Every family carries its own folklore. Great grandma Sofia’s trek from Sicily to NY. The Christmas that the tree caught on fire. The reason why cousin Courtney always wears green. These stories can be grand or quirky and often change with who and which generation is telling them. They are always about our history and family’s traditions and inform us about who and where we come from.

This generative class, open to all experience levels, will utilize techniques from Devised Theatre to crack open the stories that already live inside of us. Each class will include allotted time to write and in the customarily oral ways of folklore, spoken out loud in a variety of exercises. By opening up our stories to the group and watching our work on its feet we can better recognize which elements are standing out and how to craft the story we want to tell. More than anything this class aims to get you out of your head and into your own voice. While process oriented, what we will develop by the end of our time together can be used as the beginning of your own memoir, personal essay, or even performance piece.