The Multi-purpose Prop

Target Participants:

Open to storytellers in English of varying skill levels who wish to improve their storytelling

Duration:

1 session, three hours per session

No. of Participants:

Min: 10 people; Max: 20 people


Pre-Workshop Preparation:

  • Please come dressed in loose, comfortable clothing so that you will not feel constricted while doing the various physical activities.
  • Please bring at least one generic non-breakable prop (e.g. a piece of cloth, a stick, a ball) that you would like to experiment with.
  • Please bring at least 2 action-based stories that you would like to improve the telling of.

Notes for Organisers:

  • Please make available preferably a rehearsal room or studio with no encumbrances that allows free movement.
  • Alternatively, a classroom with fair acoustics is possible, as long as all the furniture in the room has been removed or pushed aside so that participants can move about the entire space unhampered.

Just as how we use words to stimulate the imagination of our audiences, let us storytellers use props in a discerning and resourceful manner to support our storytelling. In this workshop, let experienced storytelling coach and theatre practitioner Verena Tay guide you in expanding the possibilities of using a chosen prop and then integrating these new options within your telling of a story, thereby further wowing your audience with your creativity.

Areas Covered:

  • Exploring the use of generic props within storytelling.
  • Expanding the storyteller’s capacity and ingenuity.
About the Facilitator

Verena Tay has spent more than 25 years acting, directing and writing for Singaporean English-language theatre. She has three published collections of plays and is now working on her debut novel and first volume of short stories. In addition, Verena is an active storyteller-cum-storytelling coach and a co-founder of MoonShadow Stories. Possessing an MA in Voice Studies (Central School of Speech and Drama, 2005) and an MA in English Literature (National University of Singapore, 1993), she has been helping people to improve their communication skills since 2001 and currently teaches voice, speech and presentation skills at various local institutions. For more information about Verena, please visit www.verenatay.com.