Lauren Jost is a theatre artist and arts educator in New York. She is the Artistic Director of Spellbound Theatre, an award-winning theater for young audiences. Lauren works as a Master Teaching Artist in schools, libraries and community centers around New York teaching theatre, storytelling, and developing arts-integration curriculum. She currently teaches for The New Victory Theater, Lifetime Arts, American Theatre Wing, City College of New York, Everyman Theatre, Spellbound Theatre, New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and New York University. Lauren's teaching artistry specializes in early childhood arts education, memoir storytelling with adults, and arts integration strategies for classroom teachers. As a producing artist, she is a puppeteer, storyteller, and director of visual theatre. Lauren is a SPARC grant recipient (Seniors Partnering with ARtists Citywide) and developed a play based on older adults' stories that was produced in partnership with a Brooklyn Senior center for an inter-generational audience. She is also a 2 time recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation grant and is a 2015 New Victory Theater LabWorks Resident Artist. B.A. Theatre, Whitworth University, 2001. M.A. Theatre and Community, New York University, 2007. You can learn more about Lauren and follow her blog on arts education and theatre for young audiences at http://laurenjost.com

Stories are what make us human. The need to reflect, synthesize, and share our experiences is universal, and I love sharing this process with older adults. For the last eight years I have worked in library and community settings, facilitating storytelling and memoir/essay-writing for older adults. I find these classes to be deeply enriching for myself as an artist, and invaluable in creating community and artistry for the participants. We can learn so much not just by telling our stories, but by listening to others'. In my classes, students learn specific writing and story-crafting skills, but also develop the confidence to find and share their unique voice and experience.