Opportunities in theater arts have expanded to meet student interests at SUNY Fredonia.
In the spring of 2021, Daniel Lendzian, an assistant professor and head of Performance for the Department of Theatre and Dance, received a straightforward request from one of his students.
“A student contacted me in an email and simply said ‘I want to write a play and I think you can help me do it,’” said Mr. Lendzian.
Having devised a number of plays and holding concurrent degrees in Acting and English (both from SUNY Fredonia), Lendzian was up to the challenge.
“I agreed to mentor the student in an independent study,” he said. “When some of the other students in the department heard that I was offering independent studies in playwriting, they jumped at the opportunity to write their own plays. I started a playwriting group that met on Fridays for two years, and the number of students who wanted to participate kept growing, so we knew an interest was there.”
Fast forward to the fall of 2024 and “THEA 338-01 Special Topics” is now a course offering at Fredonia. The process of approving the course as “Intro. to Playwriting” is under way.
“This playwriting class came about because we noticed a gap in our curriculum at Fredonia that wasn’t quite serving the needs of our theater students,” Lendzian said. “While many of our students are already taking courses in creative writing, English, and screenwriting, there wasn’t a class specifically focused on writing for theater.”
He explained that writing for theater is a “unique medium” that relies heavily on dialogue and verbal interaction, unlike digital content, which is more visual.
“Even though these mediums can influence each other, the skills needed for writing a play don't always transfer directly from other forms of writing,” Lendzian said.
Harley Selegean, a double major in Acting and Writing from West Haverstraw, NY, made that point in explaining why the class interested her.
“I was drawn to the playwriting class because I wanted to open up that avenue for myself, as far as writing goes, because I’ve only ever really gotten to write fiction,” she said. “I knew that Dan had an independent study, so I started taking it to see what it was all about, and I found out how insightful it was to read plays aloud and workshop them with a group.”
The new course also fits with the vision that students have for their educational experience.
“Many of our students tend to think of acting and content creation as one and the same,” Lendzian said. “This assumption has led to a growing interest in learning how to write for the stage, as evidenced by their choices in final projects in my Devising Class. Although that class focuses on creating non-language-based theatrical pieces, I've seen a strong desire from students to dive into playwriting.”
Ms. Selegean said the class provides a creative atmosphere that she enjoys.
“It’s fascinating and inspiring what my classmates have been able to come up with during this time. It’s been fun seeing the development,” Selegean said.
Over the past three years, Lendzian said he has guided 15 students through the process of writing their own plays. In addition, the Department of Theatre and Dance has begun including student-written works as part of its annual Walter Gloor Mainstage Series with “New Works Now” in 2021-22 and “Mason Wright is Not a Mother” in 2023-24.
“With the department’s recent move towards showcasing more student-created work in Mainstage productions, there is a clear need for a dedicated playwriting class,” Lendzian said. “This class would help students develop their skills in writing for theater, culminating in the creation of a one-act play.”
A dozen of these student works will be featured this coming spring when the Department of Theatre and Dance presents the One Act Play Festival from April 25 to 27 as part of the Walter Gloor Mainstage Series.
“Each one will be a world premiere,” Lendzian said of the one-act works that are being created in the class.
Performance dates at times are Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m. in the Alice E. Bartlett Theatre of Rockefeller Arts Center.
Tickets are available online 24/7. Tickets may also be purchased on Monday, Wednesday or Friday by phone at (716) 673-3501 or in person at the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center during the same hours.
