TRAINING SESSIONS AND TIMELINE
♦ Session 1: Wednesday, July 20, 6:30pm to 8pm, VIRTUAL “Starting Strong” Intro Meeting
Welcome and Introductions, Overview & Agreements, Morning Pages, Daily Prompts, Online
Portfolios and Commitments
♦ Session 2: Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24, 11am to 6pm, IN-PERSON “Studio Sessions to Advance Writing & Creative Emancipation”– Location TBD
This intensive, in-person studio training is designed to provide a safe and rigorous container for a
deep exploration of storytelling. Led by seasoned professional storytellers, the training will involve
solo and ensemble story creation, choreography, and ritual performance to push participants to
explore untold stories from a space of authenticity, integrity, and ritual in their own work and the
work of the cohort.
♦ Session 3: Thursday, July 25 – Saturday, July 30. Self-Directed/Asynchronous “Writing and Performance Wellness Practice”
During this self-directed wellness training storytellers will be invited to consider their own
personal stories and support their storytelling wellness rituals including meditations, conscious
speech, journaling, and movement. Participation in this training is strongly encouraged and
integral to cultivating stamina for upcoming training, rehearsal, and performance phases.
♦ Session 4: Virtual Wednesdays (3) – July 27, August 3 and August 10, 6:30pm to 9pm, “Writing Jumpstart and Momentum” Workshops
This virtual component will include explorations of identity, geopolitical landscapes and memory through writing, movement, poetry, storytelling traditions, voice and perspective in a fun and generative virtual journey facilitated by writing and performance professionals.
♦ Session 5: Sunday, July 31, 11am to 6pm, IN-PERSON, “Preparing for Performance Workshop” – Location TBD
This session will encourage the development of strong relationships with other storytellers and trainers. It will engage participants in brainstorming lived experiences and themes, and support story generation and writing exercises that will be developed into powerful personal stories. The
session will culminate in rough drafts of one or two stories with broad resonance.
♦ Session 6: Performance Rehearsals, Begins in August, IN-PERSON and VIRTUAL – Dates, Times and Locations TBD
One-on-one and ensemble rehearsals will be held as needed with project trainers to develop and
refine a personal storytelling practice. Participants will learn to illustrate what they are learning
and exploring through the development of solo and ensemble performances.
♦ Session 7: Storytelling Performances September – December, IN-PERSON – Dates, Times and Locations TBD
Each participant will perform one or two original stories in accessible locations in the communities of Jersey City, Morristown, New Brunswick, and Trenton. In post-performance talkbacks storytellers will engage audiences in dialogue by discussing connections between social issues raised in their stories and those that might exist in their own communities, developing shared agency for social change.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Click on the button below to go to the Untold Stories Project application online , print and fill it out and mail it to: Storytelling Arts l P.O. Box 157, Lambertville, NJ 08530.
Space in the project is limited and is expected to fill quickly. Storytellers will be carefully chosen by a selection committee comprised of Storytelling Arts and project partners.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: If you require this application in hard copy or in another language or have any other questions about the Untold Stories of Storied People Project please contact Cynthia Renta, Director of Community Projects at cynthia@storytellingartsinc.org.