Alton Chung

Family Storytelling

This workshop is designed for novice and beginning storytellers with a goal of becoming more comfortable with telling stories in a family setting and being able to pass on basic storytelling techniques to others. Topics include basic story structure, folk and fairy tales, and writing new material. Participants will also learn basic interview techniques for collecting family oral histories, conducting basic research, and writing personal stories. They will also learn different techniques of how to prepare for performance and practicing stories. We will touch upon how to use voice, gestures, and body language to embody and bring characters to life.

 

Storytelling Toolbox

This workshop is designed for novice and beginning storytellers with a goal of public performance. Participants will learn about basic story structure, oral histories, getting permissions, and writing new material. They will learn various techniques to practice stories and prepare for performance. Participants will be taught basic theater skills such as taking stage, connecting to the audience, and how to remain centered and focused while on stage. We will discuss various ways you can use your voice, gestures, and body language to embody characters, and bring them to life, and briefly go over Doug Lipmann's guidelines for giving and receiving feedback for group work, as well as for continuation of the process after the workshop. 

 

Ghost Stories & Other Scary Stuff!

Are you afraid of the dark?  Do you want to learn what are those things that go bump in the night?  In this workshop we will explore what makes a good ghost story.  What are the elements of terror?  Participants will learn the differences between telling scary stories to little kids, young children, teens, and adults.  We will talk about story structure with regards to jump tales, audience participation, the building of suspense, the use of humor to allow the tale to breath to increase the terror.  We will briefly go over some of the more common story archetypes such as the urban legend, the vanishing hitchhiker, and the cautionary tale.  We will examine ghost stories from different cultures, viewing them within their cultural context.  We will then explore how such stories need to be shaped when they are told outside of their cultural context.  Participants will learn where to look for odd and scary stories and how to find stories that fit them.  Many of the scariest stories are true stories of strange events which occurred to people we know or friends of friends.  We will discuss basic interview techniques for collecting strange stories, conducting basic research, and writing personal stories.   Participants are encourage to bring a short spooky story which they would like to tell.  We will briefly go over guidelines for giving and receiving feedback for group work.  Participants will then be given the opportunity to tell their short story in a small group, and give, and receive feedback. 

 

 

Presence, Intention & Living the Story

This workshop introduces the concepts of presence and intention in the context of storytelling. By becoming more present and understanding their intention in telling the story, tellers can begin to embody and breathe life into the stories they tell. A story is a co-creation that exists in that magical space between the teller and the audience. By living the story, tellers make it easier for their audiences to follow them into the mystery of the story and co-create their own reality of the tale.

 

 

Telling Difficult Stories:  

The Personal, the Emotional, and Speaking Your Truth

We all have stories which are difficult to tell.  Sometimes they are tragic, historical stories which need to be told.  Sometimes they are our own stories which cry out to be heard.  Sometimes they are stories in which we need to tell to speak our own truth of who we truly are.  In this workshop participants will begin to understand why the difficult story needs to be told, their connection to the story, and when the story is ready to be told.  Participants will begin to understand the need for personal process work and the issues around “processing from the stage.”

 

From the Page to the Stage:

Breathing Life into Characters and Making Stories Come Alive

 

You have found a great story in a book, but how do you translate a good story on the page into a great story in front of an audience?  What do you need to consider when translating the written word to the spoken word.  What can you do to breathe life into the characters to make them come alive?  Which scenes should be portrayed? How might they be used to add texture and mood to the piece?  How does perspective shift and emphasize different aspects of the story?  How do you balance the various elements so that they gel into a story drive, purpose, and meaning?  How to used audience reaction to refine the piece?  In this workshop we will discuss these questions and participants will be given tools to navigate the tricky transition from the written word to the spoken word.

Elements of Terror:

Creating and Performing Ghost Stories

 

Ever wonder why some people can tell really scary ghost stories and others not so much?  In this workshop we explore what are the elements of a ghost story and how do they mesh together to make for a really scary story.  We will chat about where to find material, some suggestions of how to handle culturally sensitive sacred stories, and your own motivations for telling these tales.  We will also talk about story structure and the idea of punctuated terror, techniques to increase or decrease the tension, and what you might do if you know you have gone too far.  We will also touch upon matching the right stories to the audience and setting expectations with the client.