P.O.V. and Voice (90-120 minutes)
Workshop Description: Using ethnocultural myths & folktales, family secrets & stories and Art & theatre techniques, we will craft scenes/narrators with unique voices.
The workshop uses rhythm, punctuation and grammar; objects, environment and weather to elicit character and narrative voice.
This is a general description. It is easily adapted to group needs.
Contact: thomvernon@sympatico.ca or evan@coachhousebooks.ca
All writing forms are welcome: fiction, dramatic, poetry, memoir, creative non-fiction, journalism.
We went to a "Wig" Party...I wore my novel! It turned out to be a popular read for the party goers!
Participants provide writing utensils and paper.
Pre-requisite: a willingness to explore.
THOM VERNON is a queer refugee and artist from Michigan and Los Angeles. He has shown up in film, television, and lots of theatre (The Fugitive, Seinfeld and so on). Aside from his writing and acting work, for most of his career he has helped to create safe spaces where youth and adults can stretch the limits of their creativity. Thom is interested in a visceral, crisis literature & theatre. He thinks that a piece should begin at one minute to midnight; midnight being the hour when the axe falls, so to speak. Having degrees in Philosophy and Gender Studies, Thom has studied with Hubert Selby, Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem for a Dream, etc.)and playwright provocateur Donald Freed (American Illiad, Circe & Bravo, etc.), among others.
He continues to explore how Gender, History and Memory collude to shape everyday life. His short stories have been presented on stage to blushing reviews and he has published both scholarly work and short fiction. His screenplays have placed in several national competitions. His novel, The Drifts, will be published in Spring 2010 by Coach House Books (Canada) & Northwestern University Press (U.S). He and his partner live in Toronto.
Thom is available for a variety of workshops and consultations. He maintains two blogs: American Refugee and Notes on Arts Education.
Engaged Consulting: notes on Arts Education 