Storytelling Radio Program
KSVY-FM 91.3, Sonoma, CA
www.ksvy.org/home.htm
Sundays, 5-6 pm Pacific time (adjust for your time zone)
Live audio streaming: Go to the KSVY website above. In the upper right-hand corner, click on High or Low Speed and find yourself listening to the program in progress.
Archives: Go to the KSVY website above. Click on "Shows" in the left frame. Scroll down and click on "Story-Lovers World," then click on "Past Episodes" under my picture. Now you have your choice of all the programs available to date as archives.
Theme music: Special thanks to Petra Koch in Germany (she works with Storyteller Richard Martin), who performed the beautifully haunting alto recorder music of Como Podem from the 13th century collection Cantigas de Santa Maria (copy of Kynsecker, Mollenhauer & Co.). The different music at the end of the programs is also by Petra. Used on this program with her kind permission.
Engineer: Brodie Giles, KSVY radio station 91.3 FM
PROGRAM 24:
March 4, 2007 - My Favorite Gals!
This program is devoted to those tellers—all gals this week!—who are master storytellers but whose work it is sometimes difficult to fit into the themes for Story-Lovers World! They are well worth a listen!
Featured storytellers:
Kate Dudding (New York)
The Lighthouse Speaks
Libby Franck (Massachusetts)
Fearless Pirate Maids
Reda Rackley
Grandma Rosa
Margaret Lawrence (Florida)
Professor Bookworm
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Guest tellers...
• Kate Dudding — The Lighthouse Speaks
Quote from Kate:
"People often ask, 'What is storytelling?' For me, storytelling combines the intensity of a play by a solo performer with the intimacy of a one-on-one conversation."
Info about Kate:
As a professional storyteller and author, Kate 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's told stories at many venues in the Northeastern USA, including The New-York Historical Society (New York City, NY), The Clearwater Festival (Croton-on-Hudson, NY), First Night Saratoga (Saratoga Springs, NY), and The Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA).
Online interview:
How did you discover "storytelling"?
Originally I discovered storytelling from storytelling tapes (used to amuse our young son on long car rides) and later from storytellers at The New York State Museum in Albany.
When and how did you decide to become a storyteller?
During an overnight stay at a camp, while I was chaperoning my son's fourth grade class, I told "Why Bear Has a Stubby Tail" to 100 students, 20 chaperons and 20 camp staff. I was merely reproducing another teller's version. But I knew after I told that night that if I didn't pursue storytelling, that I would regret it the rest of my life. It was pretty amazing finding my vocation when I was in my 40s.
What were your first experiences like as a storyteller?
My first paying gig was telling at a 3-year-old's birthday party. Her parents really had to persuade me to do it. It went pretty well, at least the birthday girl was completely engaged. One little boy whirled around the house for the first stories, and then listened to the last ones. Later I found out that this was the very first time he had ever sat down and listened to a story.
What obstacles have you encountered in your career as a storyteller? Has it been a rocky road?
Finding time to do all I want to do in storytelling and finding places to tell stories are continuing issues. I have always found lots of stories to tell -- that's not a problem. I've also been blessed to find mentors within the storytelling community, both locally (Jeannine Laverty and members of the Story Circle of the Capital District) and nationally (Elizabeth Ellis).
What thrills you most when you are telling?
It thrills me most when people's eyes and faces light up, when people join me singing during a story, and when people tell me afterwards that my stories have reminded them of theirs.
Any particular "telling" moments stand out in your memory?
After I told a story about my mother's hands, a woman told me:
" My parents never married. A few years after I was born, my mother married another man. He and his family always treated me like an outsider. As a child, I spent many hours in the attic, poring over my mother's family photo albums, searching for someone who looked like me. Until I heard your story, I never realized that I have my mother's hands." I felt so honored that she shared her thoughts with me and humbled that my story about my mother could mean so much to someone else.
Have any endearing comments come from the kids you've worked with?
Comments from a 4th grade girl: "I really loved the story you told. I especially liked the way you told it. Not many things could capture the attention of the whole 4th grade and the boys weren't even whispering!!"
What was your funniest experience as a teller?
I was telling at a day program for elderly with dementia. Many of the people did not seem to be listening to my stories. With audiences like this, I usually have us sing a song between the stories. Most people enjoy the songs even if they don't enjoy the stories. When I said, "The next story is Irish. To get us in the mood, let's sing "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra"," two of the people who had seemed 'out of it' started singing the verse. I don't know the verse. So when THEY got to the chorus, I joined in.
If you were doing it over again, would you change anything?
I would start learning about storytelling as a child, not as a 40 year old.
What advice would you give beginning storytellers?
Take as many classes as you can, go to as many conferences as you can, listen to as many tellers as you can. Try telling all kinds of stories until you find the stories that you really love finding, creating and telling. Find your own voice, i.e. the kinds of stories you love and ways you love to tell them. Keep in mind that not everything a storytelling teacher teaches you will be of use. Some teachers are better than others at helping you to find your own voice. But almost every teacher has something you can use.
What are the biggest problems in the storytelling world?
Lack of recognition among the general public about how storytelling is for all ages.
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Kate's CD:
Kate just finished recording her first CD - Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers.
Lighthouses have been in existence for thousands of years, some of them marking harbors, others marking hazards. Many people have recognized the importance of lighthouses. In fact, the nineth act of Congress that President George Washington signed into law enabled the Federal Government to take responsibility for building and operating the nation's lighthouses.
In the five stories on this CD, Kate brings to life some lighthouses and the people who worked in them.
