Why does this story I'm telling have to be a play? The focus of this two-hour masterclass will be the extraordinary potential of writing for the theatre. We will discuss form and structure and explore creative practices. Olivia will offer generative writing exercises throughout the class. You will leave with new writing, exciting ideas, and the motivation to get back to the page. 

Olivia Clement Finch is a French-Australian playwright, published writer, and screenwriter. She was the University of Iowa’s 2023-24 Silver Postgraduate Writing Fellow and she is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Mount Holyoke College where she teaches Playwriting.

Olivia's playThe Arrogancehad its world premiere at KXT on Broadway in Sydney, Australia. Critics called the production "heartbreaking," "sensitively rendered", and "beautiful." In the U.S., her work has been developed in theatres in New York, San Diego, and Massachusetts.oliviaclementfinch.com

Contour drawing is a fundamental—and playful!—drawing technique focusing on capturing a subject using a single, continuous line without sketching or shading. Join Lindsay Givens Casale, textile artist and owner of the locally beloved shop GIVENS to explore this technique during an evening of art, wine, and conversation.

Materials will be provided, but if you have a preferred sketchbook and/or drawing tool, you are welcome to bring it.

Wine & light snacks will be provided!

Plutarch said it best: “Painting is Silent Poetry, and Poetry isPainting that speaks.”

Ekphrasis is the use of poetic language to respond to a work of visual art. In this workshop, participants will explore the work of local artists and, under the guidance of poet Sylvia Baer, construct poems, songs, memoirs, and stories. So come for the art and the writing and the conversation!

Sylvia Baer is a teacher, poet, storyteller, and translator who was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and has lived in many countries and speaks several languages. She has been teaching English Literature for over 50 years, has created creative writing programs and publications, and served as the founding editor of several national academic journals. She has written and performed a one-woman play, "A Passion for Life" where she embodies the poet Emily Dickinson.

She is a graduate of Northfield School (now NMH), Washington College (BA and MA) and The University of Maryland (PhD), an Associate Fellow of Yale University (Davenport), and was named the first Poet Laureate of Cape May, NJ, where you can visit her Poet-Tree and her free-to-the-artists art gallery, Art Space. Her book, Learning Life: A Memoir, Volume 1, was published in August of 2022. Building Life, Volume 2 of the memoir series, was published in May of 2024.

Sylvia will be donating 100% of her compensation for this workshop to the Cape May Food Closet.