Community Gathering in a Time of Physical Distancing
#PSOTU2021 FAQs
What’s a Story Circle?
Story circles are a time-honored mode of surfacing deep truth and group wisdom. Many people use them to generate story-based theater, for instance, collecting stories around a theme that may eventually become part of a script. Many people use them in civic dialogue, as a way to underscore equality and participation. The basics are: everyone gets equal, uninterrupted time to share any story on a common theme, then the group reflects on what thoughts and feelings the stories brought up.
Story Circles are often understood as deriving from indigenous traditions. There are many variations. We give special thanks and credit to John O’Neal of Junebug Productions (and formerly Free Southern Theater) and to Roadside Theater who have been central in developing the practice for use in creating original performance and in community telling and listening projects.
What are the #PSOTU2021 Story Circle prompts?
We're offering these Story Circle prompts to affirm the essential nature of art and culture as part of a thriving and just society.
Share a story about when the arts played an essential role in your life.
Share a story about a time when you creatively connected with someone while remaining socially distanced.
Share a story about how you and your community have been affected by the government response to COVID-19.
Share a story about the future you envision for all of us this year. What do our communities look like? What has changed?
Can I create a different prompt?
Absolutely. We want you to make this what you and your community need at this moment. Feel free to develop your own story circle prompts. Keep in mind that a useful formulation for a prompt is: “Share a story about a time when you…”
Who should i invite to my online event?
Story Circles have a history of being tied to the specific community or region that you’re in, but because we’re all distanced with COVID, you should feel free to invite anyone that you define as being in your “community.” If you would like, we can also send details about your event to others on the USDAC list, specially filtered for folks in your region.
What online platform should i use for the event?
You can use the platform that feels most comfortable for you, though we recommend Zoom. If you watch the recorded training video, you’ll see some steps on how to use Zoom if you’re new to it.
How do i share my story circle with others?
When we launch #PSOTU2021, we’ll release a group of hashtags that you can use on social media. We’ll automatically collect all of the posts with these hashtags and share them on our website to inspire others!
How many people can attend?
It depends how many facilitators are on your call. We recommend having no more than 10 participants in a Story Circle. If you have two facilitators, you could break out into two Story Circles, and have 20 folks on the call. Etc…
What if I’ve never hosted a story circle before?
We will be releasing a #PSOTU2021 Toolkit soon, and you can watch the 2019 training to get a jumpstart. You’ll be prepared to host; the best way to learn is by giving it a go!