Full Day Programs

To register for any of the classes below, click the "Register Online" link within each course description to register online, or download a registration form to register by mail.

Sarah Lawrence College & The International Film Institute of New York’s Five-Week Summer Filmmaking Intensive

Sunday, June 27–Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuition:  $4,050
Housing:  $1,425
Meal Plan:  $650
Register Online»

Gain hands-on experience and instruction in all aspects of filmmaking focusing on four core elements: writing for the screen, directing, production, and post-production. Lectures feature hands-on camera work, augmented by special guest speakers and behind-the-scenes visits to Manhattan production studios and editing facilities. After you shoot three film exercises focused on different filmmaking techniques, you’re ready to write, direct, produce, shoot, and edit your own short video. You choose the format–narrative, documentary, or experimental. You may choose to stick to a script with actors, costumes, and a controlled set, or you may approach your shoot with the spirit of improvisation. The final product is your completed short–to which you own the exclusive rights–ready for your professional portfolio, graduate school application, or Web distribution.

It is recommended that students bring their own hard drive (minimum 250GB).

A preliminary schedule is available online at www.nyfilmschool.com.

Writers Village: A Creative Writing Intensive

Sunday, July 11 – Saturday, July 31, 2010
Instructors: Cynthia Cruz (Poetry); Jeffrey McDaniel (Poetry); Nelly Reifler (Fiction); Penny Wolfson (Non-Fiction)
Tuition:  $2,450
Housing & Meal Plan:  $1,450
Register Online»

This summer, immerse yourself in the craft of creative writing. Led by members of Sarah Lawrence’s celebrated writing faculty, you will participate in a poetry workshop, and choose between an afternoon fiction or creative non-fiction workshop. Participate in readings, craft talks and free writing periods that are designed to supplement your learning.

Students must submit a 5 page manuscript for consideration.

Please note that the manuscript provided is used for placement only and is not used as a consideration for enrollment. Students are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, as with all summer high school intensives at Sarah Lawrence College.

Workshops

Poetry Workshop with Cynthia Cruz

With the spirit of play in mind, we will read and workshop our own poems as well as read and discuss the work of published poets for inspiration and direction, always keeping a close eye on craft:  what it is and what it does. We will utilize writing exercises/writing games to help us generate work. In workshop we will learn how to use craft to make our poems come to life and practice finding a balance between the serious study of writing while infusing each class with a sense of fun. This workshop is for all levels of writers.

Poetry Workshop with Jeffrey McDaniel

Well-suited for both the seasoned writer and the beginner. Through fun though rigorous workshops, we will closely examine published poems to deepen our appreciation of tradition and craft. We will do stimulating in-class generative exercises and line-by-line discussions of student work, with an eye toward revision. Learn to consider the different ways a character may be created and inhabited via syntax, diction, emotional crescendos and deflations, associative leaps, metaphors, and tonal shifts.

Through the writing exercises and also during revision, students will be pushed to explore associative imagery in their own poetry and discover for themselves the various ways that similes and metaphors can be employed to create a more three-dimensional experience for the reader.

Fiction Workshop

Work intensively on creating lively and compelling fiction. We’ll do daily writing exercises geared toward specific literary craft topics such as point of view, tone, character, and handling time. We’ll also have writing sessions to access our imaginations and become more aware of our sensory and spatial experiences. Each student will have at least one story workshop, in which we’ll focus on critique that is constructive and creative.

There will be some assigned reading of works by writers such as Anton Chekhov, Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Denis Johnson, Aimee Bender, and Junot Diaz. Field trips for on-site writing adventures are planned as well.

Creative Non-Fiction Workshop

Whether you dream of becoming a writer or simply want to learn to craft a successful college application essay, this workshop will give you the room and guidance to do it. In this class we’ll try our hand at the personal essay, one of the most flexible and popular literary forms. In the process, we’ll think about some of these questions: How do we write about ourselves without sounding egotistical or melodramatic? How can we be both author and character? How do we write about deep emotion; how do we express joy?  Above all, how do we keep the reader interested.

We’ll read short essays by some of the masters, like George Orwell and James Baldwin, but also from humorists like David Sedaris and food writers like MFK Fisher. We’ll do some in-class exercises to get the words and ideas flowing, and write short pieces each week on a range of subjects, always with an eye towards form and technique. Longer pieces can be reviewed in the two one-on-one conferences included in the course.

Readings

Enjoy private readings by acclaimed writers each Wednesday. Two writers, one poet and one prose writer will read and answer questions.

Craft Talks

Given by the workshop instructors, these craft talks will cover broad topics of craft; discussions of prominent writers and will help to illustrate the foundations of writing.

Free Writing Times

What every writer needs and is the most hard to get. Each Tuesday and Thursday, students have this time scheduled in to provide a quiet time in which to work on your own writing projects.

