Beginner Level

This storytelling workshop is for beginning-level storytellers and covers introductory elements of storytelling technique. Think of it as Story 101: an overview of how to approach storytelling as its own art form. We will explore three categories crucial to the storytelling practice: body, sound, and energy.

Participants will explore each element with activities as we work on developing necessary storytelling skills without developing the stories themselves.

Beginner to Intermediate Level

Using a structured approach to studying an art form can have many benefits, especially for understanding how to approach something new. In this workshop we will learn about general components of story crafting with special consideration given to the needs and concerns of the medium of spoken storytelling. We will use storyboarding techniques to explore six general elements of narratives in order to build coherent, strong, image-based narratives.

Participants will take away a toolbox of ideas and aspects ofstory crafting that can be applied to personal, historical, or traditional storytelling.

Intermediate Level

This workshop will explore a range of introductory topics related to the spookier side of stories, including general technique for spooky genres, how to craft suspense, using sounds effectively, and the ethics of going spooky. Come prepared to try telling passages of provided sample stories and applying the techniques we study. This workshop is intended for storytellers with at least an introductory level of storytelling experience.

Advanced Level

Since the 1890s, the motion picture has grown as a force in storytelling but few oral tellers use the techniques of this medium. What can we learn from film? This workshop introduces tellers to advanced elements of storytelling culled from basic cinematic techniques. We will focus on framing the narrative, using sound, diegetic cognition, and the “other” senses.

Come prepared to work and explore how filmic components contribute to top-notch telling.

Beginner Level

Eleven years ago I started a storytelling concert series to introduce storytelling and storytellers to my town. Nearly two hundred concerts and a hundred storytellers later, Speak Story Series is a strong nonprofit organization looking to the future of story artistry. Join me for an interactive conversational workshop with practical advice about how the organization did it, what worked, what didn’t, programming concerns, audience building, and commissioning new work.

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