Intensives

It’s not just what you say, but how you say it that creates a memorable story. Raise your presentation skills to a new level. Join this interactive workshop to expand your creative potential and explore performance skills that release the power of stories. Use your physical presence, body and voice, to bring a wider range of expression to your storytelling skills and deepen connections with your listeners. Come ready to move, play, and have fun!

8:00 AM - 12 PM

Location: Albany Room

ALL LEVELS

The Washington Post describes Israeli-born Noa Baum as "Spreading cultural truths that eclipse geopolitical boundaries...". An award-winning storyteller, author, and coach, Noa focuses on the power of narrative to heal across divides of identity and promote peace. She presents internationally from Turkey to Australia, the World Bank to the US Defense Department, the National Storytelling Festival, and the Kennedy Center. Noa holds an M.A. in Educational Theater and Drama Therapy from NYU and is the author of “A Land Twice Promised: An Israeli Woman’s Quest for Peace” and “How the Birds Became Friends”, on the power of kindness.

Drawing from his 40 year career in the performing arts as a mime, actor, and storyteller, Antonio will discuss the essential ingredients that he believes holds an audience during a long story.

Some of the topics will include but are not limited to the structure and elements of the story arc, gesture, character and staging. Antonio will also select a couple of participants to be coached in front of the participants. Come on over to this safe and exploratory session and your stories will never be the same.

Note: Please keep in mind that during the coaching, only Antonio can address the person being coached 8:30 AM - 12 PM

Location: Adirondack North (Theatre)

ADVANCED

Antonio Rocha (pronounced haw-sha), originally from Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985. In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the USA to perform and deepen his mime skills with Mime Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a Summa Cum Laude Theater BA from USM (University of Southern Maine) and studied with Master Marcel Marceau. Mr. Rocha’s unique and award winning solo fusion of mime and storytelling with mesmerizing voices and sound effects has been performed from Singapore to South Africa and many places in between, including 20 countries on 6 continents as well as in 44 US states. Some of the venues include The Singapore Festival of the Arts, Wolf Trap, The National Storytelling Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Geographic, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival, The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Cave Run Storytelling Festival as well as thousands of school performances. Antonio Rocha also loves to teach his craft and often facilitates workshops, not only for performers, but for those who want to incorporate storytelling into their business presentations and classroom.

A two time TEDx speaker, Mr. Rocha is a proud recipient of the coveted Circle of Excellence Award by the National Storytelling Network, and most recently the 2024 Maine Arts Commission Fellowship for the Performing Arts.

Every story that feels ancient today was once brand-new. In this lively, hands-on workshop, storyteller Paul Strickland shares practical ways to honor the heart of old folk tales while giving them new rhythm, humor, and life. Learn to re-upholster classic stories so modern audiences can lean in, laugh, and listen like it’s their first time hearing them. You’ll leave with fresh tools, a renewed story, and a roomful of ideas ready to tell.

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Location: Albany Room

ALL LEVELS

Paul Strickland is a full-time touring storyteller, award-winning solo performer, and artist coach whose work lives at the intersection of tradition and invention. He’s performed at the National Storytelling Festival, Timpanogos, and Off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse, delighting audiences across North America. Known for transforming timeless folk structures into performances full of humor and heart, Paul helps storytellers and performers refresh traditional material for modern audiences through laughter, rhythm, and deeply practical storytelling tools.

We will practice stories that illustrate pivotal moments of change related to social issues and our personal experiences. Sue O’Halloran will demonstrate how she approaches her race equity stories. These principles will apply to any cause that calls to you, whether you are an active advocate or just beginning to take on stories with deeper themes. You will be able to distinguish between stories that preach in a negative and patronizing way and those that influence through combining education and entertainment, thereby respecting, enlightening, and emotionally moving your audience members to take action.

1:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Location: Warren

ALL LEVELS

Sue O’Halloran is the author of several books and the producer/director of the first online story festival in 2012 that reached fifty-two countries and whose website received over half a million visitors each year. The Chicago Reader says O’Halloran “has mastered the Irish art of telling stories that are funny and heart-wrenching at the same time.” Sue has been a featured teller at the National Storytelling and Timpanogos Festivals as well as a keynote speaker and community-building facilitator at the National Storytelling Network and NEST conferences. She lives in Lady Lake, Florida, and can be found at: www.susanohalloran.com

Created by narrative therapy experts, the Tree of Life model guides participants to safely explore key stories of one’s life, gaining insight into the experiences, strengths, and values that have shaped who we are. Through an introduction to the model, including story prompts to accompany each part of our story tree, participants will learn new ways to access personal stories, leaving with insights into the wisdom they contain. Exploring our tree of life stories is a process of first remembering us to ourselves; then finding the stories we choose to share with others, leading to new perspectives, healing, and change.

1:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Location: Adirondack West

ALL LEVELS

Known for her personal tales of wit and wisdom, Lani Peterson is not only a storyteller, but a psychologist, story consultant and coach. With a specialty in the use of story as a healing art and change agent, Lani has been storytelling, leading workshops and teaching about story at universities, organizations, hospitals, homeless shelters and prisons for over 25 years. When she is not telling, teaching, counseling or coaching, Lani stays busy living a life that she knows will lead to more stories.

Morning Intensives - Require separate ticket

Afternoon Intensives - Require separate ticket