Partial list of universities where Zam has taught.

University Students

University workshops and residencies are usually taught in conjunction with performances of COLLATERALLY DAMAGED, a one-person, critically-acclaimed play written and performed by Laura Zam.

Workshops/Residencies

HAVE A GREAT LIFE: MAKING A LIVING DOING WHAT YOU LOVE

(This content can also be offered as a keynote address)                   

This workshop/residency offers college students concrete skills for finding--and creating--employment that is in keeping with their passions, skills, and talents. Through exercises, reflection, and discussion, students are introduced to the employment trend that is changing the way the U.S. thinks about work: entrepreneurial, multiple income streams. Students in this workshop strategize income potential based on this contemporary model and their unique interests and gifts.  In so doing, they leave behind outdated paradigms that insist upon an unsatisfactory work life in exchange for security.  Students leave this session with a plethora of unforeseen employment opportunities that make their heart sing and pay the rent. Sessions must be a minimum of three hours. Longer sessions are advantageous if time permits.

MAKING A LIVING IN THE ARTS  

(This content can also be offered as a keynote address)                  

This workshop is for students interested in an artistic career (in music, film, literature, etc.)  Similar to the above, this workshop focuses on finding--and creating-- employment that is in keeping with one’s passions, skills, and talents. For artists, particularly, there are additional obstacles on this path because of society’s normalized despondency and skepticism when it comes to a life in the arts. Through exercises, journaling, and discussion, students identify employment opportunities that grow directly out of their passion and creativity. This dynamic workshop breaks down a plethora of myths about money and art. At the same time, it offers reliable tools for navigating the post-collegiate art world.  Sessions must be a minimum of three hours. Longer sessions are advantageous if time permits.

Creating

a solo performance

or a one-person play          

                                

This workshop--designed specifically for those with an interest in the performing arts, journalism, history, and/or storytelling--teaches students how to create a story for the stage that can be performed in theaters and toured to libraries, museums, K-12 schools, universities, conferences, and more!  In this workshop (or residency) students receive training in both writing and performance.  Topics include plot, organic structure, character, use of breath and body, as well as establishing a relationship with an audience.   In a nurturing, structured environment, students write an outline for a full-length one-person show. They may also create a short solo performance that they present for an invited audience, as a culmination of their work.  This workshop concludes with helpful information about how a person can find work performing their piece once it is completed.

Developing resiliency in college and in life

This workshop interactively examines themes that run through the touring play COLLATERALLY DAMAGED: empathy for self and others, and how to thrive under even the most challenging circumstances. These are lessons extracted from the play, which documents Zam’s mother’s Holocaust experience.  Using drama, the workshop teaches concrete skills for setting goals and achieving them--despite difficult circumstances.  Additionally, the workshop provides tools for better understanding self and others for the purposes of personal contentment as well as better professional and personal relationships.