BAM Summer Youth Program and the Creative Writing Program Unite for Reading at BAM Fisher

On Friday July 26, a hard-hitting dramatic piece about war, featuring professional actors as well as students ages 11-18 (mostly high school-age teenagers), was given a dramatic reading before an audience at the Hillman Space at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music's BAM Fisher. This was a special collaborative project of two creative writing programs: the BAM Summer Youth Program and the Creative Writing program at the renowned Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (alumni include Natalie Portman, Mariah Carey, Olivia Thirlby, Jane Monheit, Seth Rudetsky, many more).

The students met for one day - Tuesday July 23 - and co-created the piece, which in scenes and monologues dealt with many aspects of war: the soldiers, families, politicians, profiteers, refugees and other elements. The student actors were also students who had co-written the work.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, now entering its 46th year, has introduced the visual and performing arts to more than 60,000 children ages 6 to 18 at its 200-acre woodland campus in the Huntington area of Long Island. In its Creative Writing program, started (how many?) years ago, small groups of creative writing students engage the forms of poetry, short fiction and playwriting in covered, open-air studios. The program culminates in the publication of Usdan's literary magazine, Painting with Words, a multidisciplinary publication which includes student-produced poetry and writing. Besides the regular faculty, guest teachers including Broadway playwright Michele Lowe, have taught Master Classes.

The Brooklyn Academy Of Music, a multi-arts center in downtown Brooklyn has, for more than 150 years, presented world-renowned programming in music, dance and theater, opera, film and much more, showcasing the work of emerging artists and innovative modern masters.

Usdan Center's program features more than 40 three, four and seven-week programs in music, dance, theater, visual arts, writing, nature & ecology, and chess. No audition is needed for most programs. Each summer, 1,500 students are transported to the Center in air-conditioned buses each day. One-third of Usdan's students attend on scholarship. Although the mission of the Center is for every child to establish a relationship with the arts, the unique stimulation of the Center has caused many to go on to professional arts careers. Usdan Center is an agency of the UJA-Federation of New York.

Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan