Courses & Workshops
In Person and Online Courses in Storytelling
Storytelling Toronto’s teaching program helps all our students, regardless of experience, to achieve a deeper connection with the stories they tell and better communicate those stories to to everyone who listens.
Our First Steps (Storytelling I) is typically the course most begin with. Next Steps (Storytelling II) is open to those who wish to take their telling further, whether they have taken First Steps in the past, or have equivalent experience. We offer the Master Class for advanced and professional-level storytellers.
We also offer a variety of themed courses, whether it is taking your story from a narrative to a script for a puppet show, shaping your family stories, to bilingual storytelling. Our non-foundational courses vary from year to year.
In addition to our core and special courses, Storytelling Toronto also facilitates private courses and workshops tailored to client needs. If you are looking for a professional development workshop for teachers or librarians, or leadership development for corporate employees or interns, you have come to the right place. Reach out to us and we’ll help you create the right program to suite your needs!
Out the Door & Down the Street: Folktales to Take You Places with Mariella Bertelli (Online)
This course is being presented online during the following dates and times.
Registration Fee: $226.00 ($200.00 + HST)
Thursday, June 8 (6:30 – 9 pm)
Thursday, June 15 (6:30 – 9 pm)
Thursday, June 22 (6:30 – 9 pm)
Monday, June 26 (6:30 – 9 pm)
Thursday, June 29 (6:30- 9 pm)
In this course, we will delve deeply into the folktale, its unique place in the oral tradition, its background and various manifestations. We will discuss various folktale collections. We will expand our knowledge of folktales and widen our repertoire. Each participant will select a (new-never told before) max. 10 minutes folktale to work on and tell at a final concert (on June 29th).
About the Mariella Bertelli: A versatile teller with a wide knowledge of folk, fairy and literary tales, Mariella Bertelli is a former children’s librarian and advocate for young people’s right to stories, literacy and information. She has performed and led workshops at many festivals in Canada and abroad and is active in the international community as well as in her home, Toronto.
The last day to register for this class is Monday, June 5th at 5 pm. Click here to register!
The Summer Intensive with Marylyn Peringer (In Person)
This course is being held in person during the following dates and times.
Registration Fee: $452.00 ($400.00 + HST)
Location: The Storytelling Toronto Office in Artscape Wychwood Barns (601 Christie Street – Suite 173, Toronto, ON, M6G 4C7).
Thursday, July 13 (10 – 4:30 pm)
Friday, July 14 (10 – 4:30 pm)
Saturday, July 15 (10 – 4:30 pm)
Sunday, July 16 (1 – 5 pm)
The Summer Intensive is open to beginners and experienced tellers who would like to revive their storytelling skills. While some time will be spent on personal stories, the course uses the traditional tale as a model. As in the First Steps course, you will choose a folk tale from material supplied by the instructor and learn it through enjoyable, partnered activities designed to deepen the connection between the teller and the story. In addition, the Summer Intensive offers more time for storytelling exercises, discussion, and feedback. You will also visit the Osborne Collection of rare children’s books at the Toronto Public Library for a talk by a staff member. And although it is not an official part of the course, you will have the opportunity to attend the 1001 Fridays weekly gathering of storytellers and story listeners, one like no other in North America.
Meet our Resident Teacher
Resident Instructor Marylyn Peringer joined the Toronto storytelling community over 40 years ago when she began sharing French-Canadian folktales and legends at local schools and at the 1,001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. Those stories, and many others which she added to her repertoire, have carried her into more than a thousand schools and libraries across Canada. She is grateful to Storytelling Toronto for the multiple awards which helped her in researching the traditional tales of her Maltese heritage and was delighted to have been chosen by Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada to record both French-Canadian and Maltese tales as the 2017 StorySave artist. Marylyn has taught with Storytelling Toronto for over twenty years and takes pleasure in knowing that many of her former students are accomplished tellers who contribute their talents to local and national storytelling organizations.