By: Eric Wolf,
on 10/26/2011
Press Play to hear Leeny Del Seamonds on using character voices in your storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf. Odds Bodkin’s character-voice and music-filled storytelling style has been mesmerizing listeners, young and old, for twenty-four years. The New York Times dubbed him “a consummate storyteller” while TIMEOUT New York writes, “Master Storyteller [...]
By: Eric Wolf,
on 7/14/2011
photo by: Simon Brooks Yvonne Zinicola ( Rt.) with Lanes President Joanne Piazzi and President- Elect Tony Toledo Written by Carolyn Stearns This is part two of two of my interview of Yvonne Zinicola our Lanes Exec. Director. Now more than a year into her position we look at where we have come from [...]
By: Eric Wolf,
on 7/6/2011
Written for by Carolyn Stearns… Part 1- An Interview With Lanes Exec. Director Yvonne Zinicola as of 3-29-2011 I requested to interview Yvonne for the blog as a way of capturing her first year and reflecting on its impact with Lanes and storytelling in the Northeast. I sent [...]
By: Eric Wolf,
on 5/21/2011
by Stuart H. Nager I found out about World Storytelling Day (http://worldstorytellingday.webs.com/) on February 23, 2011, through a posting on Facebook. The global event, centered around the theme of Water, was to be on or around March 20th. I’ve been working hard as a Teaching Artist, doing my storytelling and other performance gigs here and [...]
By: Eric Wolf,
on 5/17/2011
Press Play to hear Diane Wolkstein and Connecting with Audiences, Other Cultures and Ourselves on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf. Bio… Diane Wolkstein is one of the world’s most preminent storytellers and the award-winning author of more than 30 books, CDs, and DVDs. From amusing children’s tales to epic adventures for adults, Wolkstein has performed [...]
By: Eric Wolf,
on 1/25/2011
Press Play to hear Antonio Rocha speak on accessing the language of the body using storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
Antonio Writes…
Dear listeners, my journey into storytelling has been a magical one. First, with my mime training with Tony Montanaro and a bit with Marcel Marceau, taught me a lot about how body language communicates so eloquently. Not by translating a sentence into movement but rather the intention and essence of a narrative. Less is more. Then, I got a BA in theatre arts from The University of Southern Maine, there I learned some more about theatre . So, I started to tell orally but never forgetting the physical eloquence learned from mime. That mixed with my own creativity assured a very particular language. Such approach has given me the opportunity not only to go to the far corners of the world but to far corners of my own soul. The storytelling community is a great home to be. Thanks for listening…..and watching.
Antonio Rocha’s Biography
Antonio Rocha, a native of Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985.
In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the USA to perform and deepen his mime skills with Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a Summa Cum Laude Theater BA from USM (University of Southern Maine) and studied with Master Marcel Marceau. Mr. Rocha’s unique solo shows of stories and mime have been performed from Singapore to Hawaii and many places in between including ten countries on five continents. Some of the venues include The Singapore Festival of the Arts, Aruba Intl Dance Festival, The National Storytelling Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Geographic, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival in Holland as well as many other Storytelling Festivals and educational institutions around The USA. Mr. Rocha is a member of the Maine Arts Commission, The New England Foundation for the Arts and the National Storytelling Association.
Feel free to learn more about Antonio Rocha on his website – http://www.storyinmotion.com
By: Eric Wolf,
on 10/19/2010
Press Play to hear Rafe Martin speaks about Zen and the Art of Spiritual Storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
Rafe Martin speaks…
Many years ago (staring in the early 1970’s and on) I began walking two traditional roads – that of formal Zen practice and that of storytelling. My first public storytelling events actually took place at the Rochester Zen Center in 1973. For many years the two roads went running in happy parallel, sometimes visible to each other from across the ravine, sometimes hidden by bushes, boulders, trees and vines. In the later part of the 80’s the two roads began to join up and intertwine, weaving in and out, braiding and re-forming from story elements old and older, ancient and new. The worlds of oral storytelling and writing books began to interconnect for me, too. I wrote picture books and collections, original and ones inspired by traditional tales and communities. I began speaking every year for about a dozen years at Zuni Pueblo, one of the most traditional Native communities in North America where I saw myth come alive, be ordinary and very real at the same time. What a gift!
