A collaboration with drama teacher Richard Browder of Blackman High School, this residency guided a class of Drama 3/4 students through a Narrative 4 Story Exchange to ground explorations in sharing true, personal stories. From there, students worked with a partner to create a character using Uta Hagen’s 9 Questions, write a monologue for that character based on the same story prompts used in the Story Exchange, add embodied, non-verbal storytelling, create transitions, and put them all together in a devised theater work. This residency was made possible by a grant from Tennessee Arts Commission.
This is just one example of a residency I can bring to schools in Tennessee. Each residency is custom-designed to fit a school’s or teacher’s needs, but if you are interested in a similarly-structured residency, that is also a possibility.
Embodied Storytelling and Writing Residency
A shorter, initial version of the residency above, this residency in the fall of 2021 was also a collaboration between myself and Blackman High School Theater teacher Richard Browder. In this arts integration artist residency, we utilized Narrative 4 Story Exchange as a springboard for Drama III/IV students creating original monologues with a partner. We explored full-body and non-verbal communication as well, and by the fourth visit the monologues were were performed and embodied. This residency was funded through Tennessee Arts Commission’s Student Ticket Subsidy grant program.
Click image to view a short film of this residency.
