Underneath The Lintel

Our next reading will be Underneath The Lintel. Have it read by Friday of next week (April 4). If at all possible, you should see the play before reading it. the play opens this week at NC Stage in downtown Asheville. Wednesday is pay-what-you-can night with tickets for a $5 minimum.

Days 20 - 22

Wednesday. Absent: Kaitlin, Drew
Friday. Absent: Ash, Carly
This week we finished up some activities with form, working briefly with verse forms:
iambic pentameter and trochaic tetrameter. Some discussion of the use of verse forms influencing the development of content.
Discussion of 2.5 Minute Ride by Lisa Kron included looking at the diversity of stories that make up the composition.
Assignment to diagram the stories in some manner. Thank you Alina and Chip for you work.
We watched Hal Holbrook's 1967 performance of Mark Twain Tonight, a play created by the actor studying a large body of work and then compsing the program conversationally in the persona of Mark Twain. More on Hal Holbrook here. (Side note: Richard Corson's elaborate makeup for the young Holbrook launched his fame as a stage makeup artist. His book Stage Makeup continues to be a standard text in the art.)

Day 19

Absent: Alina (ex), Lindsey (ex), Ash, Alex

pop quiz to blank stares:

What is Kamishibai?

Who was Milman Parry and what did he discover?

What does Bånklesånger mean and what does it refer to?

Okay, I'm a softy. I let you have until Monday to tell me. But look out. Not next time.

Cowboy poetry. An abridged recitation of Robert Service's "Blasphemous Bill." A viewing of Waddie Mitchell telling "Belle of the Ball." An exercise in rendering our personal stores in rhyme.

Day 18

Absent: Alina (ex), Lindsey (ex), Kaitlin

Discussion of the aversion to storytelling in religions "of the book."
Forms of picture/object storytelling:
Especially significant this weekend are Stations of the Cross
Other forms still present today:
Felt/Flannel Board Storytelling: here's a link to a flannel board treatment of the folktale "Cap O' Rushes" (a source story for King Lear)
Power Point, Film Strip, Overhead Projectors.
Here is a link to an early form of animation that may have a storytelling function.
"Oldest Animation In The World Found In Burnt City"

Story told: Sky Woman's Basket.
Activity: game of "what is it?" applied to 3 little Pigs. the object can tell the story and the story can tell the object. The story itself can be considered an object that is modified to tell the story the teller wants to get across.

Assignments: Read "2.5 minute Ride" by Lisa Kron in Talk To Me.

Day 17

Absent: Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Cassie

Topic; storytelling with objects. Referencing World of Storytelling chapters 3, 4, 12.

Opening game with walking stick ("rhabdos") involving prop transformation a.k.a 'What is It?'

Marble Story: "Jason's Pearl"
String Story: "Cat's Cradle" "Jack & The Beanstalk"
Shoestring Story: "Rabbit"

Day 16

absent: Alina, Lindsey, Chip, Alex

Brief discussion of story mosaics- mostly working from Carly's example.

We watched and discussed "The Call of Story" dvd with storytellers Donald Davis and Carmen Deedy.

Story structuring formulae:
Donald Davis: Places, People, Problems, Progress.
Elizabeth Ellis: Ha Ha, Aha, Aah, Amen.
David Novak: To Place, To Reveal, To Relate.

Day 15

Continued conversation groups, creating story mosaics. We added "collective stories" with the personal stories. Examples: King Midas, Sleeping Beauty. The challenge was to fit the collective in among the personal stories. Notice the way stories can be used to understand stories. By putting different stories in relationship certain qualities are emphasized or accented.

Assignment: create story mosaics on your own, matching personal and collective stories. Diagram the mosaic and come to class ready to discuss.