Classical students to take part in writing program

LYNN – From Shakespeare to Broadway, live theatre has survived for centuries through the advent of moving pictures, radio broadcasts, television and iPods, and remains a thriving art form into the 21st century.A great production requires top-notch performances from actors and crew alike, but none of that can get off the ground without a strong writer and a great script.One group of Lynn Classical students is taking the first step in becoming the next great American playwrights by participating in a unique program at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, where they will work one-on-one with theatre professionals to polish their scriptwriting skills and produce an original work.The program, titled “Young Voices Playwriting,” is designed to mirror the process of professional play development. Participants attend an intensive six-day workshop with the Huntington’s Literary Manager, followed by ongoing one-on-one mentoring by other local playwrights as the students draft and revise a short play. The program culminates with a staged reading of the students’ work.English Department Chair Jerry Burke says he has worked with the Huntington in the past on other programs and after school activities, and the theatre had originally asked for one student from the school to participate in the 10-student workshop.But Burke felt strongly that all four of his nominated students were right for the program, and eventually convinced the theatre to take all of them because they were strong writers, who were motivated and had a deep interest in participating.The four students, sophomore Cassandra Murkison, junior Samantha Fret and seniors Sarah Gillis and Shannon Coombs are all writers by definition, but their interests and goals vary when they put pen to paper, opening the door for some unique interpretations of traditional theater.For Murkison, script writing is a large piece of her creative works, and she says she has always wanted to be a professional scriptwriter after school. In her spare time she does a lot of writing, and she is also an actor, participating in the school theatre group.”I write everything, I have written novels and I have written a lot of scripts out of boredom,” she says. “I always think of things in terms of scripts when I am writing, but some things work better as a novel. It depends on the way I am thinking of the story – if it is in first person it is usually a novel, but third person would be a script.”Also an actor, Fret was inspired to participate in the workshop because of the opportunity to “create something great,” even though she is not sure what she is going to write about when she sits down to pen her original work.Gillis, an editor on the school newspaper and a fan of writing about politics and history, is hoping the opportunity to work with professionals will help her organize her thoughts and focus more on her original writing.She already has some ideas in mind for her one-act piece, in which she is hoping to use the example of King George III to illustrate President Bush’s leadership over the past eight years.”In my writing I have been trying to do a lot of original work, but I have been having trouble pushing it out of my head,” she said. “I am hoping this will help.”Gillis says she is also interested in acting, inspired by her father who is a photographer and filmmaker to produce her own work while she is in high school.While her friends and classmates are interested in both writing and acting, Coombs tends to avoid the stage, as she does not like to perform in front of people. Although very interested in the scriptwriting component of the workshop, she would prefer to stay in the background as a writer manipulating the actors on stage with her words.”I was recommended for the program. I have never tried scriptwriting and I thought it would be fun,” she said. “I am mostly interested in writing romance novels.”The workshop will help all four students learn the ropes of scriptwriting, as well as valuable lessons