(SUMMIT, NJ) -- Vivid Stage, in residence at Oakes Center at 120 Morris Avenue in Summit, is offering a new creative class especially for adults over the last weekend in July. Creativity Deep Dive, taught by professor and playwright Phoebe Farber, is an opportunity for grown-ups to have the fun of exploring their own imaginations and creative potential. The class is offered from 10:00am-2:00pm on July 26 and 27; lunch will be provided.

This class will introduce students to the field of creativity, defined as using the imagination to bring something new into being. Students will engage in exercises that illustrate core creative concepts, such as risk-taking, tolerating uncertainty, optimism, divergent thinking and the imagination. These exercises will focus on creative writing, photography, sculpture and music. The goal of the class is to use the arts to illustrate the world of creativity and help students build their creative skills in order to access their own creative power.

Phoebe Farber is a practicing psychotherapist (MSW, Ph.D.) who has worked with clients in a private practice for over 25 years. She is a professor at Montclair State University, where she teaches a course on creativity, the creative process and ways to cultivate a creative mindset. She is a co-founder of Building Creative Minds, an organization that leads residencies and workshops in creative thinking as a tool for resilience, rejuvenation and empowerment. She has travelled to England, Scotland, Israel and Sweden to lead classes in accessing the creative spark that exists within all of us. Phoebe is a Fulbright Scholar and co-author of the upcoming textbook Igniting the Spark: Activating your Creative Mind.

Phoebe Farber

Phoebe wrote the live series Gemstones for Vivid Stage last season, and will be working with the company to create several original projects in the coming year. Previously, her work Psychodrama was given a world premiere production at Vivid, and her other plays have been seen at Dixon Place, The International Fringe Festival, Emerging Artists Theatre, Luna Stage, The Depot Theater, The Bickford Theater, Jersey City Theater Center, The Irvington Short Play Festival, Up Theater and Nora’s Playhouse. Playwriting fellowships include Writers Theatre of New Jersey and The Ground and Field Theater Festival at UC Davis.

Registration information can be found here. Classes will be held at the Oakes Center, 120 Morris Avenue in Summit. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Their work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. They expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. They deepen the experience of all their patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.

The company’s activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings and a variety of educational and senior outreach programs.

Vivid Stage’s programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, the Shubert and Summit Foundations and many other corporations, foundations and individuals. Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.

Vivid Stage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey.