ConnTell: A - E

Educational, entertaining, heartwarming, and fun presentations and workshops for everyone - parents, children, seniors, singles, teachers and students. Mark seamlessly blends original and traditional stories for audiences of 30 to 300. Programs and workshops include: cultural arts-events, seasonal tales, writing and storytelling workshops, Eureka! Math and science stories, Tales of Chelm (Jewish folktales), and Tales for Peace -- creating alternatives to violence.

Mark has a BA from Columbia University, is a graduate of the Trinity Rep Conservatory, MA in English and Theater from Rhode Island College, Third Degree Black Belt in Aikido. He is the founder of the American Story Theater and is author of A Hanukkah Present, The Brothers Schlemiel, The Everything Bedtime Story Book, and hundreds of short stories including many in Cricket Magazine. He has released five CDs, including the award-winning A Chanukah Present and Classic Stories for Boys and Girls.

"Storyteller Mark Binder gives his audiences a good time.... [His] dry and wacky wit works its way easily into the tales he tells." - RI Parents Paper
"You have a great rapport with the kids, a key to getting them to have fun and stay attuned to the program." - ReadBoston Festival

Fee: $400 and up. Reduced rates for multiple bookings, public libraries, and residencies. And YES, he regularly travels to Connecticut!

If you know metaphors rock, appreciate words/images vibrantly spoken, and respond to art without artifice, Carol Birch will delight you. Recipient of the National Storytelling Network's national award for master tellers, Carol's stories undo the damage of haste to enrich life's journey. Her repertoire celebrates the culturally specific in stories with universal appeal.

PERFORMANCES WORLD-WIDE • TEACHER • RECORDING ARTIST • DIRECTOR

"You were the main course at the National Storytelling Festival when it came to nourishment of the soul." - Will Werley.

Fees: $500 and up. Reduced rates for Public Libraries, block bookings and residencies.

Performances of African, African-American and World Folktales accompanied by workshops in storytelling and storywriting form a full-day program designed to entertain and educate students while increasing their confidence in their own story creation.

Eshu offers single-day programs, workshops, in-services and residencies.

"It is remarkable how quickly he establishes rapport with children and how skillfully he creates an environment of collegiality among students." - Peg O'Sullivan, Literature and Whole Language Consultant, Rowayton, CT.

Fees: call Young Audiences of Connecticut, (203) 230-8101

Graceful movement, mime, poetry, song, humor and vivid characterizations describe Len's award-winning style of telling original stories and folktales from around the world. Traveling throughout the country, Len is equally adept at performing for the youngest audiences and adults alike. As author, keynote speaker and workshop leader, Len is always in demand.

Fees: $500 and up. Block booking available.

Featured tellers at the National Storytelling Festival in 1999, Tom Callinan & Ann Shapiro present a collage of stories with music and humor as an integral part of the telling. As solos or in tandem, they tell folktales, stories of the sea, Irish stories, stories with a twist and even spoonerisms.

Listed in the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism's Directory of Performing Artists, both Tom and Ann are recognized by the Commission as Master Teaching Artists. Tom was chosen to be the first Connecticut State Troubadour.

Fees: Negotiable

Folktales and family stories have been part of my life since I was born! And I've continued telling and teaching others how to tell for the past 20 years in my two courses at Central Connecticut State University:

FOLKTELLING ART & TECHNIQUE Rdg. 569
STORYTELLING ENG. 264

I've told with all ages focusing on traditional tales and peace tales.

STORIES GALORE
AND MORE

Audrey tells traditional and literary stories for children, adults and family audiences. Puppets and instruments form an enticing part of participatory performances. Experienced with malls and outside settings. Workshops available on request.

Since 1978, Sara deBeer has been delighting audiences of all ages with her repertoire of international folktales. A featured artist at both the CT Storytelling and Three Apples Festivals, Sara's popular programs include: Tales of Deep-Rooted Magic; Hand-Collected Irish Yarns; Jewish Tales for Young and Old and Tales of Women Wise and Wondrous.

An experienced classroom teacher with degrees from Yale and Bank Street, Sara is a skilled workshop leader as well as an entrancing performer. Listed in the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism's Directory of Performing Artists.

