Storytelling Intensive Workshop

Bay Street Theater presents a three-day storytelling intensive workshop with writer/director/performer and Moth Story Slam champ, Mike Schlitt.

Everyone’s got a story to tell, whether you’re a performer yourself or if you’ve never spoken in public before. Mike will show you how to master the art of Moth Style storytelling— crafting your voice, finding a story spine, then learning to grab an audience and never let go. In this workshop, you’ll create a personal story (5-10 minutes on something that happened to you which felt resonant, funny, sad, strange, unexpected, meaningful), you’ll perform it in front of a live audience and once you’ve taken your final bow, you won’t believe how much fun you had!

CLASS DESCRIPTION

Day 1: You share story ideas with the group, get real-time feedback to help select a story you’ll share onstage at the end of the intensive. You’ll go home with a few writing exercises to bring int.

Day 2: You share some of your writing exercises with the group, get additional one-on-one time with your instructor to re-write and work-thru material.

Day 3: Show Day. An onstage run-thru of your story with the class followed by group performance for invited audience of family and friends.

A FEW WORDS FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR

The Moth was founded in 1997 by a group of artists who wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry Summer evenings when moths were attracted to the light on the porch and friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. I will show you how to craft your story idea into a spellbinding tale.

Some prompts to spark your creative brain…

· Start with a good opening sentence. Grab our attention and we’ll follow you anywhere.

· Your story needs a conflict and a resolution. Seek out points of escalation a change, a twist or turn that alters your story “I was doing X, and then Y happened.”

· A good general rule when crafting a story is “you need to know where you’re going, but you don’t want to know exactly how to get there.” Map out your story in advance but also be open to moments of spontaneity and improvisation in your writing and performance.

Where: Bay Street Theater – 1 Bay Street, Sag Harbor, NY

When: Sat October 4 (1-5pm)

Sunday, October 5 (1-5pm)

Monday October 6 (6-10pm)

Cost: $500 per person (10 participants maximum)