Saturday And/Or Sunday
9:30 A.M. – 6:30 P.M.
$140 For One Day; $220 For Both Days
(Lunch And Snacks Included)
Limited To 9 Participants

Stories move in circles.  They don't move in straight lines. So it helps if you listen in circles.  There are stories inside stories and stories between stories, and finding your way through them is as easy and as hard as finding your way home. And part of the finding is the getting lost. And when you're lost, you start to look around and to listen. -- Cory Fischer, Albert Greenberg, and Naomi Newman of A Traveling Jewish Theater, Coming from a Great Distance

In the peaceful atmosphere of the weekend workshops "unpacking" important stories becomes possible, even easy and fun.

The workshops are offered on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) nearest to the winter and summer Solstice, and autumn and spring Equinox, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Focused around a particular theme or myth, each workshop is designed to invoke your own unique stories. As the days progress, you’ll explore new skills in creative writing and practice gentle ways to put aside the critical mind. You’ll be inspired to enter uncharted writing territories and travel within them with a deeper trust in yourself as a writer.

Experienced and beginning writers are welcome.

The weekend workshops are attractive to those who live far from Los Angeles and cannot participate in weekly classes. They are also perfect for those working on novels, memoirs, screenplays or plays and will commit to all four workshops in the year (at a reduced price) to complete their projects.

SCHEDULE AND THEMES:

In Honor Of The Spring Equinox:
Rites Of Passage

Saturday And Sunday,
March 22nd And 23d, 9:30 A.M. - 6:30 P.M.

Rites of passage are the events in our lives that shaped us. Whether publicly recognized - such as one's first communion, marriage and parenthood or privately experienced - such as immigration, rape or addiction, these rites of passage become doorways into stories. Examining the inter-relation between the social and the specifically personal, we find ourselves in the realm of literature - that magical place between reality and the imagination where authentic work is conceived...

In Honor Of The Summer Solstice:
The Myth Of Theseus And Ariadne

Saturday And Sunday,
June 21st And 22nd, 9:30 A.M. - 6:30 P.M.

In the Greek myth of Theseus and Ariadne, Theseus descends into a labyrinth to conquer the Minotaur, half man half bull, while Princess Ariadne holds a thread guiding him in his descent. In this workshop you'll write about a time in your life when you descended into a labyrinth, faced Minotaur-like figures and gave or received help. Whether racism, prejudice, addiction, immigration, loss or heartbreak - gently giving these experiences a literary expression will result in soul-penetrating works that are cathartic and empowering for both writer and reader.

In Honor Of The Autumn Equinox:
Portraits And Landscapes

Saturday And Sunday,
September 20th And 21st, 9:30 A.M. - 6:30 P.M.

Paintings of the great masters are used to inspire a story. As we focus on detail and color, contrast and shade, rhythm and subtext a composition begins to emerge and we follow it to its unknown destination. Surprisingly, events from the past rearrange themselves in unexpected ways, moments from real life mix in with the imagination… and we find ourselves in a new story… which is fiction.

In Honor Of The Winter Solstice:
The Myth Of Persephone

Saturday And Sunday,
December 20th And 21st, 9:30 A.M. - 6:30 P.M.

In this Greek myth, Princess Persephone is innocently walking in a field of flowers when the ground beneath her feet splits open and she is pulled down into the underworld. Individual modern day versions of this myth take place all the time within families, relationships, addictions, political upheaval, catastrophe, war or illness. In the workshop, times in your life when you unconsciously reenacted this myth, will be the entry point into a new and revelatory story

What workshop participants say:

Jordan Elgrably, writer, editor and director of Levantine CulturalCenter: "Attendees can expect to arrive at an epiphany or two while producing material that may surprise even themselves."

Letitia Fitzpatrick, Communication Specialist, USM graduate: "The workshop was a wonderful day, really fun, and I do think remembering and writing our stories helps to remind us we are whole."

Virjena Whitehead, writer, and teacher for children with special needs: "I live in the San Bernardino Mountains and have been coming to Elana’s Saturday Workshops in Los Angeles once a month for the past year. Elana's compassion and knowledge in both the art of writing and healing has helped me turn painful childhood memories into meaningful stories. It has also given me the courage and patience to write and publish a children's book."