Audience: All ages.
Fees: $250 and up.

With a face and voice that launched a thousand characters, Leeny Del Seamonds, Master Story Performer^TM, is an internationally acclaimed performer of Latino, original and multicultural stories spiced with mime, a cornucopia of voices, and love of people. With a twinkle in her eye and fire in her heart, Leeny breathes life into her stories, as she masterfully and effortlessly springs from one story character to another, inviting audiences to share in her Cuban-American sense of humor and love of performing. Leeny creates and performs tales that are uplifting and demonstrate the passion, resiliency and triumphs of the human spirit. A Parents' Choice Gold Award and Silver Honor winner, a 2005 Storytelling World Winner, a 2006 iParenting Media Award Winner, and the 2002 National Storyteller of the Year®, Leeny is known for animated interactive performances and has been a headliner at festivals, conferences, community events, corporate functions, museums, libraries, school systems and universities nationally and internationally, and has been published in several international periodicals.

"Leeny, a heartfelt thank you for sharing your multiple talents and superb stories with our audiences in Jonesborough - you are truly a wonderful ambassador for storytelling!" - Susan O'Connor, Director of Programs, International Storytelling Center

News Flash! Leeny stars in Ribert & Robert's WonderWorld, a multi award-winning national PBS Television and DVD series distributed worldwide. In the series, she plays "Leeny the Story Performer."

Storytelling and writing for brain integration, creativity and the humanities! Jeanne holds a M.Ed in Storytelling in the Curriculum, and BA in Elementary Education. She is a Certified Master Balloon Artist, an Educational Kinesiologist & Brain Gym Instructor.

Performances are designed for your occasion. Discover the wonder, request the "Winter Lady" with her "Goodness Dust®", "Patriotic Lady", "Storybook Lady" & more! Jeanne's workshops for educators, parents & students are offered internationally.

Jeanne is the RI State representative for the National Storytelling Network and instructor of storytelling in Southern Connecticut State University 6th year program.

Her book: Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Multiple Intelligences published by Delmar, is a rich resource for educators and parents.

It's storytime like you've never had it before! With books, puppets and flannel board in hand, Ms. Peg will lead your children on a merry journey into the magical world of words, spoken and written. Using rhyme, rhythm and audience participation storytelling, Ms. Peg engages preschoolers and K-1 classes in a fun-filled, 45 minute story program sure to delight your youngsters and inspire their teachers!

Listed in the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism's Performing Artists roster, Ms. Peg has performed in schools, daycares, libraries, community centers and festivals throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island.

"Ms. Peg's storytime is a must for any school readiness program." - Pat Dalton, Early Chilhood Education Director, Mystic

As a professional storyteller and author, Kate Dudding enjoys telling many kinds of stories to all ages. A particular interest of hers is bringing history to life - giving a voice to people from the past. She has told stories at many venues in the Northeastern USA, including The New-York Historical Society (New York, NY), The Clearwater Festival (Croton-on-Hudson, NY), First Night Saratoga (Saratoga Springs, NY), and The Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA).

Kate recently released her first CD - Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers. "What a wonderful job you have done. The tales are well chosen, well crafted and well told. Hats off! A job well done!" - Elizabeth Ellis, renowned international storyteller, Dallas, TX

Fees: Negotiable. Reduced rates for Public Libraries, block bookings and residencies.

This award-winning performer and recording artist, has been a New England favorite at festivals, museums, schools, libraries and theatre venues for over twenty years. She specializes in nature-oriented storytellings of all kinds including entertaining seasonal folktales, original dinosaur stories, and her acclaimed environmental teaching tales. With Celtic harper Margot Chamberlain she gives storytelling concerts for older audiences celebrating the Summer and Winter Solstice, Love in All Its Disguises, Kurdish Legends and Tales from Celtic Lands.

"A storyteller in the grand tradition, Edgecomb is a virtuoso of the spoken word...an entire cast rolled into one." Publisher's Weekly

Audiocassettes: New Age Gawain and the Green Knight
CDs: Pattysaurus and Other Tales; Deirdre of the Sorrows

Fees: $525 and up for solo, $675 for duo. Block booking and special library rates available.