SKETCH: JANE BORDEN - Storytelling / Personal Essay Workshop

Everyone has a funny or crazy true story, and anyone can be a storyteller: It's all in the way you frame it. This workshop will give you the tools necessary to turn your favorite yarn into a piece of entertainment for larger audiences. Those already writing or performing will gain a fresh perspective on their craft.

Because the workshop will focus on development itself--structure, metaphor, beats, connections, character arc--we'll be able to work on both performance storytelling, and also narrative-nonfiction prose/memoir. As well, you'll learn how to mine material from your past that you may not have considered story-worthy before.

Come prepared to put tales on their feet in front of the rest of the class! And bring a pen and paper too.

NOTE: WORKSHOP AVAILABLE TO ALL WRITERS AND PERFORMERS, "STUDENT FEE" ONLY AVAILABLE FOR REGISTERED NC COMEDY ARTS FESTIVAL PERFORMERS (WHO HAVE ELECTED TO REGISTER FOR THE WORKSHOP PACKAGE).

Friday February 17, 1pm-4pm
Saturday February 18, 1pm-4pm

SPACES ARE LIMITED; REGISTER SOON!

Class Dates and Times*

* All classes are 3 hours long unless otherwise noted above.

Instructor: Jane Borden

Jane Borden is an author, arts-and-entertainment journalist, and comedian. Her first book, a memoir in essays, titled "I Totally Meant to Do That", was published by Crown this year. Vanity Fair called it “affectionate” and New York Magazine deemed it “lowbrow-brilliant.” The Brooklyn Paper announced Borden as “the new ‘It’ girl.”

Her humorous writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine and Modern Bride, in two anthologies, and on Saturday Night Live. And as a comedian, she’s appeared on Comedy Central and VH1, and performs regularly at storytelling and stand up shows, and in festivals.

Borden was a staff editor at Time Out New York for seven years, predominantly covering comedy and theater, and health and wellness. She appeared regularly on local morning news programs (NBC, Fox, CW) as a guest expert. And she’s been fortunate enough to interview several of her heroes (Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, and Garrison Keillor, among many others).