Read more
Personal Narrative Performance and Storytelling: A Method of Composition from Action to Text offers a practical method for composing and performing personal narrative stories for artistic and academic purposes.
It is designed to make storytelling accessible to seasoned performers and people who are engaging with the artform for the first time. The author's unique method of composing stories from action to text privileges oral composition over writing. It draws on anecdotes from the author's many years of coaching storytellers to illustrate concepts throughout the book, making it entertaining and user-friendly. The methods contained in this book can help students and scholars communicate theoretical and scholarly arguments about culture, gender, race, and the environment.
Anyone looking to harness the power of personal storytelling to speak about the political and the personal - in a classroom or on a stage - will find Personal Narrative Performance and Storytelling: A Method of Composition from Action to Text of great use. Additionally, the book will be of interest to qualitative researchers and those applying autoethnographic and storytelling methods in communication studies and other related social science and arts disciplines.
List of contents
1. "Why We Leave Home": Defining Personal Storytelling 2. "I Didn't Learn Anything": Motivations for Telling Stories on Stage 3. "The Goat Is on the Roof": Choosing What to Talk About 4. "All of This Life, Right Out in Front of Us": Identifying Successful Story Structures 5. "Joey Owned Cats": Composing Stories from Action to Text 6. "If Math Class Were Here, I Would Fight Math Class": Using Language and Figures of Speech 7. "I Think About the Mask on My Face and I Wonder How Long It'd Been Since I Put It on": Communicating Meaning Through Embodied Performance 8: "My Hyper Fixation Was a Little More Sinister": Storytelling Persona and Your Relationship with the Audience
About the author
Charles Parrott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University, USA. Dr. Parrott is the Director of the KSU Tellers, a student storytelling ensemble focused on solo performance, community engagement, and performance-based scholarship. Under his direction, the KSU Tellers have performed at regional, national, and international festivals and conferences. He has won numerous awards for his innovative teaching and mentorship of undergraduate research.
Summary
This book offers a clear and replicable method for constructing personal stories / storytelling to be performed on stage for an audience with the intention of sharing the performer’s experience.
