Cindy Rivka Marshall: Boston Storyteller, Oral History and Storytelling Workshops

Workshops

Jump off the Page

We all use stories to teach. Many teachers read books to their students. Certainly literature has its place in education. But, if you put down the book and TELL the story, you will reach your listeners even more effectively.

Participants will explore the different points of view of a story, and learn how to use voice and gestures to make the story jump off the page. Participants will come away with a short story that they can tell without a book, and a technique for how to do it on their own.

So That We Will Remember
Oral History and Storytelling

A workshop for adults to learn how to conduct oral history interviews and then create stories to perform or tell informally.

Giving voice to our stories and appreciating the compelling details of our lives enhances our sense of self, identity, and heritage. This workshop encourages participants to delve into their family stories of grandparents, parents, other relatives, or their own lives and to shape these memories or fragments into a story that can be shared with others.

Cindy sparks ideas by telling some of her own family stories, and by leading visualization exercises and storytelling games. Stories are honed with coaching about characterization, voice and gesture. Participants also learn and practice oral history interviewing techniques with one another.

Bringing Text to Life: Midrashic Storytelling

Focusing on a biblical story, the group will examine what questions the text leaves unanswered. We will refer to written commentaries on this story, and then will engage in a midrashic process of imagining that which has not been explained in the text. Using an acting method of creating a “backstory,” participants will improvise dialogues between the characters in the story to fill in details that are missing in the text. The final step is to try telling the story in first person from one character’s point of view. Participants will come away with a method for interacting with biblical text that can be used to create Divrei Torah, or for other presentations.

Multidimensional Storytelling: A Look at Point of View

Led by a filmmaker-turned-storyteller, we will view some film footage to analyze how point-of-view is conveyed in film, and discuss how this translates to storytelling. We will apply some methodology of filmmaking to the art of storytelling, learning across mediums.

Participants will then work with a folktale, exploring various points-of-view, and make choice about how to “frame” the action, and “who” will tell the story. The workshop will help participants to get a fuller picture of all of the different characters, and even the inanimate objects in the story. This allows the teller to more fully understand the dynamics of the scenes.

Old Wine in New Bottles

In our dance with old stories, how do we introduce new elements and remain true to the original text? How much can be changed before it is something new entirely? Do we want to make new wine or new bottles: old stories in new structures, or new stories in old structures?

(Note: This workshop was first developed by Cindy Rivka Marshall in collaboration with Marthajoy Aft for the Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference in 2001.

OUTLOUD!
Storytellers Challenging Homophobia in Schools

Storytellers can be uniquely powerful change agents in classrooms by telling stories that honor diversity in our society. A crucial need exists to convey to young people a message of respect for human differences. Cindy demonstrates age-appropriate ways to tell stories about gay and lesbian experience to elementary, middle and high school audiences. We also share stories of how to promote tolerance and overcome homophobia. Attendees are invited to discuss ideas and concerns.

(Note: This workshop was first developed by Cindy Rivka Marshall in collaboration with Jack Maguire for the National Storytelling Network Conference in 2003.)

Adoption Stories

Children’s media often exploits the theme of the orphan child, or the person who discovers that they were adopted. The topic is compelling, yet the media is out of step with the current prevalence of adoption and the attitudes of openness and celebration of adoption. Meanwhile, the heroines and heroes in folktales from different cultures have been tested with the challenges of adoptive parents, step parents, abandonment and childlessness for centuries.

We will look at how adoption is portrayed in traditional stories and ask: Is there wisdom in the old stories, or are they, too, out of sync with contemporary approaches? Can they be useful for those whose lives are touched by adoption? What stories might we want to tell? We will explore how telling stories on this theme might be helpful or healing for ourselves or for others touched by adoption.

Dancing Tree Productions • 617.244.4275