UB’s EOC plans ‘All Write!’ theater night to showcase student writers

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The human triumphs of the University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center will be displayed through the spoken word during a staged reading of works by adult learners beginning at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 14 in the 710 Main Theatre in downtown Buffalo.

An ensemble of actors from the Western New York theater community will read stories and poems written by EOC students who took part in the All Write! Adult Literacy Program. The performance is free and open to the public.

“We are excited to partner with our wonderful Western New York theater community to offer an event in which the life journeys of UB’s Educational Opportunity Center students are told in their own words,” says Julius Gregg Adams, EOC executive director. “Their persistence to create a better life for themselves and their families through education and training is truly inspirational.”

All Write! was created by Symphony Space Inc. in New York City to harness the power of creative writing to improve literacy and writing skills in adult learners. The All Write! Program unites professional staged readings of published and student-generated prose or poetry with teacher-guided reading and writing to build skills essential to achieving high school equivalency, and career and postsecondary readiness.

Adult-education teachers are trained through the All Write! Program to use spoken-word performances and fiction or poetry as catalysts and incentives to instruct, encourage and reward adult learners.

“We are very excited about being able to provide an opportunity for the campus and the wider community to experience the power of the words of our UB EOC adult students who have worked so hard to achieve their dreams of education, all delivered by talented professionals in a wonderful Buffalo theater,” says Danis J. Gehl, associate executive director and director of education for the EOC.

The EOC introduced the All Write! Program to Western New York as part of its year-long 40th anniversary celebration providing education and training to Buffalo area adult learners.

Serving more than 1,900 students each year, UB’s Educational Opportunity Center has provided tuition-free education and training programs (e.g. High School Equivalency Examination, English as Second Language, College Preparation, Allied Health and Computer Training) since 1973.

UB EOC is one of 10 Educational Opportunity Centers and two Counseling and Outreach Centers sponsored by SUNY under the auspices of the University Center for Academic and Workforce Development. UB EOC is located in the state-of-the-art Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Center at 555 Ellicott St., adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

More information about the UB EOC programs can be found on the center’s website, www.eoc.buffalo.edu, or by calling 716-645-9555.