Who's Who for 2008?
Festival Performers and Presenters
HEADLINERS
Jackson Gillman's storytelling sparkles with energy, whimsy, and wisdom. Song, dance, mime and/or sign language might be incorporated - whatever works best to do a story justice, and bring it to life. Sometimes, that calls for a simple, sedentary telling which Jackson does very naturally with an underlying foundation of beneficence, hope and spirit infusing his work.
Known as "the Stand-Up Chameleon" for his broad theatrical work, Jackson also enjoys using the quirks and quiet of daily life for grist in his storytelling.
Jackson was involved with Storytellers in Concert from its Cambridge inception in the early 1980s. Since then he has been featured at festivals across the country including the national three times and has been Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center. Semiannually since 2000, he has been portraying Kipling-in-Residence at the author's historic VT home. He also presents his "Springboards for Stories" workshop there every year. Many of his educational and interactive programs reflect his background in ecology and agriculture. www.jacksongillman.com
Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald
is known for her easy-to-tell folktale collections. Retired from a career as a public children's librarian, she now travels the world sharing stories and storytelling techniques. She is author of over 50 books on storytelling and folklore topics.
Eth-Noh-Tec performs throughout the United States and abroad with several storytelling theater programs, workshops and residencies. Together they mix an alchemy of music, theater, dance and the spoken word to challenge the borders between theater, movement, mime and storytelling. Imagine a combination of Red Skelton, Ginger Rogers, and the street corner storytellers of China laced with the precision of the martial arts of Japan, if you can! www.margaretreadmacdonald.com
Onawumi Jean Moss, The Soulful Storyteller of Amherst, MA, is a narrator, educator, keynote speaker and author. Her timeless stories and a cappella songs of Africa include tales of wonder, liberation, praise, trickery, and spirituality. Her stories encourage pride of heritage, appreciation of cultural differences and recognition of kinship.
Since becoming a storyteller in 1991, Onawumi has told wondrous tales to intergenerational audiences from the main stages of national festivals and schools and conferences throughout the USA, including the National Storytelling Festival in 2004. In 1992 she gave her first performance on the Swapping Grounds of the The National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS); since then she has made a number of critically acclaimed performances on that organization's main stage. She was granted the 2005 Zora Neale Hurston Storytelling Award, the highest award given by the National Association of Black Storytellers. She has long been a lifetime member of NABS. In her own region, she is a member of the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES); in 2007 this affliate conferred on her the prestigious Brother Blue/Ruth Hill Storytelling Award.
Onawumi was the founder, director and producer of the Keepers of the Word Storytelling Festival,an annual event at Amherst College from 1993-2006. It holds the record for being the longest running college sponsored, multi-cultural storytelling festival in the country, and hosted nearly sixty nationally acclaimed tellers of African, Asian, European, Hispanic, Latin and Native American heritage. Her television credits include being co-writer and narrator of KWANZAA, a PBS Special (1998) which still airs seasonally nationwide. She is co author of Precious and the Boo Hag (2005), written with Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Krysten Brooker. Published by Simon and Schuster, and winner of several awards, it was selected by the New York Public Library as one of its top 100 "must-read" books, an honor given to the best achievements in children's publishing. www.onawumi.com
Peninnah Schram
has been called the doyenne of Jewish storytellers. Over the last two decades, she has been crucial in creating a network of Jewish storytellers throughout North America. Ms. Schram founded the Jewish Storytelling Center in 1984 and brought it to the 92nd Street Y two years later.
Ms. Schram is a storyteller, teacher, recording artist and author. She is also Associate Professor of Speech and Drama at Yeshiva University's Stern College and Azrieli Graduate School, where she has been teaching for over 30 years, and taught (in 1974) what was the first college course on Jewish storytelling. Ms. Schram was instrumental in bringing storytelling to the national Jewish scene through the Storytelling Network, which she established in cooperation with the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. She has appeared as a featured storyteller at major conferences and festivals nationally and internationally.
Peninnah grew up in Connecticut and first heard stories from her father, who was a cantor who told her biblical and midrashic tales, and her mother, who shared with her the proverbs and folktales of the Jewish people. Ms. Schram lives in New York.
FEATURED PERFORMERS and PRESENTERS
Rita Auerbach
Rita Auerbach co-founded the American Library Association's Storytelling Discussion Group and has told stories at the Hans Christian Andersen statue in NY's Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, and at schools, libraries, bookstores and conferences. She has taught storytelling to teachers and librarians throughout the New York area.
A retired school librarian, she has chaired the Ezra Jack Keats Award Committee and ALA's Notable Children's Books Committee, and has served on the Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Award Committees.
is a senior at Connecticut College and, by any standards, her life-journey to this point has been extraordinary. Beatrice comes from the village of Kisinga, in Uganda and in 1992 her mother, Evelyn, received one of the first goats provided to the village by the NGO, Heifer International. After the goat gave birth, Beatrice's family had kids and milk to sell, and for the first time, Beatrice was able to go to school. She was 9 when she entered 1st grade. Beatrice prospered in school and was enabled to continue through high school, thanks to sponsors in the US.
