The pirates of legend were always hunting for buried treasure. The 12-year-old nonprofit Story Pirates is looking for something more precious — the jewels to be found in a child’s writing. The group’s comedic actors and educators crisscross the country running writing workshops in schools, which have helped thousands of students pen original stories.
With few props and boundless energy, the merry band of Pirates turns select stories into humorous musical skits and performs them in schools, theaters, and community centers.
In one story brought to the stage, a student muses about living the life of his dog, Snickers. What would dog food taste like? How about that water from the toilet bowl? In other stories, quesadillas become superheroes, a boy’s train obsession is celebrated, and a girl’s love for her pet whale is writ large.
“The hope is their entire relationship with writing will change in an instant,” says Benjamin Salka, one of the group’s founders. “It will go from something they have to do for school to something they want to do for themselves because they can express who they are.”
Starting with its name, the group puts fun at center stage. Story Pirates hires top-notch actors who embody the spirit of Tom Hanks’s grown-up kid character in the movie Big. The group wants students to get a jolt of energy from the writing workshops, says Mr. Salka.
“The natural language of kids is play, and that is the language we use to get them excited,” he says.
Since its inception, the group has collected more than 30,000 stories through elementary- school workshops and its website, where any student can submit a piece. Although Story Pirates can only perform a small number of stories in public, the group offers personal comments for each piece through Story Love, a program in which volunteers read submissions and provide positive written feedback.
The group, which has a $350,000 annual budget, also produces weekly performances in New York City, a radio show on XM Sirius, and performances for adults.
