The Story Studio

Finally managed to fit my schedule with the school’s availability. Kevin is a very nice guy with a good sense of what makes an effective story. He gives some good feedback. What he hasn’t figured out yet is a clear series of exercises that work a particular element of story-​telling and how to present them to a class. I think he’s working on it and he’s a smart guy — he’ll probably find them eventually. So, I would give them a year or so to develop the curriculum. Maybe two years if you’re picky.

I took the 2-​day storytelling workshop with David Crabb. He created a safe and comfortable space to tell and improve on our stories. He also dealt with some weird situations capably and sensitively. He turned some very cringe-​worthy moments around professionally and with candor.
I thought the other participants were going to be professional writers and performers who had well structured stories to develop. There were 7 of us and each person had a different reason why we were there. I suppose there could have been some professional performers, but no one was professional in the class that I took. As soon as a few other people told their stories, I was able to relax and I remembered a few of mine to tell.
I have had some experience with storytelling professionally as a social worker and celebrant. Aside from me, there was a drama trauma therapist who worked with pedophiles with PTSD, 2 young people who worked in public relations who wanted to use storytelling better in the context of their jobs, a Korean girl who had taken a class with David previously and dropped out after one class even though she had told an amazing story and everyone had liked her and wanted her to come back to that class –she did not come back for the second day of our class either, and I wished that she had because I seemed to relate to her the most and then there were two real wildcards. There was a young African American girl who kept dropping huge bombs of information within the context of her stories (I was pregnant at the time, My boyfriend just passed away) and did not get back to those things in the context of her stories, which were superficial and meandering. This girl was super cute. She had an expressive face and she had incredible comic timing, but she seemed very naïve and there was this huge question mark about how she ended up in a storytelling workshop.
Then there was an older woman who was incredibly odd. She mentioned several times that she had completed all of her coursework for her PhD at Columbia (obviously a huge issue for her) and she talked about her dyslexia, and wore an «I am gifted with dyslexia» tshirt the second day. She mentioned at some point that she was a hoarder. She did not have a concrete story about herself so much as these weird facts that she would just declare every once in a while. In the first 15 minutes of class we were doing introductions and when she stopped talking after introducing herself, David started to go on with the class, and she interrupted him and said that she was not finished and she had a few more things to say. One of those things was about an herb that she had become «obsessed with» called «moringa» and even though she talked about it extensively, I still have no idea what it is or what it does. On the second day, her story was some general facts about her dyslexia and then she launched into a retelling of the story «Sleeping Beauty» with all of the words jumbled up to illustrate dyslexia — i.e. «Beeping Sleuty.» Everyone tried to give her good feedback and be kind. That’s what i mean about it being a safe environment.
I went into the class with the idea of telling a very personal and dark story– I thought it would be good or cathartic for me to tell that story. I told it during the first day when I was in a small group (with the young black girl and the older lady, who made me feel really safe about my dark story, oddly) and I realized a few things.1) At this time, the story I wanted to tell wasn’t that great of a story because I hadn’t encapsulated it into something with a beginning, middle and end. The information I learned during the class helped me to realize this. 2) Not enough time had passed since the events of the story took place for me to be able to reflect on it with any clarity or wisdom. I know I am going to tell that story one day, but it was plain to me when I told it in the small group that I wasn’t ready to get up in front of people and tell it.
I ended up telling another long form story on the second day of the workshop, from when I was a teenager. David and the group gave me some wonderful feedback about how I could change it to be funnier or expand it into a longer story or how I could divide it into a bunch of different stories. In the end, I learned some important basic things about story structure that helped me to form the story better when I told it.
I plan on taking a longer class with the story studio in the future. I enjoyed this introductory class and I look forward to delving deeper into the craft of storytelling.

I took the 2-​day weekend workshop and now I want to take the six week one. The instructor gave about a dozen or more especially solid tips on how to tap into emotion, how to paint a fleshed out picture and how to clear away the excess so your story moves along compellingly. I’ve done story slams before like The Moth. But in these workshops, after every story told, Kevin shows how the 6 senses could have been used better and how the 5 beat structure can be used to oomph it up. Everyone is encouraged to ask the storyteller things like, «Is that how you really felt? What flashed through your mind? How did the other character react? How did your philosophy change?» The whole group was very into it and two said they, d done other story workshops but the Story Studio was the best by far.