In 1997, author Page McBrier and illustrator Lori Lohstoeter, both CSC members, were part of a study tour visiting Uganda, and subsequently they collaborated on the book, Beatrice's Goat, which was published by Simon and Schuster in 2000. Again, with US sponsors, Beatrice was enabled to spend a post-high school year at Northfield Mount Hermon, before entering the school she selected out of five at which she was accepted: Connecticut College.
Carol is a recipient of the National Storytelling Network's prestigious Circle of Excellence Award, given to storytellers recognized as master tellers by their peers. For more than thirty years, audiences have responded to her infectious warmth and artistry. She has told stories in Singapore, Australia, and Europe, as well as her primary venues, which are concerts at schools, libraries, colleges, theaters, storytelling festivals - including six appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN - museums, theme parks, and corporate fetes throughout the United States. She lectures extensively at conferences and teaches at Southern Connecticut State University. She is the author of The Whole Story Handbook: Using Imagery to Complete the Story Experience; co-editor of Who Says? Essays on Pivotal Issues in Contemporary Storytelling, and an award-winning recording artist and director.
Awards: Circle of Excellence (NSN); Outstanding Educator & Millennium Award (SCSU); American Library Association; National Parenting Publications; Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice; Storytelling World. www.carolbirch.com
Barbara Hoffman is a recent retiree as a public librarian and adjunct professor at Long Island University. She has been a reviewer for VOYA magazine; contributing writer for Joan's View, professional journals and local papers; public relations professional; storyteller, dancer; published author; folksinger; songwriter and musician. She has appeared on radio, television and at local clubs, libraries, schools and concert stages, both singly and with the Troubadours, the International Entertainers and the StoryWorks Troupe. She has performed at Borders Books and Music Stores, for the New York Library Association at Lake Placid and the American Library Association in Detroit.
She has performed with Rita Auerbach at schools and public libraries, the Cornelia Street Cafe, other public and private venues including Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference in MA. Barbara has a degree in music and education, a master's in library science and has studied with well-known figures in the world of dance, music and voice.
Marcia has told stories as a children's librarian in Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut and New York, for audiences in nursery schools and nursing homes and just about everything in between.Ê She has been emcee and teller at Tellabrations throughout Connecticut, is a member (and sometimes Chair) of the Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award committee, and is a current member of the CSC Board.
Peter Leibert has been involved with English and traditional Anglo-American music, dance, and song for over 50 years. He has conducted workshops throughout the North East and has called and played for dances in Canada, England, Scotland and Japan. He founded the Westerly Morris Men in 1976 and is their past Squire and current Dance Master and Musician. He plays button accordion, concertina and pipe and tabor. He has been a keenly appreciated part of the Connecticut Storytelling Festival for many, many years!
Kate is a librarian-storyteller, who has been telling stories to children and adults for 30 years. She has attended the Connecticut Storytelling from its inception.
As a storyteller, she is proudest of introducing the Japanese storyteller Masako Sueyoshi to the world (and the Connecticut Festival), and she is happiest when performing as her alter ego the deliciously wicked "Hag of Old Greenwich."
As a librarian she is proudest of being named a "2006 New York Times Librarian of the Year."
Karen Hurll Montanaro received her early dance training at the Cantarella School of Dance with Madeline Cantarella Culpo and with Andrea Stark, a former director of the Ram Island Dance Company. She also studied on scholarship with the Joffrey School of Ballet and has danced professionally with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany.
For fifteen years, she collaborated and performed extensively with world renowned mime and performing artist, Tony Montanaro. She was the "word-smith" for Mr. Montanaro's book "Mime Spoken Here," published in 1995.
Karen is currently a principal dancer with the Portland Ballet Company in Portland, Maine.
www.mimedance.com/index.html
Gwendolyn creates a portal to the past performng monologues. Her presentation addresses racial and ethnic isolation and provides a forum for multicultural programming, in addition to creating excitement and fascination with history.
The Deptartment of Social Services in Milwaukee, WI., held her captive for twenty-seven years, and when she retired, Gwendolyn sold her home and moved to San Antonio, TX, where she taught Texas history at the Institute of Texan Culture. She is the recipient of the Director's Award for Excellence from the Institute. She showcased her committment to history and her craft presenting dramatic narratives of the Black Seminole Indians, for the San Antonio Elder Hostel Program. Currently, Gwendolyn is an Artist-In-Residence at the Connecticut Historicdal Society Museum, and an International Award Winning Toastmaster. www.woventales.com
Lynn Ruehlmann was bitten by the storytelling bug after having spent years in the theater, where she was named "Best Actress in a Comedy" by Folio. Since 1990 she has made storytelling her professional focus. She performs for schools and adult organizations, everywhere from Virginia to Michigan to Alaska to Georgia to Connecticut. For many years she worked with Young Audiences of Virginia, who awarded her Artist of the Year. The Virginia Commission for the Arts has awarded her grants for her programs every year since 2002. She teaches workshops for teachers and students. She taught storytelling for Old Dominion University's Early Childhood Education Department and for CORE Knowledge Conventions in Anaheim, California, and in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been a guest on numerous NPR programs.
