This Goes Out To the Brown School. It's Also a @FairfieldU Story. So Proud of My Colleagues, Dr. Shannon Kelley and Jill Bodach

A few weeks ago, Fairfield University's Shakespearean scholar, Dr. Shannon Kelley, reached out to me to see if I would be willing to do a script-writing workshop with middle school students from Geraldine Claytor School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Um, duh. Of course I would.

This past summer, I was honored to work with Dr. Kelley with her vision for a potential Folgers collaboration for teaching Shakespeare - that didn't occur, but we did hold a Young Adult Literacy Lab: To Write or Not To Write. It WAS AMAZING. Dr. Kelley saw my script writing workshop and with a vision for service-learning with her undergraduates, she saw another opportunity to do the work in collaboration of one another.

It's amazing how far this workshop has come since 2004, debuting first at a Louisville Writing Project annual conference. 15 years later - well - the work continues.

Added to this was the English-teaching of Jill Bodach, a Fairfield University M.F.A. grad who is teaching a creative writing course at the University and working with students from the same school. She brought her fairy dust and with undergraduates (a couple of graduate students), a Bridgeport School, and a vision for after school programs, we collaborated on a special workshop.

(insert crickets here). Why? Because it was straight-up quiet as the kids got their pens to paper and wrote and wrote and wrote. 100% writing. Then came the sharing!

What I'm most excited about, however, is the memory of this work, as 10-minute play festivals became routine in Louisville, then Syracuse and now in Bridgeport. Kids write the scripts they want to perform and are able to bring their work to the audiences of their choosing.

It's funny, too, because in Alabama last week, I had a heart-to-heart with an intellectual hero of mine and he and I happened to get on the subject of script-writing and improvisation. I told him the story of the work that began at the Brown School and where I am now - it is my favorite workshop, my love, and at the core of my passions. It's also absolutely hilarious. He said, "Maybe we should collaborate on this in Nashville, too."

Yesterday, it was incredible to work with two exceptional colleagues as they carry out their own vision for teaching Shakespeare and being creative with undergraduates/graduates in their courses and the exceptional students of Bridgeport Public Schools.

It was Valentine's Day yesterday and I loved, LoVeD, LOVED the work. Here's to all the possibilities out there!