Workshop Series 2012
Upcoming Workshops
May 21: Amy Salloway
Funny Up:
Using Humor in Story
June 11: Bill Ratner
Voiceovers for Storytellers
Find Your Best Storyteller Voice
Fall line-up coming soon
Buy a Northstar Workshop Punchcard!
Members get 4 workshops for $80 — savings of $40!! — and non-members pay $130. The punchcards are good for four admissions, whether it’s one person attending multiple workshops, multiple people attending the same workshop, or a combination. To reserve your spot in advance and pay with a punchcard, please email workshops@northstarstorytelling.org and let us know which workshop(s) you would like to attend.
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Full and Partial Scholarships Available
Click here to apply.
The Workshop Series
May 21: Amy Salloway
Funny Up!: Using Humor in Story
with Amy Salloway
Monday, May 21, 7-10pm
Black Forest Inn Festaal Room
26th St. and Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis
http://blackforestinnmpls.com/
$30 for Northstar Members, $40 for others
Humor in a story balances out pain, breaks the tension, reveals the storyteller’s vulnerability, and unites performer and audience in a cathartic emotional connection. At the risk of sounding woo-woo, humor is — yes — healing. If humor is such a vital storytelling tool, why does it feel so difficult to create sometimes -– and how do we incorporate it into a story that’s serious, dramatic, or just…not innately funny? This interactive workshop will dissect types and sources of humor, and give participants practice in a range of methods to “funny up” sections of their stories – finished, unfinished or just begun.
Actor/writer Amy Salloway is the creator of three mostly-autobiographical solo plays — Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?, So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!, and Circumference (as well as a two-person show, Entwined) — all of which began their lives at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and have gone on to tour to Fringes, theatres, colleges, festivals and events across the US and Canada. Amy’s been a guest playwright for Interact Center for the Arts, a contributor to MPR’s “In the Loop” and CBC radio’s “Definitely Not The Opera”, and a workshop instructor for Minneapolis Community Ed, Tellabration and the Northlands Storytelling Conference; she’s also a member of the hit narrative collective Rockstar Storytellers. Amy takes great joy in sharing her painfully awkward life onstage, and loves encouraging others to find juicy, connective story material in their own everyday experiences. For more info, check out www.amysalloway.com.
June 11: Bill Ratner
Voiceovers for Storytellers: Find Your Best Storyteller Voice
with Bill Ratner
Monday, June 11, 7-10pm
Location TBA
$30 for Northstar Members, $40 for others
This workshop is designed to accommodate everyone from the interested observer, to beginning storytellers, to the working storytelling professional, to working voiceover performers. Participants engage in exercises and discussion relating to employment in the field of voiceovers and improving vocal techniques for telling, reading, and recording of stories. We read aloud voiceover copy, recite first lines of stories, and experiment with new and different ways of using your storyteller voice, focusing on delivery, pacing, and oral interpretation. Discussion and handouts include an introduction to setting up and operating a home recording studio.
Bill Ratner is one of America’s most successful voiceover performers. He is heard on Discovery, History, Smithsonian, movie trailers, computer games, and is the voice of “Flint” on the original G.I. Joe, Robot Chicken, and Family Guy.
Bill is an eight-time winner of The Moth Storytelling Slams and his stories are featured on NPR. He has taught and told at the National Storytelling Network Conference, Timpanogos Storytelling Conference, Northeast Storytelling Conference, Northlands Storytelling Conference, and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
He teaches voiceovers for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, SAG-AFTRA, and is a published essayist, short story writer, and co-author of the book, Secrets of Voiceover Success. His stories are at billratner.com.
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Fall line-up coming soon!
Past workshops
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January 9: Megan Wells
Literary Muscles:
How to Tell Stories from Literary Sources
February 13: Susan O’Halloran
Teaching Without Preaching:
Creating Stories that Educate AND Entertain
March 19: Loren Niemi
Beyond Happily Ever After:
Writing Endings
April 30: Jo Radner
Listening for Stories:
The Art of Gathering and Performing Oral History