Twenty-six of America’s best-loved storytellers will be Tellers in Residence at the International Storytelling Center in 2010 — one per week for 26 weeks from May 4 – October 30.
Click here for performance dates in
May, June, July, August, September, and October.
- Daily performance times and prices
- Evening Concert Schedule
- Children's Concerts Schedule
- TiR Workshops (new for 2010)
2010 Performances
May Performances
May 4-8 • Roy Book Binder
www.roybookbinder.com
Roy Book Binder has been a Blues singing, guitar picking, and song writing raconteur for the last 40 years. Book Binder learned his craft from the legendary blind street singer, Reverend Gary Davis, and has been included in the Big Book of Blues as well as the Blues Who’s Who. With continual tours across America as well as internationally, the cast of characters he’s met on his travels help make up his repertoire of stories and songs. Book Binder’s appearances include the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, Merlefest and the National Storytelling Festival.
“Behind the humor lurks a musical master.” –Sydney Morning Herald
May 11-15 • Angela Lloyd
www.angelalloyd.com
Angela Lloyd is a matchmaker of spoken word and music. A virtuosa on washboard, with autoharp, tenor guitar, spoon and bell, her performances are a whimsical braid of poetry, story, and song. Lloyd’s stories are selected from a variety of sources including world folktales, the works of Carl Sandburg, and the best in children’s literature, all of which showcase her unique style and impeccable timing. One of storytelling’s most unique performers, Lloyd is featured regularly at storytelling venues around the country, including the National Storytelling Festival, and is currently in residence at Children’s Community School in Van Nuys, California.
“Divine foolishness.” –Durham Morning Herald
May 18-22 • Carol Birch
www.carolbirch.com
As a storyteller, award-winning recording artist, distinguished teacher and director of recordings, Carol Birch delights audiences with a repertoire of stories that echo the heart's concerns -- from shy hope and tenderness to humor and good sense. Although she has told stories in Singapore, Australia, and Europe and the National Storytelling Festival, Carol's primary venues are concerts at schools, libraries, colleges, theaters, storytelling festivals, museums, theme parks, and corporate fetes throughout the U.S. Birch, a Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award recipient, teaches at Southern Connecticut State University.
“An articulate, skillful weaver of images and creator of moods…” –Booklist Magazine
May 25-29 • Bob Reiser
www.bobtales.com
Bob Reiser is an expansive and joyous storyteller, teacher and award-winning author of books for children and adults. His books, Carry it On and the award-winning Everybody Says Freedom, (both written with Pete Seeger), along with David Gets His Drum, are read around the world. Reiser has shared his unique, energetic telling of new and old tales in multiple venues, including the Hudson River Clearwater Revival, the 3 Rivers Festival, Vancouver BC's International Story Festival and as an Exchange Place teller at the National Storytelling Festival. Often accompanying himself with flute and drum, Reiser brings warmth and wit to traditional and original stories.
“Bob Reiser is what storytelling is all about – funny, serious, joyful, and always alive.” –Pete Seeger
June Performances
June 1-5 • Dan Keding
www.dankeding.com
Internationally acclaimed storyteller, musician, and author, Dan Keding is known for his telling of world folktales, personal narratives of his Chicago boyhood, ghost stories and superbly crafted original pieces. As a child he learned the traditional stories from his Croatian grandmother. A well-respected ballad singer, Keding accompanies himself on guitar, banjo and spoons. He has performed worldwide, including the Sidmouth International Folk Arts Festival in England and the National Storytelling Festival. Keding has over a dozen award-winning recordings, and his first book, Stories of Hope and Spirit: Folktales of Eastern Europe, won the prestigious Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice Award. Keding is a Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award recipient.
"For Dan Keding simplicity and high art go hand-in-hand." –Illinois Times
June 8-12 • Heather Forest
www.storyarts.org
Heather Forest enchants audiences with her unique minstrel style of storytelling. Interweaving original music, poetry and the sung and spoken word, she brings multicultural folktales, fairytales, and fables to life in the imagination of her listeners. Forest has been featured at major storytelling festivals around the globe, including the Sidmouth International Festival in England, the Glistening Waters Storytelling Festival in New Zealand, and the National Storytelling Festival. An award-winning recording artist and author, she is a recipient of the Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award.
