
• story building, and plot structure.

The three workshops will be followed by a public reading to afford the playwrights the opportunity of hearing their scripts presented to an audience and gain feedback from the audience. The reading is followed by a fourth workshop to discuss audience reaction and editing suggestions to prepare a final draft of the plays.

Over the following four weeks the plays will be prepared for a fully staged production to be held at The Roxbury Arts Group auditorium. The Playwrights will have hands-on involvement in all aspects of theater from directing, casting, lighting and sound to ,stage management, costume and set design.

1 - 4 PM
Sundays Aug. 17 - 31 Writing Workshops at The Roxbury Arts Group Office in Roxbury, NY
Sunday September 7, Public reading at The Stamford Performing Arts Center in Stamford, NY
Sunday September 14, Workshop for rewriting at RAG
Sunday September 21, Finished Play Scripts turned in to the instructor

OCTOBER 24, 25, 26 The plays will be fully staged and presented at The Roxbury Arts Group Auditorium!

Register here

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August 24, 2-4 PM
"Open Windows" Reading by Lenny Mintz

Sunday, August 24, 2-4 pm. Writers in the Mountains hosts a book signing reception for Lenny Mintz at 76 MAIN ! in Stamford . Lenny will read from his new book, "Open Windows," talk about the process of assembling essays into a published collection, and sign copies of the book. Writer/historian Dorothy Kubik says, "In Open Windows, Lenny Mintz writes with honesty, humor and sincerity. He reveals the drama that lies hidden in the depths of the hearts of ordinary everyday people." For information call (607) 326-7908 or (607) 652-7676.

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November 1st and 2nd
Writer's Workout--A Weekend Intensive to Build Skills" with Jennifer Kabat

This weekend intensive focuses on building specific strategies to take back to our own work. The two-day workshop includes partnering up for exercises around character, plot and dialogue. Together we hone technical writing skills rarely covered in traditional workshops. Before the class, the group will read an assigned short story and watch a feature-length movie. Both will help guide discussions and illustrate different narrative techniques. The first day also includes time for the group to critique each others’ work, but the focus will be on generating new writing.

Jennifer Kabat moved to Margaretville from London in 2005. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. Her story As If I Could Assume Your Life was recently published in the collection X-24: Unclassified, alongside Daniel Alarcón, Laila Lalami. Jennifer’s  journalism has appeared in  New York Magazine, Wired, The Financial Times and The Guardian, while she's a contributing editor at the architecture and design magazine Metropolis She is currently working on her first novel.

Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd from 10 AM to 2 PM
Walt Meade Gallery on Vega Mountain Road in Roxbury (Please bring your lunch.)
$15 per person

This program is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program administered in Delaware County by The Roxbury Arts Group.

You may register by clicking here.

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