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Updated: January 19, 2009, 11:30 am	Share    Print    Email

MFA in Writing and Literature Director Robert Reeves, center, announced Monday that SUNY Stony Brook Southampton will be creating two new programs. Photos by Kelly Carroll

Southampton - In an effort to reach out to local residents and expand SUNY Stony Brook Southampton's influence on the East End's artistic society, officials from the college announced Monday that it will be adding to the campus' acclaimed Southampton Writer's Conference a new Playwriting Conference, as well as introducing an original program, called the Young American's Writers Project, in conjunction with area middle and high schools.

"This is an opportunity to bring members of the community to our campus," offered Robert Reeves, director of the M.F.A. in Writing and Literature program at the college. "This is a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the community, especially in these economic times where there are some threats to the arts."

Reeves enjoyed a laugh with Emma Walton-Hamilton after the announcement. Walton-Hamilton will be working with both the Playwriting Conference and YAWP.

With the new Playwriting Conference, the co-founders of Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre, Stephen Hamilton and Emma Walton-Hamilton, have been assigned the task of creating an environment where new playwrights can develop their skills and work with professionals in the field. New York City's Ensemble Studio Theater troupe has also agreed to take part by living on the campus for the three conference sessions, performing the writers' works and giving professional input.

"New players and plays have always been a real passion for both of us," commented Hamilton, referring to his wife, Emma, as well as himself. "As executive director of the Bay Street Theatre, I felt like I was in real estate rather than the arts. This program is perfectly in line with the college's mission of sustainability and the arts. It's a perfect match."

Both Hamilton and Walton-Hamilton founded the Bay Street Theatre in 1991. Hamilton was also a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater, directing its annual summer conferences. For 13 years, Walton-Hamilton acted as Bay Street's artistic director, working mainly with programs for children, including Kidstreet, in addition to authoring books for children with her mother, Julie Andrews.

"I am very honored and pleased to join this esteemed writing program," she said, adding that she looked forward to an "eclectic and exciting creative environment."

Walton-Hamilton is also slated to become the executive director of the new Young American Writer's Project (YAWP). The acronym, according to Reeves, is a play on the "barbaric yawp" of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

Reeves, along with Stephen Hamilton, also announced the new logos for SUNY Southampton's Writers and Screenwriting Conferences.

Too, this program is to focus on playwriting. As early as this February, "teaching artists" will visit area schools to begin the process of getting students to develop and write their own plays. Two-times per week students will discuss all aspects of playwriting from the broad spectrum of themes, to the creation of scenes and characters. Participating school districts include Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, Shelter Island and Eastport-South Manor. In April, one play from each school will be produced at SUNY Stony Brook Southampton's Avram Theater.

"There is a lot more diversity in the Hamptons than I think we give them credit for," offered Will Chandler, who will work as program director for YAWP. "We are building a creative community and bonds that [students] will take with them forever." Formally, Chandler worked as a teaching artist for Bay Street Theatre, and is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship screenwriter.

The Playwriting Conference is set to run in accordance with the sessions of the already developed Southampton Writer's Conference this summer. After the initial year of the YAWP program, Walton-Hamilton said that directors will be looking to expand to other schools. The program itself, Reeves said, comes at a nominal cost to the school districts, and is also funded by the university and other contributions and sponsorship.

"I wish I had access to these talented writers [when I was young]," mused Reeves. "The unifying fact is we all care about the arts. It will be good for kids to see grown-ups who care about writing and realize its worth their time to devote their life to it. This is the perfect time to start a program like this."

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