“Her stories seamlessly and effortlessly move from the musical song to the spoken word and back again creating anew the form of the minstrel storyteller that is most uncommon in our day.” –Open Hand Theater
June 15-19 • Doug Lipman
www.storydynamics.com
Doug Lipman has been a professional storyteller and musician for over twenty-five years. His storytelling grew out of his work as a pre-school and music teacher of the 1970’s. Since that time, he has performed on three continents, authored multiple award-winning books and recordings, and taught storytelling to scores of clients, including The World Bank. He is also a renowned storytelling coach. Accompanying himself on guitar, flute, banjo and accordion, Lipman’s performances include National Public Radio, the Smithsonian Museum and the National Storytelling Festival.
“To hear Doug Lipman…is to want to learn to tell stories yourself.” –Boston Globe
June 22-26 • Connie Regan-Blake
www.storywindow.com
Drawing on her Irish heritage, Southern roots, and sense of humor, Connie Regan-Blake takes her listeners on a journey from old-timey mountain tales to surprising, heroic adventures of everyday living. With her distinctive voice, southern charm and Irish heritage, she is an ambassador for storytelling and a sought-after performer across the globe. One of the first to bring storytelling to a national audience, Regan-Blake has performed across the U.S. and multiple foreign countries, including most recently in Uganda and Dubai. A frequent featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival, she is the recipient of the Storytelling Circle of Excellence and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
“Storytelling is alive and well, primarily because of Connie Regan-Blake.” –ABC Good Morning America
June 29-July 3 • Andy Offutt Irwin
http://andyirwin.wordpress.com
With a silly putty voice, hilarious heart-filled stories, and arguably the greatest whistle in the world, Andy Offutt Irwin is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer. A storyteller, arts educator and singer-songwriter, he began as a performer, writer and director with the famous comedy company, SAK Theatre at Walt Disney World. Since then he has recorded four award-winning CDs, and has performed his stories across North America, including at the National Storytelling Festival.
“A fiendishly clever union of Tom Lehrer’s topicality…cut with Bobby McFerrin-style mouth music…good, quirky fun.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
July Performances
July 6-10 • Gay Ducey
A storyteller, educator and writer, MaryGay Ducey likes contradictions: A city girl who enjoys country roads; a witty wordsmith who speaks the plain truth; a teller with a preacher’s passion and an eavesdropper’s ear. Her stories – which she has shared at the National Storytelling Festival and throughout the U.S., Ireland and Canada – are drawn from world tales, history and family, and often look across borders and over fences to find common ground. Ducey is from New Orleans and lives in Berkeley, so New Orleans’s rituals and play, and the Bay Area’s diversity have produced an artist with a reverence for tradition and a penchant for the unexpected. Ducey is the co-author of A Crash Course in Storytelling, called an ‘essential purchase’ by School Library Journal, and is the recipient of Storytelling’s Distinguished National Service and Circle of Excellence Awards.
“The grand dame, the queen bee, of storytelling.” –San Francisco Chronicle
July 13-17 • Performance Duo: In the Spirit
In the Spirit combines the talents of Glenda Zahra Baker and Emily Hooper Lansana, who are known for drawing listeners into their seamless blend of vocals and narrative. Together, Glenda, an acclaimed musician, and Emily, a premiere storyteller, have conceived a unique harmonic performance style that reflects ancient African and contemporary African American forms. Their vibrant and lyrical programs reinforce positive culture-based values. Rhythm and rhyme in action, In the Spirit has shared their stories, songs, chants and poetry in venues that include the National Association of Black Storytellers Festival, the Field Museum and the National Storytelling Festival.
“…interactive and uplifting tunes and tales that celebrate the African spirit of survival and community.” –CTA News
July 20-24 • Ed Stivender
Since first appearing at the National Storytelling Festival in 1980, Ed Stivender has toured the world presenting his one man shows in Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Indonesia, and in festivals across the U.S. Best known for his witty improvisations and original interpretations of classic material, he engages his audience in a participatory dance of insight, whimsy and surprise. The author of two books of coming-of-age stories, his writing has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Catholic Digest, and Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul. Stivender, a Circle of Excellence Award recipient, is also an award-winning Philadelphia Mummer.
“…the Robin Williams of storytelling.” –Miami Herald
July 27-31 • Jim Two Crows Wallen
www.jimtwocrows.com
National award winner Jim Two Crows Wallen grew up in a rich oral heritage, where, being an oldest son of an oldest son, it was his destiny to combine his love of history with a good story. His great-grandfather was full blood Cherokee. Wallen can remember sitting on the Courthouse lawn in Warsaw, Missouri, listening to him telling stories to the old men of the town while little boys listened in. Two Crows’ stories are carefully researched, and he often appears in historically accurate and hand-designed clothing appropriate to the story. Touring nationally, his performances span over two decades and average more than 300 per year.