Sarah Lawrence College’s Summer in the City

Instructors:  Roland Dollinger, Jerrilynn Dodds, and Rodney Stringfellow
Sunday, July 11–Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuition:  $2,750
Housing & Meal Plan:  $1,450
Register Online»

Using New York City as the backdrop, students will take three, one-week classes about the history and literature, architecture and film of New York. This exciting program gives you an opportunity to discover the city that eight million people call home while staying just 30 minutes away on the beautiful Sarah Lawrence College campus. Throughout the three weeks, travel into the City and its surrounding environs, visiting museums, neighborhoods, and landmarks that will give you a deeper understanding of the subjects you will study in literature, history, architecture, and film (full course descriptions available online). Included in the tuition fee is the cost of admission into museums, tours, and parks.

History of New York

During the first week, students will study some of the major periods, developments, and influential personalities who have shaped the rich history of New York City. We will explore Dutch New Amsterdam, English New York, and the Americanization of the Big Apple; we will analyze the various waves of immigration to New York; and we will discuss major historical and cultural events such as the construction of Central Park or the Brooklyn Bridge.

But students will also learn about the city’s history by visiting Ellis Island, the Museum of the History of New York, the Tenement Museum, the Empire State Building, and Philipse Manor (a reconstructed Dutch farm).

Students will read articles on the history of New York throughout the week.

Architecture

Architecture and Urban Planning can be a mirror of history, an expression of the aspirations of a city and its people. During this week, you will learn how to “read” architecture of New York City to unlock some of its historical and social meanings. We will follow the history of architecture in New York and the development of the city through time to understand something of the changing spaces and transforming values of the City of New York.

The course will include slide lectures and lecture walks, visiting architecture around the Sarah Lawrence Campus, as well as field trips to New York City to see and analyze the architecture of New York first hand.

Filmmaking

Even 110 years since the birth of cinema, there is still rigorous debate as to who actually invented the motion picture camera and projector. However, in terms of where the movie industry first took hold and flourished, there is no debate:  Along the Hudson River, atop the Palisades of New Jersey and in and around the boroughs of New York City. New York continues to play an important role in movie making, both as a source of theme and content, as well as a practical production location. This week will be devoted to exploring the role locations and “setting” play in any narrative fiction film, and the position of the New York metropolitan area in the motion picture landscape specifically. Investigate “the grammar of cinema” as well as the relationship between a screenplay and the finished film. Historical aspects will be discussed, regarding the shift at the start of the Twentieth Century to Hollywood from New York as a film center and the resurgence of New York as the heart of the U.S. Independent film movement of the past 25 years. Several screenings of films, viewing of film clips, screenplay readings and articles will be combined with three location tours, by foot, bus, boat and van of the “largest back lot in the world”—New York City. While the week will have a focus on New York’s cinematic heritage, students will also be immersed in discussions about film and filmmaking in general.

Classes meet the first week in the Library Classroom E2 for the History of New York; the second week is TBD; and the last week will meet in Heimbold 211 for Filmmaking.

Concentrating on the Visual: Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking

Instructors:  Drawing & Sculpture, Chad Stayrook; Painting, Chris Randolph; Printmaking, Amy Gartrell
Sunday, July 11—Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuition: $2,500 (includes most supplies)
Housing & Meal Plan: $1,450
Register Online»

Study drawing and painting along with workshops in sculpture and printmaking. Beginning each day with a drawing class, there will also be daily studio time for painting. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, you will also explore sculpture and printmaking. Whether working to build a portfolio for college admissions or examining your artistic spirit, this course will challenge you to learn, discover, and create. In addition to the class, there will be a trip to a local museum the first week of the program as well as evening artist lectures. Students are asked to bring a portfolio of their own work with them. The portfolio can be digital and should contain 12-15 images. It is also suggested that students bring a digital camera.

Drawing

The goal of this intensive course is to expand on the student’s current technical and conceptual understanding of drawing, in order to make the transition from drafting sketches to creating experimental projects and individual works of art. While works in this course will be critiqued from a formal as well as conceptual perspective, issues related to content will take precedence over technical instruction or ability. Students will have the chance to explore the figure and still life in terms of line, value, shape, and texture while also de-constructing these approaches through the principles of light, space, composition, and perspective. Experimentation is encouraged and not limited to the incorporation and use of video, appropriation, and collaboration to create drawings. This course will also include class discussions and lectures centered on current art-making issues as a way to stimulate each studio session. It is important that each student arrive with a surplus of personal interests, emotions, and ideas that they can reflect and express on paper.

