California Story Fund
Grandparents Tales Project
Stagebridge
Oakland
Project director: Stuart Kandell
Located in Oakland, Stagebridge is the only professional theater training company for older adults on the West Coast. Through its Stagebridge Schools Program, Stagebridge members present and teach intergenerational theater, oral history and storytelling to elementary school children in the East Bay. At the time of this project, storytellers from Stagebridge were in residence at three multiethnic Oakland elementary schools, telling personal stories, talking to students and teaching them the art of storytelling.
This project was an outgrowth of that program. Students and teachers received training in specific interviewing skills. Students then interviewed their grandparents, great-grandparents or family members, wrote down the stories, and then practice telling the stories to the class.
The stories were shared with others in a number of ways. The students performed the stories at school assemblies for other classes, their families, and members of the community. The performances were audio taped and videotaped and the tapes made available to local schools and libraries.
There was also an evening of storytelling and discussion for public audiences--moderated by a humanities expert--at Barnes and Noble Bookstore at Jack London Square. KPFA-FM (Pacific Radio on 94.1) in Berkeley produced a radio segment, and selected stories were printed in local papers and displayed on the Stagebridge website.
The aim of the project was to foster understanding among different generations and between different ethnic groups, increase children's knowledge of their personal family history, and strengthen the role of elders in society.