"Do Tell: Learning to Perform Personal Stories" is a workshop series designed to teach participants the art of storytelling. Developed and led by storytellers/educators Margaret French and Betty Cassidy, this workshop series will be hosted in three counties and supported administratively by the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library, and made possible with a grant from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust. Participants register for the workshop series via the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library. While the program is free, participants are expected to attend all 4 two-hour workshop sessions, once a week for 4 consecutive weeks. Sessions will include instruction in and demonstrations of storytelling techniques, handout to reinforce instruction, and small group work focusing on helping participants find and shape stories in a supportive, non-threatening way. Workshop leaders will provide specific suggestions on giving and receiving feedback. The final session will be devoted to participants telling their stories in a final performance. Folklife Center staff will video record and edit these final performances, using our Alfred Z. Solomon Documentary Fieldwork Kit. This documentary will then be distributed to the public via the partners websites and complimentary DVD copies given to the participants and local libraries. Workshop Leaders: Margaret French tells stories of her Canadian heritage, her home in upstate New York, folktales from around the world, and personal and family stories that reflect her gently humorous take on the foibles of humankind. Before becoming a professional storyteller in 2003, Margaret was the director of the Writing Center at Union College. She publishes many of her stories on her blog at margaretfrench.wordpress.com. Margaret is a co-producer of the Saratoga storytelling open mic, a member of the Story Circle of the Capital District, the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling, and the National Storytelling Network. She has led storytelling workshops for the Academy of Lifelong Learning(ALL), Hospice of Saratoga, and Saratoga Continuing Education. She has performed at Caffè Lena, the Dance Flurry, Proctors, StoryCircle at Glen Sanders, the Riverway Storytelling Festival, and other venues throughout New York. Recently she travelled to NYC for several performances as the dying, storytelling grandmother in a play by a Saratoga playwright. Betty Cassidy tells folktales, historical stories, and personal stories that relate to current issues and common experiences. She began her storytelling career while teaching speech classes at SUNY Adirondack where she was a member of the English Department for over twenty years.  Since retirement she continues to teach her popular memoir writing classes and storytelling workshops for Continuing Education in Saratoga, the Academy of Lifelong Learning, and the Saratoga Senior Center. She is a member of the Capital District Story Circle, and has performed at Caffe Lena, Proctors Theater, libraries, civic organizations, senior centers, house concerts and seasonal fairs. "Do Tell: Learning to Perform Personal Stories" will be repeated at 2 partnering sites later this year: Salem Community Courthouse early summer, and Indian Lake Public Library early fall, all thanks to a grant from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, and general support from the New York State Council on the Arts-Folk Arts Program.