Learn how to get your written works published and copywritten in this workshop with industry experts Michael Smith & Jean Klein.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADERS:
Michael M. Smith was born in Charleston, SC and is a proud product of the Gullah heritage. After high school he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where he studied electronics engineering. He also served as Minister of Music and Associate Pastor in the Atlanta area for 16 years. In 1999, Michael relocated to Virginia Beach, VA. For more than 17 years he has served as Minister of Worship & Arts (worship pastor) at Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church in Norfolk, VA. He has been the director of Ebony Impact Gospel Choir at Old Dominion University for more than 10 years. Michael has been writing and producing music for more than 40 years.
“Intergenerational” is one of the best ways to describe Michael’s music. The influences of growing up in the Low Country of Charleston, SC as a “PK” (preacher’s kid) and spending more than a decade in Atlanta, GA serving in music ministry come across in the rhythmic nature of the songs Michael writes. You see his cultural heritage manifested each time he sings and leads worship with his infectious exuberance. An electrifying performer, Michael has toured in the US, Europe and Africa sharing his brand of passionate Gospel, as well as flavorful Jazz and R&B. You cannot sit still when Michael is on the stage. Michael has written and produced for a variety of artists with music charting on radio stations across the country. He is constantly mentoring new artists and sharing his wealth of experience.
Jean Klein, a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University and the Iowa Writers Workshop, is a public speaker, educator, essayist, and playwright. An O’Neill semi-finalist, she has had plays produced across the USA, Europe, and Australia. She has founded and helped sponsor numerous playwrighting development groups: The Tidewater Dramatists Guild; the Virginia Playwrights Forum, and The Z Playwrights Lab at Zeiders American Dream Theater. She has taught playwriting at Carnegie-Mellon University, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University and Wilkes University. She helped developed a new low-residency playwriting program for the Maslow Family MA/FA Creative Writing program at Wilke University in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She is the founder and owner of Blue Moon Plays, LLC, a dramatic publishing company. Currently, she has 2 plays being produced at Zeiders American Dream Theater. “Priming the Pump” is an intense look at American culture and “Refraction of Light”, a show of love, laughter, and betrayal in Berkeley, Virginia, in the 1940.
Free with Z artist membership; $10 suggested donation for non-members
Artist Member Events: The Z Artists and local art-lovers are invited to this series of interactive workshops, Master Classes, and social hours aimed at cultivating creativity and community! Your creative spark starts here! BECOME A Z ARTIST HERE