Her recording, Spy! The Story of Civil War Spy Elizabeth Van Lew, won a Storytelling World and a Parents' Choice Award. Her new CD, It Happened in the White House: True Tales of the Eight Virginia Presidents and Their Wives has just been released. Her background in English and Theater combined to prepare her for creating and performing her own storytelling programs of historical stories, myths, folklore and personal stories. www.cascadingstories.com/
Richard Scholtz
Richard frequently collaborates with Margaret Read MacDonald and enhances the stories with his amazing autoharp technique and the lovely mountain dulcimer. His musical improvisations add an entrancing second voice to these performances. Each telling of a story is different in this blend of parallel storytelling and music duet. Richard teaches music for educators at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington and produces tapes and CD's with Tom Hunter, MacDonald, and other musical comrades.
He is a musician and educator from Bellingham, WA. With autoharp and dulcimer, playing and singing, he has created "duets with spoken word" since 1974. Along with performance and recording, he has organized adult music camps and taught University and Community College classes. He has a special interest in how music and song exist in the lives of people outside of performance.
www.margaretreadmacdonald.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=friends.singing_tales
Sirius Coyote
Giovanni Ciarlo and Kathleen Sartor
Sirius Coyote's concerts and workshops have delighted audiences from New England to Mexico since 1986. They have released eight recordings on their own label including 3 CDs. Their most recent CD is entitled Todo Lo Bueno. They have also released children's music (Canciones Para Ni–os and Lets Get Serious) and numerous other recordings for film, dance, stage and just fun. Personal stories and folklore highlight their spirited programs.
Giovanni Ciarlo is an artist, craftsperson, educator and folklorist with extensive Latin American musical experience. He has lived and worked in Venezuela, Mexico, and the U.S. performing and teaching about global cultures and communities. Giovanni is a Connecticut Master Teaching Artist and is listed with the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He plays the guitar and a wide assortment of percussion instruments he makes (berimbau, kalimba, log drums, turtle shell, congas, whistles...) or has collected (charango, guiro, bells...) in Latin America, where he was raised. He is also the lead singer and arranger for the band. He shares a home with Kathleen in the ecovillage they co-founded to form part of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) with other international artists.
Kathleen Sartor studied history and Latin American studies at the University of Minnesota. She first learned music on the accordeon and now plays bombo, rainsticks, kalimba, drums and assorted musical surprises. She has spent the past 15 years traveling and studying the myths, music and theatre arts of the Americas. She is also a gifted actress and storyteller with a deep understanding of Latin American oral traditions picked up during an early trip to Colombia and long residences in Mexico. www.siriuscoyote.org/
Lorna Stengel
Lorna says: "Unlike many storytellers, I did not grow up hearing the stories of my ancestors. As far as I could tell, I had none. I did, however, grow up in New York City where I witnessed a story on every street corner and overheard gossip in every elevator." A graduate of Barnard College in New York, Lorna began a career in children's book publishing, with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. and Harper & Row, Inc. - perfect training for an as yet unrealized storyteller! Later, after earning an MLS degree, Lorna became a teacher/librarian for an elementary school in Connecticut.
1987 marks the year Lorna was introduced to this country's Storytelling Movement and she says, "I realized that telling stories embraced everything I valued and wanted to do. Storytelling soon became my most successful way to teach creative drama, language arts, social studies, character education or science: Why, there wasn't a subject or life lesson that couldn't be taught with storytelling! Since that time, storytelling has been at the center of my life." www.lornastengel.com
With a unique understanding of what makes kids tick, Margie has been teaching the joy and humor of life through music since 1979. For Preschoolers, Kindergarteners, and Special Ed students, she offers her "Music With Margie" pre-K curriculum. As Puppetunes, she partners with longtime friend and puppeteer, Maria Otfinoski, to bring social development programs into Elementary Schools, disguised as fun. She also teaches parent-teacher workshops. Family concerts at libraries and town events are lively and entertaining, featuring interactive story-songs from her Singin' Round the Campfire CD, and the upcoming On the Road with the Fun Family! www.musicwithmargie.com
If you are interested in performing at a future Festival, or running a workshop, please download our Artist Proposal form.
MORE INFORMATION:
Complete Festival Schedule, Festival Performers, Registration, CEU Credits, Directions, Prospective Artists
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Connecticut Storytelling Center • in residence at Connecticut College • New London, Connecticut page last modified 18 March 2008 • webmaster: Rosalind Hinman |
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