I wrote a novel, too, that sprang out of the world of the Brother’s Grimm – tales that my mother had loved and read aloud to me, when I was young. Ordinary, daily, personal life, and the ancient world of story began to support and teach each other. All along I kept up with daily Zen sitting and Zen retreats (called sesshin – meaning “to touch the mind”), as well as with working with excellent teachers in that branch of Buddhist tradition. About a year and a half-ago I received ordination in Zen tradition and the two roads of story – both personal and traditional – and the road of personal evolution/ spiritual work I knew from Zen practice, became one.
So, when Eric asked to do an interview on these related subjects right after the recent 38th National Storytelling Festival where I was a featured teller of course I said, “Yes.”
Enjoy!
Bio:
Storyteller Rafe Martin is the author of over twenty books ranging from almost wordless picture books through collections and novels. His work has been featured in Time, Newsweek, and USA Today. He has also been a featured teller at such prestigious events and institutions as the National Storytelling Festival, the International Storytelling Center, the American Museum of Natural History, NASA, the American Library Association International Convention, the Joseph Campbell Festival of Myth and Story, the Sierra Storytelling Festival to name just a very few.
He is the recipient of numerous awards including multiple Parent’s Choice Gold Awards, Storytelling World awards, ALA Notable Book Awards, as well as the prestigious Empire State Award, given for the body of his work. He is also a fully ordained lay Zen practitioner, with many years of formal practice and study. His latest book is Endless Path: Awakening in the Buddhist Imagination – Jataka Tales, Zen Practice, and Daily life. He lives in Rochester, NY. See http://www.rafemartin.com for details.
By: Eric Wolf,
on 7/9/2009
Press Play to hear Carol Mon speak on applying fairytales to business on the Art of Storytelling with Children.
Carol Mon writes…
Why tell stories to our children? Because it helps prepare them for life. An added benefit though, is we re-learn the important lessons within each tale. This reminds me of Robert Fulghum’s book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Definitely true if someone read or told you stories during your formative years.
Folk and fairy tales are full of values and morals that we learn through repetition. Generally, as children we don’t stop to think what moral is being taught we are just enjoying the story for entertainment. The characters in the story model good or bad behavior and we see the consequences of their actions. Without receiving a lecture from parents we learn appropriate behavior.
As an adult storyteller I am often re-learning and telling favorite childhood stories. A funny thing happened; I started seeing all kinds of lessons in the stories that could be applied to the business world. My favorite example is Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The Emperor is like so many executives I have met, they intimidate those who work for them. Information does not flow freely and eventually the executive finds himself parading around in only his underwear.
I work with all kinds of business people now and try to get them to understand stories are not just for kids. We need to remember these stories, learn from them and apply them to our current situation. Business people see the tales as frivolous and a waste of time, they want to learn from “real” business situations experienced by colleagues so that they can learn from them. So, you tell them the story of the Emperor and change his title to Executive Vice President. The tailors become consultants selling services, the courtiers are direct reports. The consultants fool the EVP and although the employees see it they fear the EVP’s reaction if they speak out against the consultants. Eventually the consultants leave town and the EVP finds a huge bill with nothing to show for it.
Did the story really have to change to be accepted? Unfortunately the answer is probably yes and not just because of prejudice (stories are for children’s entertainment). Something we have in kindergarten that is destroyed in many of as we go through school is an imagination. Business people lack the imagination to see how the lesson in The Emperor’s New Clothes can be applied to them.
An Introduction to for Carol Mon:
Once, a long time ago there was an accountant named Carol Mon who spent several happy years
working as an employee benefits specialist and payroll manager. When her company merged with another, it was time for her to leave the comfort of Connecticut Mutual, and find her passion in the world.Her journey took her to WMRD, a small AM radio station in Middletown, CT. Wanting more, she moved on to ESPN, a sports network in Bristol CT. Still something was missing. So Carol packed her desk and continued her journey to become…a storyteller. Finally, she had found the passion she was searching for and felt at home in more ways then one.
Drawing on years of informally telling tales of travel, payroll problems, and media mishaps Carol honed her storytelling skills. She now journeys to such venues as Pfizer Corporation, the United States Coast Guard Academy and the National Association of Insurance Women to help people unlock the secrets of creating and telling compelling stories to strengthen communication skills. And she just loves making a difference in this unique way.
Carol is a member of the Connecticut Storytelling Center, Toastmasters International, the National Speakers Association, and is the Assistant Festival Director for the Connecticut Storytelling Festival. She is also the author of a booklet “Ten Telling Tips for Talkers – Storytelling Tips Everyone Should Know”.
