The Riverwind Storytellers

...proudly announces that Carol Birch "Connecticut's Premier Storyteller" will return in March, 2009 to present her workshop on Passionate Virtuosity. In 1985, Carol was the RW workshop leader. Her hints on telling literary stories have remained with us. It's been a joy to see Carol be recognized over the years for her outstanding achievements in storytelling.

                    Carol Birch

                                                      

 

                                                  Here is a portion of her bio

 

In 1998 Carol Birch received the National Storytelling Network's Circle of Excellence Award given to storytellers recognized as master tellers by their peers, setting standards for excellence, and demonstrating a commitment and dedication to the art over a significant period of time. Thirty years of experience have earned her a respected place in the forefront of the revival of platform storytelling: teaching at Southern Connecticut State University; lecturing at forty-one universities across the nation, as well as professional and corporate organizations; producing nine audio-anthologies for the National Storytelling Association; directing seventeen audio-cassettes for independent storytellers as well as August House, Lightyear Entertainment, and Weston Woods Studios; writing THE WHOLE STORY HANDBOOK: USING IMAGERY TO COMPLETE THE STORY EXPERIENCE; co-editing WHO SAYS? ESSAYS ON PIVOTAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY STORYTELLING, the first book on the aesthetics of storytelling; serving as a chairperson of the Anne Izard Storyteller's Choice Award; and producing three award-winning audio-cassettes of her own stories.

Media appearances include ABC's NIGHTLINE and CBS, THIS MORNING, Channel 5 in Boston, National Public Radio, Glamour Magazine and the New York Times. She's been a featured storyteller six times at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and in videos of America's foremost storytellers produced by the Cotsen Storytelling Project; McFeely-Rogers Foundation, The Storytelling Channel for Cable Vision's Rainbow Programming, Hometown Entertainment, and the H. W. Wilson Company. Her storytelling includes invitational events in Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, and Singapore, as well as theater concerts for adults, festivals for families, and school residencies throughout the United States.

Known for a compelling blend of energy, warmth, vulnerability, and directness, Carol restores orality and spontaneity to the fixed silence of stories found in print, but as a third-grader in North Carolina pointed out:

                                     "She knows that story 'cause she was there!"

                                                                             http://www.carolbirch.com/store.html

     Workshop "Passionate Virtuosity":                                                                                                     

John Barth has said that technique in art is like technique in lovemaking --- heartfelt ineptitude has its charms, as does heartless skill, but what we all long for is passionate virtuosity!

Finding our voice is a life-long venture. Finding the place for our voice in written texts can seem particularly daunting. This storytelling workshop helps you identify and develop both your voice and your place within a story. Storytelling's resonance is derived, to a great extent, from creative tensions among the storyteller, the narrative voice within the story, and individual characters. What emerges in effective storytelling is a co-expression of styles, and in this coalescence is the fresh and compelling language that allows oral tale telling to astound us. Amplifying the harmony and dissonance among these voices is what separates the finest storytellers from the very able. Although years have passed since I identified particular problems in working with layered points of view, I now have exercises that better suggest options.

 

This is not a coaching workshop, which is to say, this is not a workshop dedicated to micro-surgery on one or two tales. Rather, the goals are to face broader issues and find tools to use on all your stories, so that each story comes from a stronger, and more definitively personal, base. Be sure to bring stories with problems you find daunting, so that we can turn them inside out and around and generally play with them.

 

 

 Schedule

FRIDAY, March 6

7:30—9:00 P.M.  Informal gathering with welcoming, introductions, and stories (snacks)

SATURDAY, March 7

9:00-9:30 A.M. Registration (coffee and snacks)

9:00-11:00 A.M  PART I – Passionate Virtuosity

11:00-1:00   LUNCH (catered ) and RELAX

1:00-3:00 P.M.   PART II – Passionate Virtuosity

3:00-4:00 P.M. TBA or informal story swap

5:00 P.M.  DINNER (catered on site)

7:00-9:00—Evening of Stories with Carol and friends

SUNDAY, March 8

9:00-11:00—Inspirational tellings (sign-up to tell on registration form)

12:00 LUNCH   (catered)

1:00-3:00 P.M. Riverwind Story Celebration Free public performance with Carol and Riverwind

 Registration Form:

                       This workshop is for serious storytellers who want to work to take their storytelling to the next level.

     Early Bird—before Feb 15

___Full Weekend                        $120.00

 

      After Feb. 15th or at door

___Full Weekend                        $140.00

 

___Saturday Only (2 meals)         $100.00

                                      TOTAL _______

                              Registration includes: 3 meals, snacks, events and RW dues for one year!

                                         Sorry, no refunds…unless you have a really good story!

Name_______________________________________

 

Full Address

____________________________________________

 

____________________________________________

 

Phone(s)_____________________________________

 

E-Mail______________________________________

 

___Yes, I’d like to tell a short, inspirational story on Sunday morning

 

 

Send check to:      Riverwind Storytellers

                           3322 West A St.

                           Belleville, IL 62226

Questions - Mary Lu Bretsch at   618/234-9698 or  E-mail dmlbr@charter.net

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