“He revels in the gritty details of history…the glue that makes otherwise cold facts stick in our minds.” –Patch High School, Stuttgart, Germany
August Performances
August 3-7 • Izzi Tooinsky
www.izzitooinsky.com
From the Australian outback to the inner cities of America, Izzi Tooinsky has traveled the world, collecting innumerable legendary tales. Dynamic, charming and hilarious, he masterfully enhances each international tale with his creative integration of the art of juggling. His performances include the San Juan Capistrano Storytelling Festival, the Warana Festival in Australia, the Gisborn Folk Festival in New Zealand, and the National Storytelling Festival.
“Izzi proved to be probably the most popular international solo artist in our history, drawing enormous crowds wherever he appeared." –Warana Festival, Brisbane, Australia
August 10-14 • Bobby Norfolk
www.bobbynorfolk.com
Internationally known teaching artist, actor, TV host, recording artist, and professional storyteller since 1975, Bobby Norfolk’s unique life path is reflected in his humorous and animated stories. With tales rich in creativity, lively sound effects, high energy and vibrant 3D characters, his performances promote cultural diversity, self- esteem and character education. Norfolk has recorded multiple storytelling CDs which have won ten prestigious Parent’s Choice Gold Awards, and has co-authored eight award-winning children’s books. Norfolk has also received three Emmy awards as host of CBS’s television series, Gator Tales, and is a Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award recipient.
“Like an adventure story come to life!” –St. Louis Post Dispatch
August 17-21 • Bil Lepp
www.buck-dog.com
Bil Lepp is a nationally renowned storyteller whose outrageous tall-tales and witty stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages. A five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest, Lepp's tales often contain morsels of truth which shed light on subjects as diverse as politics, religion, death, relationships, and human nature. An award-winning author and recording artist, Bil has been featured at venues across the nation, including the National Storytelling Festival and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where he was deemed “…a side-splittingly funny man." Lepp’s first novel, Halfdollar, was published in 2008.
“When [he] wraps up his story in one more burst of implausibility, the audience leaps to its feet, cheering.” –The Dallas Morning News
August 24-28 • David Novak
www.novateller.com
David Novak comes to storytelling with a background in theatre arts including Shakespeare, clowning, creative dramatics, playwriting, and directing. He has been featured at numerous festivals across the U.S., including the Timpanogos Festival, the Hawaiian Talking Island Festival, and the National Storytelling Festival. He has also presented internationally, including in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic. Novak is the recipient of the Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award.
“Novak, a gifted teller…enhances his stories with a bag of tricks. His fluid voice can become a dozen different characters.” –Smithsonian Magazine
August 31- September 4 • Olga Loya
www.olgaloya.com
Nationally known Latina storyteller, performance artist, teacher and award-winning author, Olga Loya dramatically mixes Spanish and English in performances for adults, children and families. Her repertoire demonstrates how diversity embraces the richness of cultures in the commonality and individuality of lives. Loya’s personal stories explore the struggles, complexities, and joys of being bicultural – Mexican American in the U.S. She also performs a large repertoire of colorful tales from around the world, with styles that range from improvisation with movement and dance, to music and song. Loya’s featured performances include the First Latin-American Storytelling Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico and the National Storytelling Festival; she has also taught workshops across the U.S.
“Your stories not only entertained us, but made us all consider their universal truths about the human condition.” –Modesto Junior College
September Performances
September 7-11 • Sparky and Rhonda Rucker
www.sparkyandrhonda.com
Nationally acclaimed storytellers and musicians Sparky and Rhonda Rucker have wowed audiences in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia with humor, witticism, and wonderful stories and songs. Their expansive repertoire includes tales from Br’er Rabbit and High John the Conqueror, Appalachian yarns, family stories, and true stories about the Civil War and settlement of the American West. Sparky accompanies himself on guitar, banjo, and spoons, and Rhonda often joins him on harmonica, banjo or vocal harmonies. Their appearances include the National Storytelling Festival and Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling and Music Festival.
“Sparky and Rhonda put on a good concert with plenty of heart, soul, and good feeling…a joy to see and hear them.” –Berea College
September 14-18 • Minton Sparks
www.mintonsparks.com
Minton Sparks fuses poetry and her intoxicating gift for storytelling into performances punctuated with world-class music. Her poetry and stories share her memories of growing up in small-town Tennessee. Sparks’ family may not walk the straight and narrow, but they’re guaranteed to walk straight into your heart, leaving you with something essential to ponder. Grammy nominated Sparks has released two books as well as three spoken word CDs and a performance DVD. Her performances include the National Storytelling Festival, on NPR’s All Things Considered, and most recently, the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series.
