On Thursday, April 7th, Germantown Academy hosted Ms. Anne Marie Cammarato, a playwright and director, whose works include Hazel, Bobby James, Milk Pie, A Scar, 10 Months, and The Big Room. On that day, students gathered during lunch and flex in the Roberts Family Library to watch an inspiring reading and performance of Hazel, put on by fellow students, and had the opportunity to join in on an insightful discussion regarding Ms. Cammarto’s work. While at the Academy, Ms. Cammarato helped lead workshops in GA’s Playwriting, Shakespeare, Literature of 9/11, and Science Fiction English courses.
Ms. Cammarato’s website expands on her successes, stating that “her work has been developed at PlayPenn, Theatre Exile, Temple University, the University of the Arts and the Resident Ensemble Players, and has been produced at Delaware Theatre Company, Theatre X, and Temple University. She was a finalist for the Leah Ryan Fund prize and was awarded multiple Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre.” In order to spread her expertise, Ms. Cammarato teaches playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Drexel University, for example.
To help better understand the visit, an interview with student performer Brianna Geist and faculty organizer Ms. Graffam, was conducted. Ms. Graffam was “thrilled that we’ve been able to bring writers back on campus this year, to give students an opportunity to interact directly with authors and to gain the insights that come from that experience.”
Ms. Graffam explained how she got to know Ms. Cammarato, saying “ she taught in a program I participate in as a playwright myself. I knew she was both an accomplished writer and an excellent teacher, and I was very excited to have her share her work with our students.” Ms. Graffam explained the importance of student interactions with authors by saying, “to hear about their process and their thinking behind their words, provides a unique insight into the literature we study.” Graffam continued, “We don’t often have the chance to talk in-depth with writers about how they work and to gain a deeper understanding of the issues they explore in their work. It’s also an important reminder that writers are real people […]They’re humans who work hard at what they do, and anyone can write if they take the time to learn how.” Ms. Graffam hopes that Ms. Cammarato’s visit had a good impact and was useful to GA students. She states that, “her (Ms. Cammarato’s) reading was very well attended, so a lot of our community was able to hear her work and learn from her visit.”
Brianna Geist’s role in the performance was a daughter named Cara who had to facilitate her mother as she developed Alzhimers. Brianna says she, “thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Cammarato’s visit and thought her ideas were very interesting.” She describes the experience of Ms. Cammarato’s work as, “different than anything I have read or performed for class. The lines were brief and the silence was loud.” We hope to continue bringing such inspirational speakers on campus and learning from their insight in the future.