Sonny Kelly, PhD (Professor Ready)

Talking “The Talk” is an interactive performance-based workshop experience that Dr. Kelly has designed to build personal connection within communities. This workshop helps community members to discuss diversity, community, and resilience in a lasting and transformative way. Dr. Kelly invites participants into a complicated, but loving, family space where participants are called in and not called out. This workshop opens up a space within communities where all are encouraged to speak up, listen up, and imagine new possibilities together through art, poetry, and storytelling.

Duration: 45-50 minutes

Grade Level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Maximum Number of Students:  500

Maximum Number of Performances: 4

Technical Requirements:

• Microphone
• Computer
• Projector (slide show)
• Screen for Projector

NC Essential Standards: K.C.1, 1.C.1, 2.C.1, 3.C.1, 4.C.1, 5.C.1, 6.C.1, 7.C.1, 8.C.1, B.C.1, I.C.1, P.C.1, A.C.1; K.C.2, 1.C.2, 2.C.2, 3.C.2, 4.C.2, 5.C.2, 6.C.2, 7.C.2, 8.C.2, B.C.2, I.C.2, P.C.2, A.C.2 K.A.1, 1.A.1, 2.A.1, 3.A.1, 4.A.1, 5.A.1, 6.A.1, 7.A.1, 8.A.1, B.A.1, I.A.1, P.A.1, A.A.1 K.CU.1, 1.CU.1, 2.CU.1, 3.CU.1, 4.CU.1, 5.CU.1, 6.CU.1, 7.CU.1, 8.CU.1, P.CU.1, I.CU.1, P.CU.1, A.CU.1

Cost: $500 one program / $800 two programs (same school, same day)

Storytelling for Community Building

Participants will forge diverse personal connections and collective resilience in innovative and practical ways. Using storytelling, poetry, prose, and examples from participants' own experiences and original creations, Dr. Kelly will lead them through a process of developing positive and confirming communication environments versus negative and disconfirming communication environments. Participants will learn effective ways to create and maintain positive interpersonal relationships by optimizing diversity through a continuous, thoughtful, and artful practices of inclusion and connection.

Duration: 45-50 minutes

Grade Level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Maximum Number of Students: 500

Maximum Number of Performances: 4

Technical Requirements:

• Headset or Lavalier Microphone
• Computer
• Projector (slide show)
• Screen for Projector

NC Essential Standards: K.C.1, 1.C.1, 2.C.1, 3.C.1, 4.C.1, 5.C.1, 6.C.1, 7.C.1, 8.C.1, B.C.1, I.C.1, P.C.1, A.C.1; K.C.2, 1.C.2, 2.C.2, 3.C.2, 4.C.2, 5.C.2, 6.C.2, 7.C.2, 8.C.2, B.C.2, I.C.2, P.C.2, A.C.2 K.A.1, 1.A.1, 2.A.1, 3.A.1, 4.A.1, 5.A.1, 6.A.1, 7.A.1, 8.A.1, B.A.1, I.A.1, P.A.1, A.A.1 K.CU.1, 1.CU.1, 2.CU.1, 3.CU.1, 4.CU.1, 5.CU.1, 6.CU.1, 7.CU.1, 8.CU.1, P.CU.1, I.CU.1, P.CU.1, A.CU.1

Cost: $500 one program / $800 two programs (same school, same day)

Participants will forge diverse personal connections and collective resilience in innovative and practical ways. Using storytelling, poetry, prose, and examples from participants' own experiences and original creations, Dr. Kelly will lead them through a process of developing positive and confirming communication environments versus negative and disconfirming communication environments. Participants will learn effective ways to create and maintain positive interpersonal relationships by optimizing diversity through a continuous, thoughtful, and artful practices of inclusion and connection.

Duration: 60 minutes

Grade Level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Maximum Number of Students: 50

Maximum Number of Performances: 2

Technical Requirements:

• Headset or Lavalier Microphone
• Computer
• Projector (slide show)
• Screen for Projector

NC Essential Standards: K.C.1, 1.C.1, 2.C.1, 3.C.1, 4.C.1, 5.C.1, 6.C.1, 7.C.1, 8.C.1, B.C.1, I.C.1, P.C.1, A.C.1; K.C.2, 1.C.2, 2.C.2, 3.C.2, 4.C.2, 5.C.2, 6.C.2, 7.C.2, 8.C.2, B.C.2, I.C.2, P.C.2, A.C.2 K.A.1, 1.A.1, 2.A.1, 3.A.1, 4.A.1, 5.A.1, 6.A.1, 7.A.1, 8.A.1, B.A.1, I.A.1, P.A.1, A.A.1 K.CU.1, 1.CU.1, 2.CU.1, 3.CU.1, 4.CU.1, 5.CU.1, 6.CU.1, 7.CU.1, 8.CU.1, P.CU.1, I.CU.1, P.CU.1, A.CU.1