For more information on Carol Mon go to
http://www.carolmon.com
By: Eric Wolf,
on 4/23/2009
Press Play to hear Jay O’Callahan speak about learning about Stories by telling to my Children on the Art of Storytelling with Children.
Jay O’Callahan writes…
I’m at work right now on a story commissioned by NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration to celebrate its 50th anniversary. As I create the NASA story I’m aware I’m using all of the knowledge I gained telling stories to my own children. As I told stories to my children I began using repetition, rhythm, changing my voice, using a gesture here and there and inventing situations that involved struggle or risk, When my son Ted was about nine months old I’d make up little songs and rhythms to make him smile. Just making my voice go up high and then suddenly come down delighted him.
One night Ted was sitting in a soapy bath and I read him some of James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. He laughed at the sounds.
When Ted got older I read books to him like The Gingerbread Man and discovered that he loved the repetition running through the story.
Run, run fast as you can
You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man.
I began reading one of Richard Scary’s book in which there was a character called Pierre the Paris Policeman. The line was, “Pierre the Paris Policeman was directing traffic one day.” I would sing that line with a French accent and lift up my hand to stop an imaginary car. The voice and accent brought the character alive. That was an important discovery. And if I read it in any other way it wasn’t Pierre and Ted would say, “Say it right.”
After my daughter Laura Elizabeth was born I told both my children “hand stories.” I’d take one of their hands, look at the palm of the hand and let a line, a bump or a curve in the hand suggest an image and I’d begin the story. It might go like this. “Once upon a time Ted saw a pink cloud resting by a tree. The cloud looked sad so Ted went over to cheer it up.” I was dreaming aloud and characters and images would spring to mind. I imaged that’s always happened to storytellers. I liked telling the hand stories because they were quiet and personal and my children liked being the hero and heroine. Some of those hand stories eventually turned into the Artana stories which take place in a mysterious land where two children, Edward and Elizabeth are the hero and heroine.
As I was telling to my children I learned the importance of a listener, particularly a listener with the sense of wonder and delight. My children listened me into being a storyteller.
Now as I work on this complicated story about NASA I use the knowledge I gained from my children. I ask myself this question: What is wondrous about NASA? And I’m on the alert for compelling characters and the risks they take and the struggles of their lives. I try to incorporate rhythm and repetition; I use a voice to become a character and find that a gesture helps bring the character alive.
As I shape the story and as it grows, I’m using the listeners. The listeners draw out mysteries in the story that I would have missed without them. Here I am back to the beginning.
Biography
Jay O’Callahan grew up in a section of Brookline, Massachusetts which was called “Pill Hill” because so many doctors lived there. The 32-room house and landscaped grounds were a magical atmosphere for a child’s imagination to blossom. When Jay was fourteen, he started making up stories to tell to his little brother and sister to entertain them.
After graduating from Holy Cross College, a tour in the Navy took Jay to the Pacific. Returning to Massachusetts, he taught and eventually became Dean at the Wyndham School in Boston, which his parents had founded. “In the summers I’d go off to Vermont or Ireland to write. I also did a lot of acting in amateur theatre, and that’s where I met a beautiful woman (Linda McManus) who later became my wife. When we had our first child, I left teaching and became the caretaker of the YWCA in Marshfield, a big old barn on a salt-water marsh. That gave me time to write and to tell stories to my children. When I decided to call myself a storyteller, it was like getting on a rocket.” Within three years, Jay was telling stories in hundreds of schools and in addition he was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to create and perform Peer Gynt with the orchestra. His stories were broadcast on National Public Radio’s “The Spider’s Web,” which brought Jay national attention.
Jay was now publicly telling stories he had created for his children. His stories were filled with rhythms, songs and characters as diverse as Herman the Worm, Petrukian, a medieval blacksmith, and the Little Dragon. Orange Cheeks, inspired by a time Jay got in trouble as a little boy, was the first of his personal stories.
One of his most popular stories, Raspberries was born when Jay’s son Teddy was four. Teddy banged his shin outside their cottage and was weeping, “I broke my leg.” Jay told a story full of rhythms to cheer Teddy up.
