The X Page:

A Storytelling Workshop

Click here to visit the web site!

Applications for season five are now closed. The 2024 performance is scheduled for Sunday, June 16th at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener. We hope to see you there! We also host a monthly “writing club” online; newcomers are welcome.

In 2019, I co-founded the workshop with Dr. Lamees Al Ethari. Our first season took flight thanks to the collective energy and effort of a large team of artists, sponsors and supporters. Each season has been different, as we’ve adapted to changing circumstances.

Our season two performance, “Stories in Transit,” was abruptly cancelled due to COVID-19; however, the stories had already been written.

“Stories in Transit” were published online by TNQ in May 2020.

The 2024 X Page Team includes: Anandi Carroll-Woolery, project coordinator, and season 2 performer; Pamela Mulloy, editor of TNQ; Melissa Durrell, vocal coach, and founder and owner of Durrell Comm; Maha Eid, stage manager, and season 1 performer; Cecilia Vizcaino, peer mentor, and season 3 performer; Eleni Zaptses, administrative coordinator; Nada AbuSaleh, co-director with Lily Schumacher; Tasneem Jamal, editor and writer (Where the Air is Sweet); and Lindsey Carter, editor, and season 4 performer. I’ll be returning to the workshop as an editor.

The X Page is an interdisciplinary community arts project that connects women who are immigrants or refugees with artists in Waterloo Region, who assist and mentor them in writing and performing their own stories.

Our inaugural performance titled “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).

Our third season, in 2021, was held entirely online, during a period of lockdown. Our weekly meetings brought welcome connection.

The 2021 stories and a recording of our live online performance “Little Things” are available here.

Our twelve-week workshop sessions include both writing and performance practices, and are guided by arts professionals working with TNQ literary magazine and MT Space theatre company.

Our workshop uses writing and drawing exercises based Lynda Barry’s teachings and philosophy, including “The X Page.”

We like to say that “The X Page” is the opposite of a blank page. It’s the space where we enter into an image using all of our senses. “The X Page” has been a solid foundation for our workshop’s trust-based collaborative creative process.

Thank you, Lynda Barry.

With your support, The X Page will continue to grow and thrive. Please visit our web site to find out more information about applying to the workshop, donating, or joining our monthly writing club — and spread the word!