The performing and Literary Arts Track is a cross-disciplinary program for students interested in one or more aspects of creative accomplishment. About the Track Students may focus on any of the creative arts, such as creative writing (fiction, poetry, playwriting), film-making, music composition/performance, visual art, photography, acting - or any combination thereof such as visual art and writing, musical composition and writing, photography and poetry, etc. The outcome will be a completed artifact and a public performance, held on campus and open to the college community and the community-at-large. As is true for the other tracks in the University Honors College, Performing and Literary Arts is not a major, but a distinctive set of courses that adds breadth to, and reinforces, a student's chosen major. With the approval of the Track Director, each student selects five courses to assist him/her in both the preparation of the creative project and the formal presentation thereof. Two of the five courses will be the PLA Thesis courses in the student's final year. During these two courses, the student will develop and complete his/her project. Course sequence for Performing and Literary Arts Track Fall Semester Spring Semester 1st year ENG 1100 (with Dr. Witt; recommended) ENG 1500 (with Dr. Witt; recommended if you had a different instructor for ENG 1100) 2nd year (Sophomore) None Complete Track Application 3rd year (Junior) One or two directed elective track courses One or two directed elective track courses 4th year (Senior) PLA 4010 (Thesis I) PLA 4020 (Thesis II) PLA 4010: Performing and Literary Arts Thesis I This course wil support and monitor students' efforts to complete their Honors projects, which must be artistic works of substance. The projects vary in nature and involve original thought and creative composition in one or more of the following areas: writing, film, art, theater, and/or photography. The course will cover such topics as defining and outlining projects, determning research methods, addressing potential obstacles, completing first drafts of the written portion of the thesis, revising, and successfully bringing the project to a finished state. Students will meet weekly with the track director. PLA 4020: Performing and Literary Arts Thesis II The primary goal of this course is to enable students to complete and successfully present a significant creative honors project (begun in PLA 4010). Students are required to produce and submit chapters or thesis segments on schedule (typically once a week), and to submit a final honors project that should be suitable for publication or other public performance or display. Students will meet weekly with the track director. Students are required to present their work during Honors Research Week. What projects have students completed in the past? Students in the Performing and Literary Arts Track have produced theses with the following titles: Jonah Arnault, Catching the Casting Bug: A Documentary on the Rise of Casual Broadcasting, 2021 Ruby Constantino, The Witching Hour: A Collection of Gothic Horror Stories, 2021 Paul Cuffari, An Introduction to Modern Music Production, 2021 Matthew De Martini, Everyone But You, 2021 Timothy Derkas, The Search (a Short Film), 2021 Tiernan Doyle, Viequense: A Firsthand Account of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, 2021 Lauryn Lupino, Grief, Grace, and Chocolate Cake; A One-Year Memoir, 2021 Anthony Salimbene, Images of New Jersey, 2021 Christian Sasso, 9, 2021 Kathleen Sillen, A Collection of Moments, 2021 (co-authored) Cassandra Soto, A Collection of Moments, 2021 (co-authored) Kyle Villareal, Limitations in Music: Creating with the Bare Essentials, 2021 Julian Worden, Poems of Sorts, 2021 Heidi Ahmed, Framework, A Collection of Poems, 2020 Joela Diaz, Without Hope, What is Left?: A Discussion About Suicide, 2020 Kristen Ditucci, A Collection of Poems, 2020 Taylor Douglas, Silent Spring, 2020 Tyler Greengard, "Quartet," 2020 Zachary Guida, The Two Sides of Theater: Comedy and Tragedy, 2020 Katherine Martinez, Life Lessons from Around the World, 2020 Joseph McCaffrey, Conversations in Jazz, 2020 Jesse Norman, Could the Brooklyn Nets Rebuild Change the NBA?, 2020 James Sharkey, Collection of Short Stories, 2020 Joseph Zazzara, Walk Among Us, 2020 Abbey Zollo, All the Lonely People, 2020 Faith Boonstra, The Blue Side of the Pink Ribbon, 2019 Briseyda Bravo, You do not Choose Family, but you Choose your Path: A Fiction Novel Based on a Real-Life Story, 2019 Sophia Candrilli, Into Ruin, 2019 Mackenzie Donnelly, That Which Blooms Amidst the Caldera: A Collection of Poetry and Prose, 2019 Jonathan Pinon, Desiderata, 2019 Richard Potenza, Bag Head, 2019 Christina Sakelakos, Self-Reflection, 2019 Erika Schiller, City of Burlington Documentary, 2019 Michael Topping, Four Pieces of Music for Four Poems, 2019 Christopher Von Essen, A Collection of Comedic Sketches, 2019 How do I enroll? To enroll in the Performing and Literary Arts Track, contact the Director, Dr. Martha Witt, at (973) 720-3052 or at wittm@wpunj.edu. A completed track application must also be submitted to the Honors College. About the Track Director: Dr. Martha Witt, Professor of Creative Writing and English, is a novelist, essayist, translator, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in numerous national and international journals. Her novel, Broken as Things Are (Holt, 2004; Picador, 2005), and her several book translations from Italian have met with critical praise. With an MA from Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars, an MFA from New York University, and an EdD from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Professor Witt is interested in helping students discover and pursue their creative interests.
