Understanding Story is a class at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
This site is open to anyone interested in story.
The class is composed of lectures, discussions, screenings, readings, critical and creative writing, group critiques and presentations. The course is designed to expose the students to the fundamental principles of storytelling across a spectrum of mediums, including the written story, playwriting, film, poetry, dance, games, photography, fine art and music.
We attempt to answer these questions: How do all these different art forms tell stories? How can we apply what is learned to our own creative work? History and theory of story will be studied and discussed and used to inspire personal and creative work in order to better understand how story can most successfully be expressed by the creator and reach an audience.
For the purpose of discussion, the words “Reading” and “Writing” represent creating and consuming any form of story, whether it be text or dance, music or video games. For example; choreography, composing, and coding will all be referred to as “Writing.”