The Paintings Speak: Creating Dramatic Monologues Inspired by the Artwork in Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum will host a three-day children’s storytelling workshop in August. After viewing the evocative paintings and sculptures contained in the museum’s collection, each participant will select one and bring that artwork to life. This work will build toward a performance of student-created dramatic monologues to be presented on the final day of this three-day workshop.

Participants will learn about the experience of those who lived during the time of Ireland’s Great Hunger, and will incorporate this knowledge into their final performance.

Instructor Sara deBeer is a poet and storyteller as well as an experienced classroom teacher. Sara works as an artist-in-residence in public and private schools, designing programs which tie in with on-going studies of social studies and language arts. Under the sponsorship of the Robert C. Bates Fellowship, a Yale summer grant, Sara spent the summer of 1980 studying storytelling traditions in Ireland; this was the foundation of her lifelong love of Irish history and folk literature.

This workshop is for children age 9-12. The workshop will run August 16, 17, and 18 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Children must be registered and paid before the workshop begins. Visit www.ighm.org for registration details.