By Katy Yocom, Spalding School of Writing Associate Director of Communications and Alumni Relations
This is the time of year when students and alums start sending me GIFs of impatient cats, with captions like “Me watching my email for news about Paris.”
I know you’re eager to make your plans. I swear we’re not holding out on you; we’re just putting the final touches on the residency. And in that spirit, even though final details are still in progress, here’s what I can tell you.
By Debra Kang Dean, Spalding School of Writing Poetry Faculty
For any circuit the electrical current is directly proportional to the voltage and is inversely proportional to the resistance.
As a consequence of my bewilderingly high scores in the electronics section of the battery of tests I had to take before enlisting in the Air Force, I was recruited into the field of ground radio repair. It turned out to be a poor match since I never really got beyond being able to read schematics; I console myself by believing that one need also have mechanical sense to do well, and my scores on that part of the test had been dismal.
By Beth Ann Bauman, Spalding MFA Faculty, Writing for Children and Young Adults
One of my favorite TV shows is the HBO crime drama “The Night Of.” It’s tough and gritty and co-written by the inimitable Richard Price. I’m going to detour here and mention how at a New Yorker festival years back, I first met Price when he and another author gave talks about their writing. The first was affected and kept tinkling the ice in his glass in a soft, actorly way. He was sort of full of it. Price, on the other hand, bounded onto the stage when it was his turn, looking like he was wearing a pajama top. He looked at us and said, “Hey, did you know there’s a really good bar across the street?” Well, he had our attention.
By Katy Yocom, Spalding Low-Residency MFA Associate Program Director
First she participated in the MFA program’s musical theatre workshop. Then she wrote about it for MusicalWriters.com.
Guest Faculty Michael Roberts and Dramatic Writing Faculty Charlie Schulman
In this week’s blog post, we’re proud to highlight Donna Gay Anderson’s (PW ’18) fun and informative article. Take a look and find out why this Spring 2018 workshop was in such high demand … and how creative team Charlie Schulman and Michael Roberts work together like Fred and Ginger!
Fun times at the Musical Theater Workshop – shown here are Charlie Schulman, Jennine “Doc” Krueger, Holly Baldwin, Donna Gay Anderson and Julia B. Rosenblatt.
By Charlie Schulman, Spalding Low-Residency MFA Dramatic Writing Faculty
This is the first of an ongoing series that will report and promote the accomplishments of Spalding University’s MFA Dramatic Writing alums and current students. In this edition we will be featuring four MFA Playwriting alums who are making contributions to the field by creating theater-making opportunities for themselves and others.
This is at the heart of the ethos of the Spalding program: the writer as provocateur who builds and sustains community while creating opportunity for themselves and others.
Cross-genre exploration has been a hallmark of the Spalding low-residency MFA in Writing curriculum since the program was launched in 2001. But while many students arrive eager to explore across genres, others aren’t so sure. “I want to be able to focus on my own area,” they’ll say.
March 2, 2018 Interview with Gabriel Jason Dean, reprinted with permission from the author, John Soltes at HollywoodSoapbox.com
Gabriel Jason Dean (center) with cast members
Terminus, the topical new play from Gabriel Jason Dean, is currently being staged as part of the Next Door initiative at the New York Theatre Workshop in Downtown Manhattan. Starring Deirdre O’Connell, the drama looks at Eller, a white woman facing the realities of her violent past amidst the racism of the segregated South. As she journeys along in the play, the woman’s mixed-race grandson, Jaybo, faces a dilemma himself on how to look after his grandmother, a woman he’s no longer recognizing. Continue reading “INTERVIEW: ‘Terminus’ finds characters discovering painful truth”→
By Roy Hoffman, Spalding MFA Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Faculty
Gabriel Jason Dean
Lesléa Newman
Charlie Schulman
Whenever I visit New York City one of my pleasures is attending theater. In the brisk days of late February this year, I had the delight of scurrying out of the cold into two venues where works by friends took away the chill and replaced it with dramatic heat unfolding in front of me. Continue reading “Three Friends, Three Stages, NYC”→