The X Page:
A Storytelling Workshop
Season six is underway! Dates for the 2025 workshop are Wednesday evenings between April – June. Details about the performance coming soon.
Click here to visit the web site!
The X Page hosts a monthly “writing club” online, on the third Wednesday of the month. Contact me if you’re interested in joining.
In 2019, my co-founder Dr Lamees Al Ethari and I partnered with local artists and arts organization to launch the first season of The X Page. The project took flight thanks to the collective energy and effort of a large team of artists, sponsors and supporters, many of whom have remained partners on the project. Each season has been different, as we’ve adapted to changing circumstances.
Each new X Page performance takes shape over approximately 12 weeks. Workshop sessions are weekly, in the evenings, and include both writing and performance practices guided by local arts professionals.
Mentorship has shaped The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop, with the goal of nurturing and sustaining a community of emerging artists and arts professionals. Peer mentors and past participants play an invaluable role within the workshop, fostering a safe, welcoming, and culturally rich creative environment.
The 2025 X Page Team includes Anandi Carroll-Woolery, returning as project coordinator and story developer (performer, Season 2 and 4); Pamela Mulloy, returning as executive director (editor of TNQ); Tasneem Jamal, returning as writing lead and story developer (novelist, most recently, I Never Said That I Was Brave); Lily Gyamfi-Kumanini, returning as performance lead with Nada AbuSaleh, both from MT Space Theatre Company; Melissa Durrell, returning vocal coach (founder and owner of Durrell Communications); Maha Eid, returning as script manager and assistant project coordinator (performer, Season 1); Cecilia Vizcaino, returning peer mentor (performer, Season 3, 4 and 5); Reem Elkady, peer mentor (performer, Season 5); and Eleni Zaptses, returning as administrative assistant (managing editor of TNQ). This season, I’m serving as producer and story developer.
Yes, we are a large team. a) It’s a complex project and b) an amazing, immersive, and energizing experience that c) we look forward to each year.
The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop uses writing and drawing exercises based Lynda Barry’s teachings and philosophy, including “The X Page.” (Our project name predated that other “X”.)
“The X Page” as the opposite of a blank page. It’s an exercise in which we are invited to enter into an image using all of our senses. The exercise has been foundational to the workshop’s trust-based collaborative story-discovery process.
I cannot recommend Lynda Barry’s creative guide, Syllabus, more highly! Purchase it at your local bookstore.
The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop is an interdisciplinary community arts project that connects women from Waterloo Region who are immigrants or refugees with artists and mentors who support them in writing and performing their own stories.
Our inaugural performance, “Quilt of Stories,” played to a sold-out theatre audience, in the spring of 2019.
The stories were published online by The New Quarterly literary magazine (TNQ).
Season two was cut short by COVID-19, about three weeks before the planned performance of “Stories in Transit.” Editors worked with participants to polish the stories, and some participants recorded solo performances from home.
The stories from season two were published online by TNQ in May 2020.
Season three, in 2021, was held entirely online, during a period of lockdown. Our weekly meetings brought welcome connection.
The stories and a recording of our live online performance, “Little Things,” are available here.
Season four took place in the spring of 2022. Despite uncertainty around restrictions, the workshop returned to meeting in-person. This scaled-down version of the project was hosted entirely by the Centre for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College.
A recording of the performance of “Voices” can be viewed here.
The season five performance, “We Belong,” took place at the Registry Theatre in downtown Kitchener, in June of 2024.
The stories and a recording of the performance can be viewed here.
