Storytelling is an ancient tradition, one that keeps generations connected—l’dor v’dor. Author Corey Rosen reached and inspired a few generations in Tidewater when he visited February 15–16 as part of the Simon Family JCC and United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Konikoff Center for Learning and the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival.
Rosen met with students at Virginia Wesleyan University on February 15, leading more than 60 students and faculty in a one-hour workshop exploring how storytelling can help people make connections with one another and bridge ideological differences.
Following his presentation at VWU, which was sponsored by the university’s Robert Nusbaum Center, Rosen spoke at Virginia MOCA in celebration of his debut book, Your Story, Well Told: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience. Rosen’s presentation was full of excitement and laughter, as he engaged the audience in interactive storytelling activities. At one point, he invited four audience members to join him on stage to create a story about a couple running into a snake on their wedding day. The night was not just entertaining, it was practical, as Rosen shared his insight into the story spine, a concept that he explains can turn any good story into a great one.
The following day, Rosen visited Virginia Beach Gifted Middle School to teach the art of improv and storytelling to Brittney Harvey’s sixth-grade class. The students have been working on creative writing and storytelling in their Language Arts class, and the visit with Rosen left them with games and activities that can help overcome even the most extreme case of writer’s block.
Rosen ended his Tidewater visit by speaking to, as he put it, “a room full of experienced storytellers,” at a workshop with more than 50 seniors at the Sandler Family Campus. Through telling stories of his own and leading the workshop participants in activities with their peers, Rosen guided them through the process of remembering long forgotten stories and freshening up those that have been told many times by pulling in new details.
“Corey Rosen’s visit was one of the most entertaining, up-beat presentations that I have been to in a while,” says Sherry Lieberman. “He involved his audience, was most humorous, and a real delight.
To learn about more programs, contact Sierra Lautman, director of Jewish Innovation at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater at SLautman@UJFT.org, or Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas at UJFT at HThomas@UJFT.org.
–Sierra Lautman and Hunter Thomas