Blackbird
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Jobsite Performance Benefits The Poynter Institute
Jobsite Theater is dedicating a portion of sales from the final performance of Embedded on Aug. 31 at 4pm to benefit The Poynter Institute. This performance will also feature a post-show discussion with St. Petersburg Times writer and embedded journalist Meg Laughlin, Dr. Roy Peter Clark of The Poynter Institute and ABC Action News anchor Brendan McLaughlin. The Poynter Institute will also be accepting additional donations after the performance via collection envelopes.
The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists and media leaders in St. Petersburg. The institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and donations provide scholarships for student and professional journalists from all over the world to come to Poynter for training. Student programs include a writing camp for elementary and middle school students and journalism workshops for high school students.
About the Speakers
Dr. Roy Peter Clark is Vice President and Senior Scholar at The Poynter Institute. Roy has taught writing at every level--to school children and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors--for more than 30 years, and has spoken about the writer's craft on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NPR and Today; at conferences from Singapore to Brazil; and at news organizations from The New York Times to the Sowetan in South Africa. He is the author of "Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer," the book and the blog.
Meg Laughlin is a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. While working for the Knight-Ridder, who at the time owned a chain of 32 newspapers, she went to Afghanistan right after the 9-11 attacks to cover the war and its effect on Afghans. Fifteen months later, she went to Iraq to cover the effects of the war on U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi people. In mid July she went to Egypt and Qatar for the St. Petersburg Times. In Egypt, she interviewed the families of people held in the U.S. on terrorism-related charges. In Qatar, she interviewed Sami Al-Haj the only journalist held in Guantanamo Prison, who was released in May. She has received national awards for international, consumer, investigative and education reporting, as well as for feature writing.
Like many television journalists, Brendan McLaughlin worked in several other media markets before finding his broadcast home here in Tampa Bay. Brendan grew up, went to school and started a family in “the other Bay area” and began his career as an intern at the CBS affiliate in San Francisco. His first real job offer came from a station in Austin, Texas. In one of my first assignments, they sent me right back to San Francisco to cover the Loma Prieta earthquake that interrupted the World Series in 1989. His next assignment in Seattle, Washington involved a lot more rain gear, Starbucks coffee, and travel. In a few short years, he filed dispatches from Cuba, Iraq, and Vietnam, picking up a regional Emmy award for reporting. He also spent weekend evenings in the anchor chair. When WFTS television picked up the ABC network affiliation in 1994, he, along with over a hundred other professionals moved to Tampa to start a brand new news operation and he has been proud to anchor the evening newscasts ever since.