First Person Arts

First Person Arts is offering two delightful workshops starting this Spring:

One Day Memoir Workshop:
May 3rd, 2008
10:00 am-6:00 pm
$125

For this intensive day of workshopping, each student will bring in multiple copies of a complete memoir piece (five pages double-spaced) or a self-contained excerpt from a larger project. We will spend the day workshopping this writing. With guidance from the instructor, the class will discuss the pieces, exploring their meanings, praising their successes, and offering constructive suggestions for improvement.

About the professor: Nadine Kavanaugh received her MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. She is a Staff Writer for the University of Pennsylvania, a film reviewer for the Philadelphia Weekly, and she is hard at work on her first novel. She has taught numerous writing courses most recently “The Essential Elements of Memoir Writing.”

And to get you ready for your StorySlamming best:

Storytelling on Stage
June 7th, 2008
10:00am-4:00pm
$125

Good storytelling should feel intimate, off-the-cuff and passionate. In this workshop, you will learn the difference between a story and monologue. You will learn how to pick and structure your stories, how to find your authentic voice and how to captivate an audience. Please bring in a story you have either told on stage or at a dinner party, and this class will help you polish it for professional use… story slams, alternative comedy slots or first person theater showcases.

About the professor: Kimberlee Auerbach is a former breaking news producer who now writes and performs fulltime. She has performed her comedic monologues throughout New York City at venues such as The Original Improv, The Kraine Theater, and The Bitter End. Her one-woman show played to sold-out houses at the New York International Fringe Festival, and she has competed in several Moth GrandSLAM Championships. Her memoir, The Devil, The Lovers & Me: My Life in Tarot, was released by Dutton in August 2007. For more information about Kimberlee check out www.kimmiland.com.

Kids say the darndest things; but more often than not, those things are decidedly perceptive. Just ask Zoe Greenberg, a 16-year-old student at Philadelphia’s Springside School, whose 11-minute documentary “Enough” features real students discussing and describing real social issues, like wealth, poverty, and class. Conceived and created as part of Greenberg’s bat mitzvah project, the documentary asks scores of students—black and white, rich and poor, male and female—questions like “What is poverty?” and “Why are people poor?” For her efforts, the high school junior was awarded the second-annual Princeton Prize for Race Relations. While the doc was screened this weekend during the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival’s Annual New Filmmakers Weekend, you can order a copy by visiting the film’s website.

Elsewhere: Philadelphia native Joe Barber will premiere his documentary, Electile Dysfunction, at the 17th annual Philadelphia Film Festival (which begins April 3 and runs through April 15). The film—which features interviews with senators Barack Obama and Arlen Specter as well as former vice-president Al Gore—focuses on how political candidates are commoditized and “sold” to voters. The doc screens on Wednesday, April 9, at the Prince Music Theatre.

Also at the Philly Film Festival: Temple University faculty member Eugene Martin trains his lens on two students from inner-city Philadelphia schools in the Bloodlines Video Diary Project. Following each student through a entire academic year at their respective high school, Martin—who also provided his two student-subjects with cameras to document the moments when the professor’s own film crew couldn’t be with them—weaves a “moving record”—albeit with a surprisingly “poetic aspect”—of twenty-first century life in Philadelphia’s urban core. The film debuts at the International House on April 5 with an additional screening on April 12 at the Black Box at the Prince.