Education

A new online course devised and delivered by Applied Stories' artistic director Fin Kennedy.

Aimed at secondary school teachers, the course introduces the craft of playwrighting and some of its key concepts and techniques, in a way which supports teachers' own creative writing, with a particular focus on how the exercises and skills being learned can be applied in the classroom or drama studio.

The six-session fully online course consists of two live workshops, at the start and the end, with a series of four instructional videos to complete in between, in your own time. 

• Better support your students during the devising component of GCSE or A-level Drama.
• Analyse classic and contemporary theatre texts in the English curriculum, including Shakespeare.
• Write short film scripts for Media.
• Improve your own writing so you can script a school play.
• Generate your own script samples to send to theatres as an emerging playwright. 

The next course runs from 23 Sept-8 Dec 2024 and is now booking!

Commission an audio Fairy Trail for your school! A full class project which can accommodate up to 20 children.

In an initial workshop, the class are shown an existing fairy which has moved into their school - a door in the skirting board has appeared overnight, with some tiny personal items left outside. A QR code next to the door links to an audio file of a 90-second speech by the fairy.

Children are then invited to play with a selection of new fairy doors and fairy furniture, and asked to create a new fairy of their very own, to keep the existing one company. 

Applied Stories will help each child create their own 90-second speech for  their fairy, then audio record it themselves. Before long, 20 unique Fairies will come into existence!

All the finished doors, furniture and QR codes will be arranged as a walkable Fairy Trail, either indoors along the school corridors, or outside in the school’s grounds, or a local park. 

A launch day will invite parents, siblings and other schoolchildren to experience the trail like a treasure hunt, with prizes if they find all 20 fairies.

Passing the Baton is a unique audio walk welcoming Year 7s to their new secondary school, with all content created by the current Year 10s. 

After agreeing a walking route orienting younger students to the school's main areas, Applied Stories works with Year 10s to co-create quirky, funny and informative audio stories to accompany each stop on the route.

The older students are involved from concept to delivery, performing and editing the tales and picking up key technical skills along the way.

The walk itself can live on indefinitely, passing on school traditions, folkore and tall tales, welcoming successive cohorts of Year 7s for many years to come.

We can also work with Years 9-13 to create a bespoke walking tour of the school's local area for friends, families and general audiences. 

For larger schools or multi-academy trusts, we can offer a 1-2 day per week company residency to undertake several projects at once, accompanied by curriculum support and after-school classes.

Applied Stories can design a process and come up with a concept for your specific group - inspired by their ideas.

Recent examples include Sheppey Shadows, a 55-minute audio drama made with two primary schools and a youth theatre on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, and featuring young people performing alongside professional actors.

Ideas were generated in a series of weekly workshops, then scripted by our Artistic Director Fin Kennedy, who also recorded and edited the piece.

Listen to Sheppey Shadows in full for free here.

For Universities, Applied Stories can offer lectures, workshops or full modules in:

• Writing for Radio/Audio
• Geolocation walking tour technology
• Introduction to Playwrighting
• Working with Communities
• Working in Schools
• Creative Research

All sessions are delivered by our Artistic Director Fin Kennedy, previously a regular visiting tutor at Goldsmiths and Central Saint Martins.

We can also work with students and staff to create bespoke walking tours of campuses and surrounding areas.

Alternatively, we can help your University found its own unique drama podcast, bringing in professional writers to work alongside students, such as Decolonising History for SOAS.