Jeff Duncan, Playwright

Christine, Juna's mom, arranged for Jeff Duncan to visit our class on Wednesday. Jeff is a professor of English at Eastern Michigan University, and also a playwright and an author. He has written many of the plays we see at the Wild Swan Theater, including a new play called "Shipwrecked". He came to our class to talk about the craft of writing plays, and what makes a story interesting. The children learned that stories need conflict to be engaging to an audience - and conflict can be both internal and external. Jeff also read a few scenes from his new play to us.

I am excited to see this idea of conflict come up in our writings. I'm sure we will revisit this idea throughout the year as our young readers and writers hone their skills.

I am also always amazed at the generosity of our community. How lovely for Jeff to come in and spend an hour with us. Thank you, Christine, for arranging this.