Anne’s Workshops

Contact: jennison.anne@gmail.com

• In all honesty, you’ll reach me faster if you email me than if you call me!   

• Please Note: Anne’s workshops and presentations can be offered as live online virtual events via Zoom, Teams, Google Meets, etc. if an in-person presentation is limited by distance.

Storytelling Workshops

 In small group settings, Anne teaches several workshops related to traditional storytelling, using interactive as well as hands-on techniques she has developed throughout her years of teaching and telling traditional Northeast Native American stories to many audiences.  

• People of the First Light: 13 Moons on Turtle’s Back – How the Abenaki calendar year reflects the natural cycles of the  changing seasons.                  (2 hours +/-)

An exploration of  the  traditional knowledge and values of the Wabanaki Peoples as revealed in their stories. These stories flow through the seasons of the Abenaki Lunar Calendar - making clear the absolute interconnectedness of these Indigenous Peoples and their environment throughout the millennia.  Anne will share several traditional Wabanaki stories, interspersed with thoughts about Wabanaki history and culture ways.  An informal discussion and Q & A session will follow the storytelling presentation.  Discussion topics arise from the interests and questions of the workshop participants, but will likely center on the effect of the annual changing of seasons on traditional Wabanaki culture as well as the several annual thanksgiving celebrations that occur throughout each year.

• Hear Her Roar! Reclaiming Powerful Images of Women Through Traditional Indigenous Storytelling.

  (2 hours +/-)

In Wabanaki traditional stories - as in the stories of many Indigenous tribes throughout the Americas - female characters are featured in many stories that show them as powerful, resourceful, autonomous living beings (some human, some absolutely terrifying while others bring sacred gifts, some animal, some from the spirit world) who hold tremendous power and respect within their cultures.  This workshop begins with Anne’s performance of several traditional stories, interspersed with information about Wabanaki traditional territory, tribes, history & culture.  An informal discussion and Q & A session will follow the storytelling presentation.  Discussion topics will arise from the interests, perceptions, and questions of the workshop participants, but will likely center on the traditional roles of women in Wabanaki society - and how they may have changed over time -  as well as Wabanaki history & culture.

• Spread Your Wings and Fly!  Becoming a (better) Storyteller                     (2 - 3 hours +/-)

This workshop is geared toward beginning storytellers, although there are some good take-aways for more experienced storytellers as well. Traditional storytelling is explored in this workshop through deepening the understanding that all humans are natural storytellers and need only to learn how to sharpen their storytelling skills. This workshop teaches the basic structure (the “bones” of the story), ways to immerse oneself in a story in order to become its “keeper”, and also ways to “flesh out” the bones of the story by sensory exploration of the “storyscape” and learning how to coax each character within a story to reveal its knowledge. The workshop explains what is meant by “traditional storytelling” as well as a rationale regarding why traditional storytelling is so very necessary in our ever more increasingly technical way of life. The initial lecture portion of the workshop  includes several strategies for choosing, structuring, and telling traditional stories.  Following the lecture, there will be a brief break and then participants will be guided so that each participant will be able to craft and tell a story. This is a 2 - 3 hour (+/-) interactive workshop presentation that includes a PowerPoint presentation, interactive story sharing, and an informal Q & A discussion session. Anne will email handouts and other workshop materials to workshop organizers prior to the event.     

• Moving from S.T.E.M. to S.T.E.A.M. - Using the Art of Storytelling in Science Communication to Breathe Life into Your Narrative.                            (2 - 3 hours +/-)

Scientists will benefit from learning ways to translate their research conclusions from technical, jargon-filled “science speak” in “everyday person speak” by honing their natural abilities and giving themselves permission to become “science storytellers”. We live in a technological age of critically important and ongoing scientific research. The discoveries that are made every day, every month, every year will have lasting impact on the survival of the human race. It makes sense then that scientists be able to communicate what they have learned/are learning to the people outside of their fields of academic research. All the knowledge in the world will not save the world if the knowledge is hoarded within academic institutions. Tap your inner storyteller and free yourself to learn methods that will help you relay your knowledge to non-specialist - i.e. the rest of us! When I think of scientists and mathematicians who have sparked my imagination while sharing their excitement of discovery, I am reminded of Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Jacques Cousteau, and even Bill Nye the Science Guy… all fine storytellers/educators, each with a style all their own.

This is a 2 - 3 hour (+/-) interactive workshop presentation that includes a PowerPoint presentation, interactive story sharing, and an informal Q & A discussion session. Anne will email handouts and other workshop materials to workshop organizers prior to the event.                         

Abenaki/Wabanaki History Presentation

• “’Now Who Shall Judge the Indians?[i]’ - The Impact of More Than 500 Years of Colonization on the people of the dawnland                                             (1 ½ - 2 hours +/-)

The Abenaki peoples were the first Indigenous peoples on the North American continent to interact with and be profoundly impacted by European colonization.  The story of Abenaki survival and cultural revitalization is compelling.  Persevering through ongoing trauma for generations, the Abenaki peoples have used various survival strategies that eventually made themselves almost invisible to the dominant white society around them. This was done so effectively that by the late 19th century it was widely held by the descendants of English colonists that there were no Abenaki peoples remaining in northern Massachusetts, Vermont, southern Maine, or New Hampshire.  One might ask why it is that by the late 20th century a different story began to emerge.  Slowly, post-World War II changes in American society caused by activists in the 1960’s through the 1980’s, became the impetus though which the Abenaki peoples started to become “uncloaked”.  This presentation looks at the historical events and policies that caused the Abenaki to “go underground” as well as the events that sparked the re-emergence of Abenaki descendants and caused the flourishing revitalization of Abenaki culture that is still currently underway.                                                                            

Cornhusk Doll Making Workshop: The Doll with No Face - A Northeast Woodlands Traditional Craft (1 ½ - 2 hours +/-)

In a small group workshop of no more than 10-12 participants, Anne leads this 2 hour workshop, beginning with sharing the traditional story of how and why cornhusk dolls came to be.  Following the story, Anne then teaches workshop attendees how to create their own cornhusk doll.  Every participant will experience success in this hands-on workshop and end the 2 hour session with a completed cornhusk doll to take home – as well as a print version of the traditional Northeast Woodlands Native American story:  The Doll With No Face.  (All basic workshop materials are provided.)          

** Additional workshop materials fee: $20.00 per person.

• Performance Techniques - Becoming a Truly Polished Performer! (1:1 Individual Performance Coaching) 

Individual 1 hour coaching sessions with Anne to shape and craft your stories, music, or other public presentations into the best, strongest performance pieces you can offer.  Anne has many years of experience coaching performers, such as storytellers, vocalists, and musicians, to help them sharpen their performance techniques.  Sometimes all it takes is a coach who believes in your success - and is really paying close attention to what you're doing - to help you discover and hone the strengths you already have, so that you can bring more of those strengths to every aspect of your performance.  In addition to 10 years of theatrical performance experience and more than 30 years as a performing traditional storyteller, Anne studied storytelling coaching with Doug Lipman, an internationally acknowledged storyteller and storytelling coach (and an all-around good guy!).    

[i] A quote attributed to an Abenaki warrior at Cocheco (now Dover, NH) in June 1689.

** Times listed for each workshop are estimates.  They can be flexible, depending on the goals of the workshop and the needs of the sponsor and the participants.

**  Workshops are sponsored by a group or organization at an accessible location provided by the sponsor.

Revised March 2026