Interactive Storytelling is conceptualized and spearheaded by Coleman Crenshaw. I am an actor and storyteller with experience working with children in and out of schools. I hold a B.A. in Communications: Theatre Arts and an M.F.A in Theatre: Performance and Society. My experience performing and working with children ranges from touring theatre ministry performing at youth camps and rallies to storytelling with young children’s groups in a wide variety of venues. I have recently worked with The Manton Avenue Project based out of the William D’Abate Elementary School in Olneyville, RI. The Manton Avenue Project works with children in grades 3rd – 6th developing their playwriting skills, creating plays that are produced by professional actors and directors. This program is inspired and seeded out of the 52nd Street Project in New York and uses many of the same techniques and philosophies (and in turn, so does Interactive Storytelling). Interactive Storytelling has been successfully implemented in schools and clubs in the Providence, Boston, and Kansas City areas. The program averages 70 students (K-2) creating 15 characters and 3 complete tales in each 3 week residency.
In large student groups Interactive Storytelling often uses volunteers in addition to the lead storyteller (myself). These volunteers act mostly as scribes and helpers for the character outlines and sketching/puppet creation, and as a calming and focusing figure for the groups in other settings like the storytelling or the group sharing experiences. Volunteers are drawn from a mixture of interested parents of students, other artists, and area college students studying the fields of early elementary education and/or theatre.
Coleman Crenshaw 