Painting

Where does a painting come from and how does it materialize? We will immerse ourselves in the process of painting and experiment with a wide range of techniques. Realism, abstraction, and fantasy are just a few of the different styles we will explore. There will be opportunity to work outside directly from nature as well as from photos and images that inspire us. A museum trip will serve as a jumping off point to investigate new visual ideas and fine-tune our artistic goals. There will also be weekly group critiques as well as individual conferences with the instructor. By the end of the program, each student will have an amazing new portfolio!

Sculpture: Techniques, Methods, and Concepts

Explore the concepts of time and space in regards to sculpture. Sculpture will be thought of as a loose umbrella covering almost all mediums of art that result in work that can be experienced physically (space), but has an element of temporality (time), or “defined existence,” if you will. The course will start with specific exercises assigned by the instructor that will begin and end in one class period and will finish with individual projects conceived by the students. Students will document their work during all stages of its completion and will be sent home with a slide/CD/DVD portfolio of their accomplishments. Throughout the course there will be visual presentations on artists incorporating these ideas in their work (artists like Joseph Beuys, Matthew Barney, Pipilotti Rist, Jessica Stockholder, Jon Bock, Andy Warhol, Jean Tinguely, and Fischli and Weiss, to name just a few). Students can work with any medium they choose to achieve their final projects, from clay and paint to video and sound. You can choose to work independently or as groups. Artists of all ability levels are encouraged to enroll; there will be plenty of individual consultation and guidance through art making processes (mold making, wood working, video editing, etc) and the formation of concepts. Our guiding mantra comes from Back to the Future Part III when Doc says, “Marty, you’re not thinking fourth dimensionally!” (Please try to watch this movie before class begins.).

Printmaking: Making the Old New

The mystery of printmaking is waiting for you! Students will learn silkscreen printmaking in our state-of-the-art, non-toxic (green) printmaking studios. Silkscreen is a stencil method in which a design is imposed on a screen of fine mesh and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. Using our own digital lab, you will learn how to make color separations and digital positive and negative transparencies, which will then be transposed to a silkscreen using photosensitive emulsion and our exposure unit. We will also explore more traditional methods of making stencils: cut paper, rubylith, and drawing. Emphasis will be placed on finding the techniques that are best suited for the development of each participant's imagery. Whether you like to draw or prefer to paint, take photographs or make mixed media collage, each, or all of these ways of making images can be utilized in the creation of a personal and meaningful body of work.

All classes meet in the Heimbold Visual Arts Center.

Exploring Musical Theatre

Sunday, July 11 – Saturday, July 31, 2010
Instructors: Ernest Abuba, Allen Lang, Nehemiah Luckett, Jen Yip
Tuition:  $2,450
Housing & Meal Plan:  $1,450
Register Online»

Participate in an exciting and rigorous program this summer with a special focus on musical theatre that includes acting technique, vocal technique, vocal coaching, choreography and creating and developing original work. In acting, you will work on scenes from musicals and explore, take risks, and make mistakes in an environment free of judgment. Learn to connect character and singing through creative and healthy use of the vocal instrument. Discover ways to convey meaning through movement with a focus on honing your personal choreographic voice. Take part in the vibrancy of a creative ensemble which will work toward the development of a “work in progress” performance piece. If you love musical theatre, this three week intensive will develop and strengthen the skills needed to propel your creative work to the next level.

Physical Theatre and Dance Movement

Learn about the power of movement and physical action as starting points for creating theater. Through exercises and improvisations, students will explore and expand their range of physical expression, and learn how dance is used to add dimension to characters. Additionally, students will become adept at learning short dance combinations quickly--a skill that is necessary for those wishing to pursue a professional career in musical theater or dance. No specific dance training or ability is required.

Acting Truthfully

Learn to recognize and explore the creative impulses of the performer. In this training, you will develop acting fundamentals and techniques including acting exercises developed and practiced by Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasburg. Theatre training exercises and scene work from both plays and musicals will strengthen individual spontaneity and authenticity of the actor

Singing Workshop & Voice Coaching

Students will learn appropriate material by identifying your vocal strengths and areas of opportunity. Discover yourself through songs that suit your voice while learning to improve your overall performance and vocal technique.

The Voice of the Playwright

Whether or not you see yourself as a playwright, this workshop will explore the craft of the playwright with a special focus and emphasis on writing musical theatre. Writers will explore playwriting through a series of exercises that will experiment with musical styles and forms, character, and conflict.

Creation and Invention

Explore the dynamics of a creative ensemble; a group of actors activating spatial and visual ideas incorporating original musical theatrical work. Through the investigation of personal writing, theatre, painting, sculpture, photography, and musical theatre, workshop participants will explore and experience non-text and text driven theatre. Over the course of the three-week workshop, the ensemble will work towards the development of an informal “work in progress” performance piece.

All classes meet in the Performing Arts Center (Cannon Workshop Theatre, Wright Theatre, and the Sound & Movement Space). Students will be organized into four groups: A, B, C, and D.