Oral Storytelling Workshop
This program is being rescheduled for a date in 2020 TBA
Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend
Set on the beautiful campus of Fort Worden State Park, our Oral Storytelling Workshop is designed to inspire us and empower each other as we learn from master storytellers. Featuring morning and afternoon workshops on each on the four days with Donna Washington and special guest faculty TBA, and including a presentation on Storytelling and Film in partnership with the Port Townsend Film Festival, this intensive workshop experience culminates with a public storytelling event that offers participants and faculty the opportunity to share their craft with a broader audience at Northwind Arts Center.
“Storytelling is about creating community. It can be funny, absurd, deadly serious, exaggerated, or understated, but it is always about bringing us out of whatever reality we call home into a shared place where we go through an experience together. Storytelling is a comment on the life we humans live, and it asks us to find ourselves and those around us in the words. Only when we understand how similar we are will we be able to break down the barriers that separate us and cause so much dissent. To know my story is to see yourself.” ~Donna Washington
Schedule
Day One
- 8 am-9:45 am: check in and welcome gathering
- 10 am-11:30 am: morning workshop
- 1:30 pm-3 pm: afternoon workshop
- 7 pm: Storytelling and Film: presented in partnership with the Port Townsend Film Festival (Date may change)
Day Two
- 10 am-11:30 am: morning workshop
- 1:30 pm-3 pm: afternoon workshop
- 7 pm: informal participant practice performances
Friday, October 11th
- 10 am-11:30 am: morning workshop
- 1:30 pm-3 pm: afternoon workshop
- 7 pm: informal participant practice performances
Day Three
- 10 am-11:30 am: morning workshop
- 1:30 pm-3 pm: afternoon workshop
- 7 pm: public faculty performance downtown at the Northwind Arts Center (701 Water Street)
Day Four
- Departure by 11 am
Faculty
Master storyteller Donna Washington graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Speech in 1989. Since then she has traveled across the world performing as a storyteller and presenting workshops about the inextricable link between storytelling and literacy. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN as well as hundreds of festivals across the country. She has performed in thousands of schools and libraries, and keynotes conferences about the importance of storytelling and early literacy, using hospice stories for healing and closure, and employing storytelling as an educational tool in the classroom.
Donna’s nine storytelling CDs have garnered twenty-six awards, including Golden and Silver Parent’s Choice awards, Storytelling World and Honor Awards, Children’s Music Web Awards, and National Parenting Publication Awards. She has authored numerous articles about using storytelling in both performance and in the classroom Washington writes a popular storytelling blog called Language, Literacy and Storytelling, and contributes pieces to other blog sites as well. Donna is also a member of the editorial committee for the National Association of Black Storytellers, and has served as president of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild.
Additional special guest faculty to be announced.
Sponsors
