Storytellers — singers, poets, writers, actors — the buildings at Ferry Beach are full of talking, music, dancing as the TLA Network’s Power of Words Conference gets underway. Here are a few photos to transport you there:

Friday was rainy. We dodged puddles and huddled on porches as we waited for the conference to begin.

 True Story Theater of Boston opened the conference with a wonderful playback theater presentation. The topic was stigma, and five or six conference members shared examples of the pain that stigma caused to them or someone close to them. After the personal telling, the troupe acted out (played back) an improvised drama based on the personal story.

Saturday morning was filled with workshops, all enticing. A small group gathered for Barb Asen’s workshop “Love Is all there Is: Mantra Singing for All” — a calm way to start a hectic day. Here’s Barb listing to the vibration from the voices as a song ends.

Susan Bennett-Armistead gave a keynote address at noon about the importance of reading aloud, “Read it again! Read it again! How Read Aloud Builds Brains and Changes the World.” Here she is showing her five-year-old’s “literate” scribbles, already demonstrating an understanding of many conventions of western writing.

Now the sun is out! The conference continues; connections, learning, discovery, and sharing abound. More to follow in the next blog post.