Part 3 of 3:  Filmmaking and Storytelling.  An interview with Alex Luu.

Part 2 of 3:  Interview with Alex Luu.  A discussion of his storytelling workshops:  My Own Story.

ALEX LUU is a critically acclaimed solo performer, workshop facilitator, and independent filmmaker who graduated from UCLA's School of Film/Television. Luu's autobiographical "performance theater" work addresses themes such as identity, racism, body image/politics, and the overall under representation of people of color (especially Asian American males) in mainstream media.

Based in Los Angeles, Luu combines autobiographical performance at, theater, monologue, movement in a kinetic no-holds-barred style and presentation that is both hilariously over-the-top and heartbreakingly poignant. Luu's one-man show "Three Lives" and other performance works have garnered critical acclaim from publications such as Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, South End News, Asian New Yorker, LA Weekly, Orange County Weekly, Eugene Weekly, AsianWeek, Chinese Daily News, and Rafu Shimpo.

Luu's works have been seen at Highways Performance Space, Boston Center for the Arts, Strand Theater (Boston), Japanese American Cultural Community Center, National Asian American Theater Company (New York), Tremont Theater (Boston), Asian American Theater Center (San Francisco), Los Angeles Theater Center, East West Players, Rude Guerilla Theater (Orange County), and college/high school campuses.

In addition to performing nationally, Luu facilitates MY OWN STORY (MOS), an autobiographical writing/performing workshop for People of Color (adults and college/high school students) around the country. Luu has been artist-in-residence at numerous arts and community organizations/colleges with his "Three Lives" show and the MOS workshops. He was most recently artist-in-residence at Berklee College of Music (summer '08) and through Boston Mayor's Office of Arts & Tourism (summer '06) where he facilitated the MOS/Asian Voices for Asian Pacific American youth in Dorchester, MA.

Luu's writings have also been published in various anthologies, the most recent being Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing from Rutgers University Press (2002).

 

 

Part 1:  Three Lives

In this podcast, Jillian Yawney, a graduate student in Canada, discusses her recent research which documents how the use of storytelling in a classroom setting helps students work through the research process.

Jilliane Yawney was eighteen years old when she attended her first storytelling festival. She was so affected by the magic of the experience that within the next month she enrolled in private drama lessons and began her journey into the world of storytelling. Shortly after this, Jilliane received an Associates of Speech and Dramatic Arts and began teaching drama to her own students. Later she pursued a degree in drama from the University of Lethbridge. She has competed in festivals, told stories in libraries, in schools and in the community.

After using storytelling in the school system and witnessing its ability to captivate students, Jilliane was convinced that storytelling had an important role in classroom instruction. While pursuing a Master's of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta she received a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This grant enabled Jilliane to spend a year researching how storytelling can help students work their way through the research process.

Denise Howell, Esq. is an appellate and intellectual property litigator, and a 1990 graduate of Boalt Hall. She enjoys broad industry recognition for her expertise on the intersection of emerging technologies and law. Denise has gained deep familiarity with several leading edge sectors of technology law, including the legal considerations surrounding online publishing and syndication, digital copyright, digital rights management, and Internet jurisdiction, as well as the nuances of Creative Commons and other generalized licensing strategies. Denise writes one of the original law-related weblogs, Bag and Baggage and is a ZDNet blogger. She hosts two podcasts: this WEEK in LAW and Sound Policy. Denise is also an Advisory Board Member for Lisensa, a provider of copyright transaction solutions for user-generated content.

Links of interest mentioned in our interview with Denise Howell:

Steve Jobs' Essay on DRM

Lisensa

Giving It Away by Corey Doctorow
Stop Worrying About Copyrights by Corey Doctorow

iTales.com Founder, Mary Margaret O'Connor, discusses the vision and basic site rules for this new user-generated storytelling community.

iTales was launched in 2007 and has stories for every interest and age group.  Stories are in mp3 audio format and can be downloaded to any mp3 player.  Story prices start as low as 49 cents per download.

iTales.com is a new user-generated storytelling community where users can either listen to or share stories.

Todd Harvey is a Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and curator of the Alan Lomax Collection. Todd also curates the Folklife Center's Pete and Toshi Seeger Film Collection and the International Storytelling Collection. Previously, Todd's research interest in the 1960's folk revival led to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the publication of the book, The Formative Dylan. The book examines the lyric and melodic roots of seventy songs from Bob Dylan's early repertoire. Todd holds a library science degree (MSLS) from the Catholic University of America as well as degrees in music composition (MM, DMA) from Ohio State University.