Welcome to the Monday 7th Sept 2020

webpage of the

 

 

"Storytelling by and for Adults"

                    Series

            (occurring via Zoom)

 

                    Presented by

          World Storytelling Institute

 

 

This is a series of Open-mic

Storytelling sessions.

 

The sessions are usually held

on the first Monday of each month

beginning at 6pm India time.

(If you are not in India, you could

determine the starting time in your

time zone at

www.thetimezoneconverter.com )

  

For the past seven years (starting in

2013), this series occurred in a Cafe

Coffee Day in Chennai.  Now it is

occurring via Zoom videoconference.

 

Participating Storytellers are

requested to

1) tell stories that are especiallly

meant for adult listeners,

and

2) consider telling in the

"Candid" Storytelling Style

during at least parts of their

performances.

 

Admission is free.

 

If you have not yet attended a session

in this series -- to register to attend the

the sessions, please send an email to

info@storytellinginstitute. org

___

 

6th July 2020 session --

Links to recordings are here.

 

3rd August 2020 session --

Links to recordings are here.

 

Upcoming sessions:

 

Monday 7th Sept 2020 -- The Program is below.

Monday 5th Oct 2020.

Monday 2nd Nov 2020.

Monday 7th Dec 2020.

Monday 4th Jan 2021.

 

Feb 2021 -- Chennai Storytelling Festival 2021,

the 9th annual edition of this Festival.

 

____________________________________

 

 

      "Storytelling by and for Adults"

 

            Monday 7th Sept 2020

 

 

A link to the recording of each telling

is here.

 

 

1) Anubha Tiwary tells "The Magician"

(adapted from The Indian Epics Retold,

by R. K. Narayan).

 

2) Geethanjali Javed tells "A Lesson for Life"

(a personal-experience story).

 

3) Mani Nachiappan tells "Breakthrough"

(a personal-experience story).

 

4) Sandhya Naren tells "Kunjan Nambiar and

Ottam Tullal" (a legend about how Ottam Tuallal,  

an art of Kerala, was invented).

 

5) Uma Jairam tells "And Thus Began the Dialogue"

(an episode from a myth).

 

6) Murali Dhar tells "Ulysses Returms to Ithaca"

(an episode of Ulysses, also known as Odysseus,

an ancient Greek epic).

 

7) Rinah Sheleff tells "Conversations with My Selves"

(a personal-experience story).

 

____________________________________

 

 

Here are some "Storytelling via Videoconference"

tips and suggestions:

 

1

There is no substitute for being very familiar

with the story one is going to tell, for knowing

the story inside and out.  In addition to practicing

telling it to friends and family members, you could:

A) draw the events of the story, and/or B) write out

the story.  But -- the fewer words you memorise,

the better. And of course please do not read the

story aloud this coming Monday.  Please seek to see

and feel the various parts of the story, and let your

words arise on their own, in improvised ways.

 

2

Before and during your performance: Visualise

the story situations -- and use words, tone of voice,

facial expressions, gestures, etc, to help your listeners

also visualise these situations.

 

3

Alternate between speaking as the narrator, and

speaking as characters.  As much as possible,

speak as the characters -- let the characters speak

for themselves. Use unique ways of speaking and

moving for each character.

 

4

Take your time.  Do not rush.  Take pauses, to let

things sink in.  Alternate between: A) Loud / soft.

B) High pitch / low pitch.  C) Fast / slow.

 

5

Think about what is a key "meaning", a key "point",

of the story for you -- and build your performance

around this.

 

6

Think about what is a key "turning point" of the

story for you -- and build your performance around this.

 

7

Consider the emotions that arise as you tell the story. 

If you feel these emotions, your listeners would also.

 

8

Alternate between looking at viewers' images, and

looking into the camera (which gives your viewers

the impression of eye contact with you). You might

set your Zoom window to "Gallery view" as you tell,

or you might "pin" one listener's image (magnifying it),

so you could tell especially to this person.

 

9

Notes about the "Candid" storytelling style are at

https://storytellinginstitute.org/candid.html .

You might slip into and out of this style as you tell.

 

Please keep in mind --

 

_____ You have up-to-10-minutes to tell your

story. Immediately after this, there would be

up-to-10-minutes of (appreciative) discussion

about the story and the way you told it, and

possibly some role-playing with story characters

_____ The role-playing may involve me, you,

and/or others (imaginatively, and very respectfully)

speaking to and as characters in story that has

just been told. We do this to further immerse

ourselves in the stories. This activity often leads

to interesting discoveries about the stories, and

our reactions to them.

 

 

 

<end>