I took the 6-​week «Storytelling for Personal Growth» class with Kevin Allison and Dawn Fraser, which is for beginners looking to just dip their toes into the whole storytelling medium. I was surprised at how meaningful and effective it was. You learn how to:
(1) identify what stories you may have percolating inside you in the first place. Everyone has their go-​to anecdotes they bust out at the bar or family reunion, but this class was great at helping you dig and find the stories that you didn’t even realize that you had.
(2) Learn the basic tools of what makes a story particularly compelling – what kind of details to add, where to start it, where to finish it, how to find the theme or «point» of your story and build the narrative around that. You get a lot of practice in telling stories, in an incredibly supportive environment with a lot of constructive feedback. Taking the class has make me go back and reevaluate some of my go-​to anecdotes and rethink them and what they mean, and look at the «non-​stories» in my life and see the stories that are lurking there… In all, it is a fun, funny, entertaining, challenging, scary, and powerful experience with great people.

I took the 8-​week Story Studio course with Kevin Allison. Of these, 6 of the sessions began with Kevin giving us a brief 30-​minute lecture on some key features of effective storytelling (the different components, distinctions, etc.), and then students would tell their prepared and impromptu stories. (There was no lecture component to the other two courses — students just told their stories.)
I expected that once Keven gave us some guidelines in the first 30 minutes, subsequent stories told by students would be assessed according to those guidelines. However, that rarely happened. Once students told stories, the discussion was very general — centering around what people liked, what they did not like, what was confusing, what they wanted to hear more about etc. — not on whether the story followed what Kevin had just instructed us to follow.
The feedback was always very specific to the particular story that students’ told. I learned how to tell a couple stories really well, but I did not learn how to tell a good story in general because the stories were never evaluated according to a few universal principles. I wish the followed a structure — analyzing every story based on the story telling guidelines that have been discussed earlier in class (not based on everyone’s general impressions).
Don’t mistake me — its a great class if you just want general practice telling stories and to receive great feedback on a few select stories that you already have in mind. But if you want to learn the art of storytelling in general, I don’t think this is the class for it. Also, other instructors might do things differently.

There are lots of cool things to do in NYC, but taking a class at The Story Studio is one of the coolest. Kevin is not only a storytelling pro, but an encouraging and supportive teacher. He and my fellow classmates were totally supportive and made me feel completely safe to get up there and share my stories.
If you’re looking to become a better performer, a better conversationalist, or simply to share more of yourself with the world, this is the class for you!

I took Kevin’s one-​day intensive and it was a FULL day! I was so impressed with Kevin. He is smart and supportive and used our time so well. We really got a lot done in a day. I learned a lot about the structure of stories and find myself using his ideas– especially about how to FIND your stories that are worth telling– over and over. In all, I totally recommend it if you are interested in telling your own stories at Slams or other venues!

The Story Studio is something very special. Kevin has created an environment that is safe and welcoming, and perhaps one of the most incredible classes I have ever taken. I highly recommend signing up for this class.
If you have any desire to stand up and tell your story, this is the class to take.

I took the class with Kevin and it was a great experience. I was a tad skeptical at first, thinking, like so many other «classes,» it may just be a way for a performer to pay the bills. To the contrary, I found Kevin to be very knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about the process of storytelling. There is a definite structure to be learned and Kevin is a more than qualified teacher.

I experienced a real transformation in the way I prepare, listen to, and tell stories based on the 9-​week workshop. The chance to tell stories and get feedback was highly valuable and I am actually considering taking it a second time! Kevin was ultra-​supportive and an expert in listening — a skill often overlooked, but extremely necessary. To top it off his laughter is infectious! My fellow classmates also were highly supportive and gave great comments too.

Want to improve your storytelling so you can get to the point? Take this course.
I enrolled to help my somewhat jarring spoken narrative. To that end, the course was immensely helpful. What also happened, which wasn’t at all expected, was that I got better at hearing stories, which has greatly enhanced my podcast experience.
There are mechanics to good storytelling. Learn them. The caveat is that you’ll get out of it only what you put into it. Kevin makes it easy and comfortable.

I took Kevin’s 9-​week story class and it helped me in three major ways:
1. I now have a solid grounding in how to construct a story, mix certain classic elements, and play with pacing, emphasis and other aspects of delivery.
2. I am able to look critically at other people’s stories (and performances) and identify why something does or doesn’t work.
3. I got a supportive environment in which to try gettting my feet wet with performing.
The class size was perfect — six of us – and Kevin paced the material well and gave us lots of opportunities to try out new stories every week to put those lessons into practice. I would encourage anyone who wants to explore storytelling as a form of self-​expression to take this course.
Also, unlike other Unilocal establishments, this class did not give me food poisoning.

I took Kevin’s 9-​week workshop a little over a year ago. I didn’t realize how many great stories I had stored up over the years until I was given the opportunity to work with someone on them. Lots of fun, I met cool people, overall great experience.