Hosting or Running a Workshop
This page covers these topics:
Book a Listen Up workshop
The first stage of the Listen Up Project: March-August 2019: Listening Phase
This is a 6 month window in which we will connect and listen to teenagers across the state, gathering their stories and ideas, thoughts, challenges, hopes and fears, inspirations and aspirations drawn from their lives.
We will do this by connecting with Vermont schools, youth organizations, after school programs, churches, libraries, boys and girls clubs, homeless shelters, teen centers, etc. across the state.
The material collected over 6 months will be gathered through interacting with hundreds of kids from diverse backgrounds. The material will be reviewed at the end of 6 months by Artistic Director Bess O’Brien and other facilitators and be used as the basis for creating the original script for the musical. Characters for the play will be created from a distillation of the many stories we hear from kids, themes that arise from the Listen Phase will be incorporated into the play and the music for the show.
How your school or organization can participate in the Listening Phase:
Do you have a group of teens who would like to tell their stories? Who would like to talk about issues that affect themselves and their peers? Who are activists and want to share ideas for change? If you do-- Here is how they can be involved in the of this project:
Writing Workshop—We will send a professional facilitator/writer to your organization to run a workshop focused on writing prompts and dialogue around teen issues.
One on one Interviews – We will provide a professional documentarian to conduct a taped audio interview with one or a few of your kids- focused on their life, challenges and aspirations.
Writing Prompts for your staff to use in classroom- we will provide a series of writing prompts that your English teacher, counselor, drama teacher etc.. will use in their classroom. A list of writing prompts that teachers can choose from are listed in this packet
Example: A teacher can do a seven minute writing prompt with their class once a week for five days for instance.
Round table discussion- You will provide a group of teens to meet with us or a faculty or staff member from your organization to talk about a certain issue that affects youth. A list of issue oriented questions is provided in this packet.
Theatre/improv: We will provide a drama teacher (or if you have a drama teacher in house) to run a theatre improv class with teens focused on different social issues that youth deal with. Lots of fun!
Kids interview kids: Are there two mature kids you can think of that would like to interview each other either and record their conversation? Let us know!
Call for Entries: Encourage your teenagers to submit! Youth are encouraged to send us anything they want in regards to youth voice—poetry, essays, ideas, manifestos, artwork, music compositions, songs, etc.. Teens can go to our website at: to upload their works onto the Listen Up site.
How to sign up to host a workshop or interview:
Email Producing Artistic Director Bess O’Brien to set up a workshop or interview with kids.
Tell us when, where and how many youth you can organize for a workshop.
Ideally we would like at least an hour with your kids but we can work with less time if necessary.
Let us know if there is a teen(s) that would be interested in being interviewed.
How to get started as a facilitator
If you are interested in being a facilitator please contact Bess O’Brien for the password to our facilitator site.
Each facilitator of a workshop, whether they be part of the Kingdom County Productions team or a teacher or staff member at a school or organization, must download the materials on our facilitator site:
A Sign Up Form: that the facilitator will fill out in regards to the particular workshop he or she is doing.
A Teen Assent Form: Each teen must fill this out before doing a workshop. (You will need to make copies for all teens participate.)
A Workshop Overview:Written by our clinical storytelling consultant Sarah Lowry on how to run a workshop, tips and considerations.
A list of writing prompts to use in workshops.
A list of conversation topics to use to run round table discussions.
How to collect material and get it to us
At the beginning of each workshop please have students fill out the assent form!
If you are running a writing workshop, please have students submit their work to you and then send to KCP through the mail or upload the work onto our website. We prefer students writing on their computers so we can read their work more easily, but if they are writing long hand, please send the original copies and or Xerox the written material.
ALL pieces should include the students' names in case we want to be in touch with them during the writing of the play.
If you are conducting a roundtable discussion with youth, please take notes or record the conversation and upload your notes or the recording onto our website.
If you are doing a theatre improv group, please videotape the session (with teens' permission) and/or take notes and upload onto our site.
If you are doing an interview, please record the interview and upload it to our site.
After each workshop is completed the facilitator must fill out the sign-up form.
Then you will send us the following:
The Facilitator Registration Form from your Workshop Overview packet
The Youth Assent Forms
The material generated from the workshop
You can either upload these things by going to our website or you can pop everything in the mail and send snail mail to:
Listen Up Project c/o Kingdom County Productions
949 Somers Road
Barnet VT 05821
How we will use material from your workshop
We will review all material generated from the workshops, conversations, interviews, theatre improv sessions, etc. when the listening phase ends in August, 2019. From this material generated over six months, Bess O’Brien along with other professional writers and teenagers, will shape the material into themes, storylines and characters that will create the structure of the play. If we wish to include particular poems, writing or other works that teens have produced in the play, we will contact the students and get permission from the students and their parents or guardians. Characters created in the play will be an amalgamation of many, many students' stories.