Experience The Wonders of Storytelling Through Workshops Hosted By This Institute

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to tell a story, how to keep your audience captivated and interested and transport them to another world, we’ve found your source – the World Storytelling Institute.

Started in 2008 as a trust in Chennai by Eric Miller, Jeeva Raghunath and Magdalene Jeyarathnam, the World Storytelling Institute is a facility that trains people in the art of storytelling. It’s about the performance, building a discussion and the different forms in which a story can be told.

One of the great things about storytelling is that it’s a social experiment, bringing people from different walks of life together to participate and interact with each other. Which is what the Storytelling Institute is doing through all their events and activities.

They have regular events happening all over the city {for both adults and kids} where there will be a host kicking off the storytelling with a specific topic, after which there is room for everyone there to participate by taking over the open mic for ten minutes to tell their own story based on the topic. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, or a new story, but it’s a platform allowing people to try something new.

Almost every Saturday at different venues around the city, there are storytelling events and activities for kids, plus the institute does something called the “Story Voyage” where they take the children on a field trip to places like museums, aquariums, and planetariums, making it a storytelling adventure. The fee for this is INR 500 and each child must be accompanied by an adult.

Starting in 2018, the institute will also be kicking off workshops for children, teenagers and adults in the art of storytelling, creative writing and other activities tied to this. The workshops for kids and teenagers would cover 10 sessions, at the end of which there will be a final performance by everyone participating in these workshops. Children will learn about everything from animal fables, fairytales and other folk stories, they will also be taught to write and compose their own stories and plays! As for teenagers, the creative writing workshop will help them hone their playwriting skills, as well as writing short stories and poetry.

For adults, the workshop is a little different, it’s catered to teachers, HR trainers, social workers, tour guides, performers and others where they will be coached on how to tell a story, how to carry themselves during a performance and using stories to make a speech or complete a sales pitch. But it’s more than just being about a social adventure, they also have what they call ‘storytelling therapy’ which helps members with psychological counselling, life coaching, training in life skills and communication skills amongst others.

You can attend a storytelling session for and by adults in November to get a feel for what is in store for you. On Monday, 6 November, there is a gathering at Café Coffee Day Square {on Khader Nawaz Khan Road} where it’s an open mic evening of storytelling. It’s INR 150 to participate and you can register via their website and get more information as well.