Jay was also beginning to tell stories to adults. In 1980, while on vacation in Nova Scotia, he sat on and off for a month in the kitchen of an old man and a blind woman. Out of that kitchen came the story of The Herring Shed. “I realized then that part of my gift was to sit down with ordinary people where they were comfortable, listen, and later weave a story together so that others could enjoy it. The process still amazes me: one year I’m in a kitchen in Nova Scotia and a few years later, I’m performing The Herring Shed to a thousand people at Lincoln Center.” Time Magazine called The Herring Shed “genius.”After the Herring Shed came Jay’s Pill Hill stories for which is was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship. The Pill Hill stories are loosely based on his boyhood.
Storytelling has brought Jay around the earth. “The storyteller of old got on a horse. I get on a plane, parachute into a community and I’m part of its life for a while before moving on to the next one.” Jay has told stories to students at Stonehendge, to adults in the heat of Niger, Africa, to theatergoers in Dublin and London and at storytelling festivals in Scotland, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. His stories have also been heard on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Jay’s stories also include commissioned works like The Spirit of the Great Auk, Pouring the Sun, Edna Robinson and Father Joe.
When he isn’t on the road, Jay runs a writing workshop at his home. His other interests include reading everything from Walt Whitman to Herman Melville to Flannery O’Connor to Emily Dickinson. And he enjoys listening to jazz, classical music and opera. “I love Maria Callas. Her singing touches a joy that’s very deep.”
Jay has just finished a political novel called Harry’s Our Man, and is creating a story commissioned by NASA for its 50th anniversary.
By: Eric Wolf,
on 4/21/2009
Press Play to hear Ed Stivender speak on the 5 Fool proof Rules for Successful Storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Children.
In reviews of his performances, Ed Stivender has been called “the Robin Williams of storytelling” and “a Catholic Garrison Keillor”. Now, Ed — Philadelphia native, Shakespearean actor, banjo player, teacher, theologian, Mummer, dreamer, juggler, and raconteur — has put together a program in which he shares the techniques that have made him one of the most honored and sought-after storytellers of our day.
Since 1977, when he left his day job as a high school teacher in Connecticut and turned to storytelling full-time, Ed has fabulated his way around the globe –appearing in schools, churches, coffeehouses and theaters, as well as at major storytelling festivals. He has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival, the Cape Clear Island International Storytelling Festival in Ireland, Graz Festival, Austria and our own Philadelphia Folk Festival. Ed enjoyed narrating: “Paddington Bears Special Day” with the Harrisburg Symphony, “Ferdinan the Bull” with a violinist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and “Peter and the Wolf” with the LaGrange Symphony.
In the Spring of 2005 Ed worked with a group called Historic Philadelphia Inc., which has had colonial re-enactors in the historic district, that expanded to include a project called “Once Upon A Nation”.
Ed worked with them as a consultant/writer/trainer, helping them develop short historical stories to be presented throughout Independence National Historic Park on thirteen storytelling benches. He trained the tellers during their three week training, “Benstitute”, and did some paperwork summarizing and suggesting. Ed also wrote a theme song for them.
The National Storytelling Association inducted Ed into its Circle of Excellence in 1996.
Ed has strutted in the Comic division of the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade since 1982. In 1994, he received the Mummers’ Most Original Character Award for his one-man Vatican-American String Band, and in 1996, he was Captain of the first-prize-winning Kingsessing Morris Men and in 2006 he won first prize for Most Original Character.
Ed is the subject of a chapter in the book Storytellers by Corki Miller and Mary Ellen. Snodgrass, a story in Chicken Soup for the Romantic Heart and is the author or two books of tales: Raised Catholic, Can You Tell? and Still Catholic After All These Fears. He has also released a video and several recordings of his performances.
To Book Ed Contact:
NANCY CLANCY
26616 Willowmere Drive E-35
Millsboro, DE 19966
[email protected]
302.947.9515
For More information on Ed Stivender
Business Cards
By: Eric Wolf,
on 3/13/2009
Press Play to hear Catherine Burns who is Artistic Director of The Moth speaking on diamonds in the rough, coaching new storytellers on the Art of Storytelling with Children.
The Moth is America’s #1 storytelling podcast with over 600,000 downloads a month and at least 100,000 listeners. Catherine Burns is one of the minds behind the curtain at The Moth storytelling main stage in NYC and LA.
The Moth storytelling website.
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photo by: Simon Brooks Yvonne Zinicola ( Rt.) with Lanes President Joanne Piazzi and President- Elect Tony Toledo Written by Carolyn Stearns This is part two of two of my interview of Yvonne Zinicola our Lanes Exec. Director. Now more than a year into her position we look at where we have come from [...]