Storytelling with Jen Rubin

In this 4-week class participants will learn how to find, shape and present stories. Classes meet Wednesdays from October 23 to November 13, 2019 from 7 to 9 PM. You can bring an existing story to shape or find a new story from your life. We will discuss the five main elements to a story and how to discover them. By learning dynamic storytelling elements, you will gain the tools to pull short stories out of everyday life. Participants will learn how to turn an anecdote of something that happened to you into a story that illuminates a central truth about your life. This will be an interactive workshop with a mixture of mini lecture, 1:1 dialogue, small group work and presentations. 

What students are saying about this workshop:

"Jen Rubin makes storytelling look easy, but she knows it's not. As a teacher, she offers an easy-to-follow framework for building successful stories and generously shares the tips she's learned over the years. She also expertly helps students tease out their own stories -- even when they don't think they have anything to share -- and massage the final product. She is warm, funny and encouraging."

"Jen Rubin’s workshop provided exactly what I needed to move from writing to live storytelling. Her workshop drilled down on the important beats a storyteller must hit to tell a story that resonates with an audience. After completing the workshop, I had the confidence to tell a story at The Moth in Madison. I was moved by the incredible audience reaction I received. I’m now addicted to live storytelling, thanks to Jen’s workshop.

Jen leads storytelling workshops around Madison, co-produces the Moth StorySlam in Madison, teaches the occasional social policy class at the University of Wisconsin School of Social Work, and also works at the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. She is the co-host of 'Inside Stories' podcast. She recently published her first book, We Are Staying: Eighty Years in the Life of a Family, a Store, and a Neighborhood.