Cynthia J. McGean

Presentations and Workshops

I love to take a topic I know and find new and interesting ways to present it, with an emphasis on engaging the audience through hands-on activities and participatory exercises. Here are some examples of workshops and presentations I have given over the years:

Filmusik: The Sounds of the Movies, part of the Museum Family Sunday at the Portland Art Museum; training over 100 children and families on the art of film foley and facilitating their participation in creating sounds and dialogue for a series of Superman animated shorts.

Writers On-the-air Workshop: Summer program exploring the writing craft through the audio theater medium, created through the Willamette Radio Workshop. Participants developed scripts through a series of workshop sessions including an introduction to audio theater, analysis of audio theater excerpts, writing exercises and facilitated peer critiques. The process culminated in recorded readings of the scripts with actors chosen by WRW Director Sam A. Mowry. Out-of-state writers accessed the workshops through online participation. In the five years WOW was offered, many of the scripts created through the workshop went on to production and awards throughout the country.

Writing for Audio Theater, National Audio Theatre Festivals: In the summer of 2008, I was invited to present a modified, 6-day version of Writers On the Air at the National Audio Theatre Festivals held in Missouri. The workshop covered the basics of audio theater and utilized a variety of hands-on writing exercises and listening excerpts to aid participants in developing their work.

Writing for Puppetry: As part of the Northwest Puppetry Festival, I was invited to present a workshop on writing for the puppetry medium. Originally billed as “Puppetry for Therapy”, the workshop evolved to address the interests of those attending. As always, I incorporated hands-on opportunities for participants to explore writing for this unique, highly visual medium of storytelling.

Effects of Domestic Violence on Children: For more than ten years, I worked with a child abuse and domestic violence prevention program, now called Listen To Kids. I helped to develop presentations for both children and adults around these difficult topics. During those ten years, I presented trainings for a wide range of organizations throughout Oregon, from schools to government groups and conferences.