C.S. Lewis Summer Conference 2006
Williams College, Williamstown, MA
“Love Among the Ruins:  On the Renewal of Character & Culture”

Morning Course Schedule
Monday, July 10-Friday July 14 – 10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Workshops

1. Creative Writing – Jeanne Murray Walker
    “Writing Poetry Among the Ruins: Finding Language For Faith”

What language can we use to write about what most matters?  Bring your own fiction, poetry, or reflections to this workshop.  We'll xerox them for the group and read and talk about them.  If you don't write, or prefer not to bring your work, come along anyway, to talk about the work of others.  In addition to talking about participants' work, we will do some in-class writing improvisations which you might use as the basis of new work. 

We'll also look carefully at poems of contemporary writers, particularly ones that dwell on spiritual issues.  We'll discuss the themes, yes, but we will also look carefully at how the pieces are written, hoping to discover strategies for our own writing.  We will examine ways of creating voice, point of view, metaphor, and structure.  What are ways of opening a piece?  How do you close a poem in a memorable way?  What is the role of form? 

This workshop is designed for beginners through more advanced writers, as well as pastors.  It will be facilitated by Jeanne Murray Walker, the author of six books of poetry, short stories, and many scripts for the theatre.

Jeanne Murray Walker – Professor of English at the University of Delaware, author of six books of poetry and many theatre scripts. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, The Nation, Commonweal, First Things, Image and other literary publications. Her writing has been honored with numerous awards including six Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Awards, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a coveted Pew Fellowship in The Arts. Walker’s plays have also been the recipient of many national theatre awards.. Her scripts have been produced in Boston, Washington, Chicago, throughout the Midwest and in London. She reads and teaches workshops at universities, churches, and writing conferences here and abroad.

2. Theatre – Jeffrey Miller
Are you a Christian playwright interested in collaborating with others like yourself to develop works that engage and renew character and culture? Or perhaps a Christian actor with the ambition to perform such works, or a director with the vision to direct them – or all three?  Do you know theatre artists—or aspiring theatre artists—who would love to join others of faith for a week of critical feedback and discussion, performance, rest, reflection and rich worship—all in the heart of the beautiful Berkshire Mountains? If so, you will not want to miss the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute’s theatre workshop!

Theatre, by nature, is a collaborative art. The poetic language of Scripture—word made flesh, one body but many parts, iron sharpens iron—are the practical day-to-day realities of those who create theatre. In this incarnational, collaborative and creative spirit, theatre artists (playwrights, actors, directors) will join together during this week-long workshop to

• perform, critique and discuss prepared work-in-progress (excerpts from plays, monologues and scenes) brought to the conference for feedback,
• analyze and develop monologues and scenes from contemporary plays that address the conference theme,
• create new pieces in response to the aforementioned scenes or resonating with the conference theme,
• and perform a final celebration of work drawn from the material above.

Register Now! 1-888-CSLEWIS