LeVar Burton announces new MasterClass, “The Power of Storytelling”
LeVar Burton in his MasterClass “The Power of Storytelling”
JUNE 28, 2021 - Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton has been sharing his passion for stories since the first episode of Reading Rainbow premiered in 1983, years before his role as Geordi LaForge. And now, a piece in Variety reports that almost 40 years later, he’s sharing what he has learned about storytelling, in a new course offered by the educational streaming service MasterClass.
Entitled “The Power of Storytelling”, Burton’s class lasts 13 weeks and covers a broad range of storytelling tips and techniques. In a preview posted to the course’s homepage, Burton says, “In this course, I'm going to help you identify your personal story and how to communicate that story to the world. I'm going to touch on reading aloud and public speaking. […] I'll cover podcasting and storytelling for children, storytelling for adults.” He then adds a nice summary of the course’s primary aim, adding, “Mostly, I think it's really for anyone who has a need to communicate at any point during their lives a message, a story, or an idea.”
Variety also reports that Burton’s class will cover the motivations behind storytelling, and also the particular impact storytelling can have on the important issue of representation. This online course adds to Burton’s online offerings for sharing his love of story, having launched “LeVar Burton’s Book Club” through the social platform Fable back in May of this year.
You can learn more about LeVar Burton’s “The Power of Storytelling” by visiting MasterClass.com.
Jack Brown is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. Jack teaches at a small film school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and also helps to manage his wife's career as a novelist and speaker. In his spare time he writes fiction, cooks, and watches classic movies.
