COMS 303: Narrative in Performance
Assignment Guidelines

PERSONAL NARRATIVE: CROSSROADS STORY (3-4 minutes; ungraded)
Tell a story of a particular moment in your own life when you found yourself at a crossroads or a turning point, and had to make a decision about which “path” you were going to take. As you develop the story, focus on bringing the specific of that moment to life for us:

• describing where you were at that moment (the scene, the setting, who was with you)
• what you remember most vividly (your sensory memories, what you were thinking and feeling)
• how you came to this crossroads at this particular time
• what you felt once you made your decision, what you remember about that moment
• how that decision influenced who you are, &/or where you're going today
• and how you feel about it now, in retrospect

You may want to write out the details of the story in order to reconstruct its specifics, but don’t try to memorize what you’ve written. Your performance should be natural - you should be yourself as you tell it - and conversational - talking to, not reading to, the audience. You may use notes or a story outline (for security) but don’t rely on them. I recommend that you practice telling your story to family or friends.

All good stories have a beginning, middle, and end.  Your storytelling should help us to visualize, experience and understand the events you relate.  Remember to focus on communicating your perception and experience of an event or a set of events (i.e. this is not an essay or a speech).  


Reading Journal [RJ]:
In addition to the assigned reading for the course, you will need to read around in the short story collections to find a performance selection that you connect with, and that you want to use for one of your two performances.  To help guide your reading you will turn in TYPED journal responses to stories you read in preparation for your first performance. While this is not a formal “essay,” your response must reflect a thoughtful engagement with the texts your read.  Your response should address some of the following things:

●    Who is the narrator?  (Go beyond simple facts here – what kinds of information does the narrator have?  What do they know/notice about the world?  How would you describe the narrator’s personality?  Why do think the author might have constructed them in the particular way they did?)
●    How does the narrator order the story?  Does the narrator progress forward in a strictly linear fashion?  Does the narrator jump back and forth between the present and past?  the future?  why is the ordering of time important to the story?
●    What do you think the author wants us to notice about the world of the story and the characters inhabiting it?
●    Is there a particular ideology or worldview that the writer is articulating?  Go beyond cliché here – what original idea about the world does the writer have to say?  Do you agree?  Disagree?

Each journal should address 1-2 stories in two full typed pages. RJs are due every Tuesday beginning T 2/5 and continuing until T 2/26.

Performance and Paper Guidelines: For each performance, you will sign up for a particular performance date. The class period before your performance, you will hand in an Analysis and Performance Plan, which includes 1) a copy of your script and 2) a 2-3 page analysis of the story you're performing.

Specific guidelines for each performance will be developed in class.

Performance Responses:

You will be assigned to respond to at least two performances for each assignment round. This involves writing a 1-2 page typed response for the performer, giving her/him specific feedback on what you saw and heard in the performance, what you came to understand as a result of this performance, and suggestions for the next performance.

The next class period, bring 2 copies of your response - one for me and one for the performer. Be sure you have the name of the performer and the title and author of the piece. A detailed worksheet for responding will be distributed in class.

this page was updated on 01/20/2008