Rainbow Lifelong Learning Institute, Boston

Schedule

This course will be held on Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00 begining on 3/19/25. It will be on Zoom and onsite at The Pryde, 59 Harvard Ave.. Hyde Park.

Thea Iberall, Instructor

Course Description.

The course will be hybrid—conducted both in person and on zoom—and will be held at The Pryde, located at  55 Harvard Ave., Hyde Park.

Have you ever tried to share an event of your life and it just falls flat? In this course, you’ll learn the basics of telling a great story. You’ll learn how to set up the story and bring it to life so that people are sitting on their edge of their seats wondering how it will end. A story is a journey. Don’t bore your family and friends ever again.

Each class will start with a lesson. For some of the classes, there will be a guest storyteller to show how storytelling can be done effectively. Then we’ll break into small groups and tell stories. The listener will listen for the lesson. We’ll gather back together to discuss our experiences. For homework, students will flesh out their stories and write them out if they want.

The 5 classes will have these lessons:

1.  Story structure. Anchoring the story. Plant a hook. Heightened moment.

2.  Types of story. Showing vs telling. Conflict and risk.

3.   Voice and perspective. Elements of the story.

4.   Subtext (theme). Book-ends.

5.   Lessons learned.

Required materials.

The instructor may have some handouts.

What to prep for first class 

N/A

Instructor Bio

Gayle Brandeis, author of Drawing Breath, called Thea Iberall ‘a shimmering bridge between heart and mind.’  An inductee into the International Educators Hall of Fame, Thea has been a featured storyteller at venues in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, California, and Greece. She represented Los Angeles at the National Poetry Slams in 1998. Thea hosted Expresso Yourself Coffeehouse, and is the playwright of We Did It For You— the story of how women got their rights in America. She is the author of the ecofeminist novel The Swallow and the Nightingale. Thea has a Master’s degree in Professional Writing (USC). Member: Northeast Storytellers, Jewish Storytellers Coalition.