“[She] soulfully marries the Southern storytelling tradition with the strains of old-time music for a hybrid that is all her own.” –Chicago Sun Times
September 21-25 • Brenda Wong Aoki
www.brendawongaoki.com
From the New Victory Theatre on Broadway in New York City, to the Graz Erzahlt in Austria, Brenda Wong Aoki has established a new genre as a contemporary storyteller. A writer, performer and recording artist, Aoki’s work – which blends myth, street lore and real life experience into song, dance and drama – is drawn from her grandfather’s memories of San Francisco during the Great Earthquake, Kabuki legends, and everyday life experience. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her recordings and shows, and was named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans in 1996 by Avenue magazine.
“An artful weaving of myth, ritual, traditional storytelling technique and the orchestral tradition…an unforgettable and courageous performance.” –Los Angeles News
September 27-30 • Donald Davis
www.ddavisstoryteller.com
Donald Davis was born in a Southern Appalachian mountain world rich in stories, surrounded by a family of traditional storytellers who told him gentle fairy tales, simple and silly Jack tales, scary mountain lore, ancient Welsh and Scottish folktales, and most importantly, nourishing, true-to-life stories of his own neighbors and kin. Featured at festivals throughout the U.S. and world, including the National Storytelling Festival, Davis is also known as a prolific author, producer of books and tapes, and as a guest host for NPR’s Good Evening. Davis is a Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award recipient.
“I could have listened all morning to Donald Davis…his stories often left listeners limp with laughter at the same time they struggled with a lump in the throat.” –New York Times
October Performances
October 5-9 • Gayle Ross
Gayle Ross is a descendant of John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation during the infamous "Trail of Tears." Her grandmother told stories and it is from this rich Native American heritage that Gayle’s storytelling springs. Ross has performed internationally, including at the "Millennium on the Mall" co-sponsored by the White House and Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center, the First International Storytelling Festival in Copenhagen, and the National Storytelling Festival. Known for her trickster tales and haunting Cherokee creation myths, Ross is also a sought-after speaker for the five, award-winning children’s books she has authored. She is a recipient of the Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award.
“Your presence as a renowned storyteller and author made the National Book Festival Gala special for everyone attending.” –Laura Bush
October 12-16 • Jon Spelman
www.jonspelman.org
Jon Spelman has been a full-time, professional storyteller since 1980, presenting thousands of programs for audiences across the U.S. and eleven other countries. He has represented American professional storytellers at the Colloquium on the Revival of Storytelling in Paris, was the first American to perform at the International Festival of Solo Performers in Tel Aviv, Israel, and received a Children’s Radio Award, as well as two Emmys, for Three Stories Tall which he hosted between 1983 and 1989. Spelman, whose appearances include National Public Radio, the Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap Farm Park, and the National Storytelling Festival, is a Storytelling Circle of Excellence Award recipient.
"World-class!" –LA Times; "A stunning wordsmith and a riveting performer." –Washington Post
October 19-23 • Regi Carpenter
www.soaringstories.com
Regi Carpenter is a fourth generation “river rat” who grew up in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River in Northern New York. Her world and personal stories, folktales, music and myths are full of a great river, magnificent and immense as the people who inhabit its shores. A late reader, she made up songs and stories as a child and just never stopped. Carpenter is the recipient of the 2008 J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award and the Parent’s Choice Gold and the Storytelling World Awards. She was featured as a New Voice at the 2009 National Storytelling Festival.
“Regi Carpenter has a voice that dances. It can, at a moment’s notice, be light as a feather, frisk about playfully, or leap with sudden power. Best of all is the sheer joy she communicates in telling her tales.” –School Library Journal
October 26-30 • Sheila Starks Phillips
www.sheilaphillips.com
Best known for her outrageous, bodacious lies, native Texan Sheila S. Phillips’s repertoire includes traditional world folktales, personal narratives, ghost stories, and superbly crafted original pieces. A three-time winner of the Houston Area Liars’ Contest, Phillips is on the Traveling Artists Roster of the Texas Commission on the Arts and was the 2005 winner of the John Henry Faulk Award, reflecting the highest achievement in storytelling in the southwest. Her festival credits include Tejas Storytelling Festival, the Corn Island Storytelling Festival, and the National Storytelling Festival, where she appeared as an Exchange Place teller.
“Whether telling a tall tale that makes us believe the unbelievable or sharing a story that stirs our very soul, Sheila invites us into the call and power of stories as no one else can.” –Judith Wallis, National Literacy Consultant and Author