Next semester, students will be able to study a subject never before offered at Iowa State — international storytelling.

The three-credit course, offered through the Theater Department, will be taught by Shirley Basfield Dunlap, associate professor of music, and Shalini Amersey, teaching assistant.

The class has a capacity of 30 students and is offered for undergraduate or graduate credit. It is listed as Child Theater Workshop 590 for graduate students and Theater 393C for undergraduates.

Amersey said the principle of the class is “to get as many people as possible aware of cultures and to bridge the gap between cultures through stories.

“By taking the class you are going to be able to travel through many countries [figuratively] and educate people at the same time,” she added.

Dunlap said the class is expected to generate a lot of attention, so interested students should register for it as soon as possible.

“This course should appeal to a wide variety of majors, because knowing how to tell stories, how to convey messages, is an important skill for many professions,” she said.

During the first half of the semester, students will learn voice techniques and learn to “make the story come alive and [be] 3-D through music, puppetry and drums,” Amersey said.

Storytellers from around the region and international students at ISU will help the class with storytelling techniques.

“Students are going to learn how to tell a story with things other than their voices,” Dunlap said. “They will learn folklore and stories of different cultures and learn how to tell them by studying a variety of storytelling techniques.”

The second half of the class will focus on applying the techniques students have learned and sharing them with the community.

Amersey said she and Dunlap have already set up storytelling performances with schools, libraries, churches and nursing homes.

“Putting the materials together, we have seen that the community is excited,” Amersey said.

On May 2, students in the class will team with master storytellers to put on an on-campus International Storytelling Workshop, which will be open to the public.