“All art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God”. Lady Blomfield
Story-telling Workshops
These workshops are between 3-5 hours in length. They are conducted for people 14 years and above. Anyone is able to attend. There are two different workshop formats, which have many of the same features. Limit of 20 participants.
Story-telling Format
- Short introduction to story telling
- Story-telling games
- Dramatic piece or story is shared
- Themes from the dramatic piece are discussed
- Participants write a story about an event in their life, which reflects one of the themes discussed
- Participants are given prepared stories to work on based on the theme of the workshop. Such as DawnBreaker Story-telling Workshop or Stories of Abdul’Bahá story-telling workshop or Healing Story-telling Workshop
- Participants present their story to the group
- Short discussion occurs around the stories shared
- A community performance is organized for the workshop participants to share their stories with the community
Story-telling workshop on Acceptance and Community
2.5 hours long – Ages 13 years and above
Nava performs a 10 minute segment from the play “Child behind the Eyes” – The group then talks about the themes from the scene. This is followed by each participant writing a personal story connected to the various themes discussed. This story is then shared with the larger group.
Dawn Breakers Story-telling Workshop
3 hours long – Ages 15 years and above. This workshop can be conducted with about 15 – 20 people.
Participants learn the art of story-telling, reflect on the importance of the DawnBreakers and learn a story from the book to be performed at an event organized beforehand by the host of the workshop or the community.
Examples of Places where stories are shared:
- In Nome, Alaska; high school students read their stories over two nights before a professional theatre performance
- Feast coordinators schedule one or two stories for each Feast
- All stories include a song which the participants learn after the story is finished