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Writer's pictureLoren Niemi

Bits and Pieces in the Semblance of a Whole

The new year starts awkwardly. I will admit that I am disappointed that January’s “Long Form Story” class did not go. I am a little puzzled by why not. Wrong time? Not close enough to when folks actually work on Fringe length material? Too close to the holidays and folks are tired? Not enough promotion? The stats tell me that over 4500 people saw the invite and over 100 clicked through to the Eventbrite page. Not enough promotion in the right places? Where are you looking for learning/coaching offerings? What do folks want for an online experience?

I did have a conversation with one storyteller who said that she’s interested in the topic and especially the coaching, but not in a class of 10 or on the other end of the spectrum one to one, instead her sweet spot would be in a small peer group (two or three) where they are writing/telling and I am calling on my 40 plus years of coaching other storytellers/spoken word performers to listen/suggest. OK, let's do it.


Here’s the deal - I can be flexible about scheduling to meet your availability needs but I am going to suggest that I will offer at least one session on any weekday morning and another one on Thursday evenings. One or more 90-minute sessions for as many weeks as folks are interested with this kind of pricing: Two folks (you can find a buddy or I’ll pair you with someone) at $50 each per session and three to four folks (same deal, you can organize the group or I’ll put you together) for $40 per person per session. What will we do? Each person will be working on a story. Each person will have the opportunity to tell that story in the session with conversation to follow. What we focus on – plot, point of view, voice, emotional arc, beginnings, endings – will be up to you or arise from the story itself. Contact me directly at americanschoolofstorytelling@gmail.com if you want to participate in these sessions and let me know who your pair, trio or quartet partners are or if you want to have me doing the pairings and we can arrange times for your sessions.


In other news, here is what is on my calendar mid-January:


Feb 3rd – Elizabeth Ellis and I are in conversation on-line about the value and necessity of telling difficult stories with Mary Alice Arthur for “65 Alive”. Here’s a link for more info or to register: https://lnkd.in/e7TJygY


February 8th – I am on-line with Nancy Donoval’s ETSU storytelling class what 50 years of community organizing has taught me about the value and practice of political and social justice/advocacy storytelling.


March 25-27th – I will be in-person (if all goes well) at “Sharing the Fire” in Portsmouth, NH where I doing a Fringe version of “Finding Gregory” i.e., the full version plus additional new story material on Saturday afternoon. Info at: https://www.nestorytelling.org/stf-sharing-the-fire-2022/


April 12th – I will be on-line for a Story Space performance. At the moment my intention is to do a version of “Cinderella in 7 scenes and 5 voices” and “The Curious Case of Jane Doe” which is “ghost” story that is factually true. More information at: https://www.storyspace.org/Home.asp


April 22-23rd – I will be performing in-person on Saturday at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival in Woodruff, SC. Forget for a moment that I may well be the oldest teller on the stage, as I’m there for the first time, I’m still a “New Voice”. Details at: https://www.stonesoupsc.org


May 24-29th – Elizabeth Ellis and I are conducting a Difficult Stories “Master Class”, as well as workshops and performances in-person at the Storytellers of Canada annual conference in Parksville, BC. More into at: https://www.storytellers-conteurs.ca/en/conference.html


More on storytelling, life and my storytelling life later. As I often say, and even more so in this third year of pandemic risk, be thoughtful, get vaccinated and boosted if you aren’t ‘cause nothing approaching the old or new “normal” is possible until Covid is tamped down and until then, be well.


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