what is what’s the story?
What's the Story? is a workshop for the development of personal story for the stage, the screen, or the page. Participants are writers and performers who are wrestling with personal (not necessarily autobiographical) story.
Founded by artistic director Stacie Chaiken as a workshop for solo performance, the group has expanded to include a handful of artists writing specifically for the screen and the page.
The workshop produces monthly works-in-progress evenings in Santa Monica and Downtown Los Angeles, where writer-performers have the opportunity to try out new work on a friendly, invited audience. The audience, in turn, has the opportunity to watch the work grow and take form over the course of the months.
The What's the Story? Festival of new works-in-progress, produced each spring at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica, offers an opportunity for workshop participants to perform full-length works in a context where the focus is still the honing of the text, now in relationship to an audience. “In solo performance at its best,” Chaiken says, “all we have is you, the audience. The audience, and a great beautifully crafted story.” We don’t know what we have until we bring it to an audience.
a solo performance - personal story workshop for
writers & performers who are creating for
the stage
the page &
the screen
what’s the story? on the move
You don’t live in Los Angeles? What’s the Story? travels, offering intensive weekend workshops and performances in cities throughout the continental USA, for up to twelve participants.
TM