Cost: $650 one program / $850 two programs (same school, same day)

The Ongoing Fight for Freedom: Stories of North Carolina’s Black Veterans

The Ongoing Fight for Freedom: Stories of NC’s Black Veterans is a one-man interactive presentation elevating American freedom fighters and veterans with North Carolina connections. Dr. Sonny Kelly will perform narratives of some of NC’s homegrown heroes who have engaged for over 400 years in the struggle for freedom, democracy, equality - on and off the battlefield. By witnessing their stories we can gain a deeper understanding of our nation’s founding ideals, and harness the hope needed to work together to continue the work of making those ideals a reality for all.

Duration: 45-50 minutes

Grade Level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Maximum Number of Students:  500

Maximum Number of Performances: 3

Technical Requirements:

• PA system 
• Headset or Lavalier microphone,
• Projector & Screen for PowerPoint slides and digital audio files

NC Essential Standards: 

Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. (K.C.1, 1.C.1, 2.C.1, 3.C.1, 4.C.1, 5.C.1, 6.C.1, 7.C.1, 8.C.1, B.C.1, I.C.1, P.C.1, A.C.1: Use performance to K.C.2.1 Use dramatic play to improvise stories and situations. communicate ideas and feelings. (K.C.2, 1.C.2, 2.C.2, 3.C.2, 4.C.2, 5.C.2, 6.C.2, 7.C.2, 8.C.2, B.C.2, I.C.2, P.C.2, A.C.2) Analyze literary texts and performances. (K.A.1, 1.A.1, 2.A.1, 3.A.1, 4.A.1, 5.A.1, 6.A.1, 7.A.1, 8.A.1, B.A.1, I.A.1, P.A.1, A.A.1) Analyze theatre in terms of the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which it was created. (K.CU.1, 1.CU.1, 2.CU.1, 3.CU.1, 4.CU.1, 5.CU.1, 6.CU.1, 7.CU.1, 8.CU.1, P.CU.1, I.CU.1, P.CU.1, A.CU.1) Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. Dr. Kelly leads by example by sharing dynamic embodied performances of poetry and prose. He also invites participants to enjoy the freedom of the theatrical space through call-and-response, role playing, poetry writing, and public sharing of poetry and storytelling. (K.C.1, 1.C.1, 2.C.1, 3.C.1, 4.C.1, 5.C.1, 6.C.1, 7.C.1, 8.C.1, B.C.1, I.C.1, P.C.1, A.C.1) Use dramatic play to improvise stories and situations. Communicate ideas and feelings. Dr. Kelly's storytelling activities require students to lean in and engage as they are called on to finish stories, answer call-and-response opportunities, and share their own perspectives and insights throughout performances and workshops. (K.C.2.1, K.C.2, 1.C.2, 2.C.2, 3.C.2, 4.C.2, 5.C.2, 6.C.2, 7.C.2, 8.C.2, B.C.2, I.C.2, P.C.2, A.C.2) Analyze literary texts and performances. Dr. Kelly performs classic poetry and prose from literary wonders like William Shakespeare and Paul Laurence Dunbar. He also performs original works. He leads students through an interactive process of systematically analyzing the voices of the authors and the literary devices used to engage readers (i.e. simile, metaphor, point of view, narrative voice, etc.). (K.A.1, 1.A.1, 2.A.1, 3.A.1, 4.A.1, 5.A.1, 6.A.1, 7.A.1, 8.A.1, B.A.1, I.A.1, P.A.1, A.A.1) Analyze theatre in terms of the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which it was created. Dr. Kelly performs and analyzes his own original theatrical works, as well as those of classic and contemporary playwrights and poets. He calls audiences in (rather than calling them out), by connecting them to the text, performance, and performer through empathy, dramaturgical analysis, and critical thinking. K.CU.1, 1.CU.1, 2.CU.1, 3.CU.1, 4.CU.1, 5.CU.1, 6.CU.1, 7.CU.1, 8.CU.1, P.CU.1, I.CU.1, P.CU.1, A.CU.1)

Cost: $500 one program / $800 two programs (same school, same day)