On Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People: The Gaps in the Story, by Catherine Heinemeyer

Abstract

On Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People:The Gaps in the Story, by Catherine Heinemeyer Rachel Hedman (bio) Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People: The Gaps in the Story, by Catherine Heinemeyer. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. ISBN 978-3-030-40580-9. $99.99 USD Hardback. ISBN 978-3-030-40581-6. $79.99 USD. Storytelling has long been an educational tool. In Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People: The Gaps in the Story, Catherine Heinemeyer traces the century-long evolution of "storyknowing," the way stories become knowledge. Educators, mental health counselors, and storytellers who purposely work with youth see different narrative worlds interweave. Heinemeyer addresses the potential of storytelling with and by adolescents and focuses on the gaps within the traditional triangular relationship between listener, storyteller, and story. These gaps include the happenings and interactions from listener to storyteller, from storyteller to story, and from story to listener. While many of the particular needs of youth have not changed significantly over the decades, Heinemeyer proposes that through social media and accessible technological tools to make, today's youth have expanded capabilities to tell their stories and to represent themselves to peers and adults. [End Page 157] Storytelling in Participatory Arts aims to serve as a self-discovery tool and to define participatory telling through applied research. Heinemeyer summarizes hundreds of storytelling sessions with 400+ youth involved with the Maple House, a residential youth mental health unit where she led weekly sessions, and a two-year residency linked to City School, which includes training programs for youth and staff along with an empowering lunchtime storytelling club for youth. Heinemeyer also draws on her experience with Acting Up, a theater program for youth with learning disabilities. Finally, Heinemeyer delves deeper into her highly documented field notes and evaluations from working with youth between 2013 and 2016. These findings are curated on a website at www.storyknowingwithadolescents.net and as reflections on her blog at www.storytellingwithadolescents.blogspot.com. I have advocated for and been involved with youth storytelling since 1994, and still found much of interest in Heinemeyer's work. One major limitation of this book, as the author notes, is that the focus rests primarily on experiences in England, leaving out the diversity of practices that occur worldwide. Even so, Heinemeyer provides compelling examples of the breadth of storyknowing possibilities for youth: Kevin Cordi's high school storytelling troupes in California and Ohio; Storytelling Centre in Glasgow with storytelling clubs for secondary school students; Belfast's Fighting Words project that has students write and speak their own stories; Real Talk in Scotland, a program that supports the mentally ill; Freedom Theatre in Palestine where youth combat images of violence with fantasy stories; Inspired Youth, where young filmmakers develop storylines based on true stories; Company Three, a theater troupe that presents plays for and by youth; and The Verbatim Formula, which conducts workshops for youth to shape their own stories to present on that stage. These youth-oriented programs bring hope to the global storytelling movement and to story arts practitioners. Storytelling in Participatory Arts is divided into three parts—Storyknowing, Telling Stories, and Story Gaps—followed by three appendixes—Practitioner Interviews, Story Games and Structures for Dialogue, and Recommended Further Reading. The book begins with a story about John, a resident from Maple House. Heinemeyer had asked all the inpatients to think of "watery memories." John told a story about running away from Maple House, and despite being a negative story about the very establishment where this workshop was taking place, the staff at Maple House encouraged John to develop his story further. [End Page 158] This empowered John to perform in front of nonparticipating youth, and finally John tapped into his skills as a lyricist and wrote a song. His energy toward the project inspired the other youth to be more heavily involved. Heinemeyer steers the workshop to "dialogic" storytelling that helps the listener-turned-storyteller to better meet their needs. Later, the author further explains "storyknowing" and its implications from an educational standpoint. Heinemeyer defines her methodology as "practice as research" and traces the evolution of storytelling as a classroom tool. Focusing on how storytelling has...