Finding Our Way Home: the story of Augustin Fresnel and his lenses which revolutionized lighthouses in the early 1800s.
The Lighthouse Speaks: the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse tells its own story.
Elizabeth Whitney Williams: the story of one of America’s women lighthouse keepers, who was from the state with the most lighthouses.
The Lighthouses on Minot’s Ledge: the stories of the two lighthouses marking an underwater stone mountain in the southern shipping lane leading to Boston Harbor.
The Statue: the story of the construction of the world’s tallest statue, which was a lighthouse for the first 10 years of its life.
What People are Saying About this CD:
"What a wonderful job you have done. There is a great mix of material on the CD. I really like the first person account from the lighthouse's point of view. An unexpected treat. I was also delighted that you were able to include a ghost story in the line up. Ending that tale with the warning in Portuguese was eerie and very effective.
"In short, you have done a great job. The tales are well chosen, well crafted and well told. Hats off! A job well done!"
-- Elizabeth Ellis, renowned international storyteller
"I have had the pleasure of listening to Kate's CD and it is is a winner. Unexpected stories you remember!"
-- Ellouise Schoettler, storyteller
"I have enjoyed your CD a lot. The stories are fantastic."
-- Kathleen Gill, The Story Walker ™
Listen to Samples of Some Stories
Listen to a sample of Finding Our Way Home (739 KBytes)
(requires RealPlayer -- see http://www.real.com )
http://www.katedudding.com/audio-video/fresnel.mp3
Listen to a sample of The Lighthouse Speaks (627 KBytes)
http://www.katedudding.com/audio-video/hatteras.mp3
To order Kate's CD, go to:
http://www.katedudding.com/recordings.shtml
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You may receive her quarterly e-newsletter, Voices From the Past, by going to:
http://www.katedudding.com/newsletter-form.shtml
••Kate is also an excellent web designer. Visit her web design site.
http://www.katedudding.com/web/index.html
You may also visit her knitting design site.
http://www.katedudding.com/designs/index.html
Contact info:
Kate Dudding
8 Sandalwood Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-2700 USA
(518) 383-4620
kate@katedudding.com
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• Libby Franck — Fearless Pirate Maids
Libby's stories, both fantastical and historical, celebrate the triumph of the human spirit through courage, wit, tenacity and trickery.
Libby has storytelling in her bones. Her mother told tales in Midwestern libraries in the 1920's & 30's and now Libby continues the tradition. She has worked as a librarian for the Natick and Brookline schools and for the Boston Public Library.
She attended Wellesley College and Simmons College of Library Science.
She studied storytelling at Simmons and Lesley Colleges, and attended an international Storytelling Symposium at Emerson College in Sussex, England. She studied classical mythology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Arthurian legends at the University of Southern Connecticut both supported by The National Endowment for the Humanities.
She is an active member of the New England Storytelling community, having edited and written articles for the Museletter, She served on the Board of Directors for the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. (LANES) as both secretary and president. For further storytelling activities, see http://www.lanes.org.
She has conducted workshops at conferences for storytellers, classical scholars and reading teachers. With a group of folk singers and musicians she has performed: The Outlaw Hero, Victorian Humor and Drinking: the Musical - The Social History of Taverns and Temperance, The Life and Times of John Barleycorn, and Scotland in Song and Story.
For 13 years she produced a TV show Tales from Cricket Corner on Natick Cable featuring storytelling. This program won the
Massachusetts Community Television Award for “Programming for Children by a community volunteer” in 1994 and 1995.
She is currently the hostess of the bimonthly program, The OutSpoken Word, at the Natick Center for Arts.
Her myths, legends and folk tales frequently feature intrepid heroines.
She seeks out strong, daring and unusual women of history to research and dramatize.
Online interview with Libby
Tell us about your storytelling career path. how it started and how it progressed to today.
My mother was a storyteller in the Midwest in libraries in the 1920’s and 30’s. When I was born she naturally had to quit her job so I was an audience of one for all the stories she had been telling for years. I grew up on Kipling, Grimm, and Andersen.
When I was a senior at Wellesley and an art history major I knew I didn’t want to graduate school in that field. My contribution to the world would not be in further descriptions of Renaissance artists. And since I was engaged I didn’t need a job where I could meet men. I took a job with the Boston Public Library since I knew there was the possibility of storytelling embedded in library work, which would satisfy my love of drama.
I was lucky since my first assignment was to the South Boston Branch Library where there was a marvelous storyteller as the children’s librarian. Martha C. Engler was a spectacular mentor. She had an ambitious program with a story hour each Friday afternoon. Also each elementary school in the district was visited once each year and then those classes visited the library on Friday morning. So each week there were three opportunities to tell. We shared the load. I was also transferred to other branch libraries where I continued to hone my storytelling skills.
My next job was in a library at a Brookline school and again I had the opportunity to tell stories over and over. My final job in Natick put me in charge of many elementary school libraries. I had a vast audience of listeners from K to 6. Of course I did other library programs but I was primarily known as “The Storyteller”. I launched a cable TV show called “Tales from Cricket Corner.” This featured stories told both by myself and many other guest tellers. Though the show was taped there was always a new audience of listeners. The camera angles varied from close ups of those eager children’s faces, to the teller to occasional visuals accenting the story. I produced this show for 13 years. Though it was gratis, it did win some awards and writing about this TV show on applications to NEH summer programs got me a spot at the Mythology Institute in 1989 and an Arthurian seminar in 1991.
I always had a very supportive family – my husband Herb and my twins Thomas and Alison. I especially remember on of my TV shows was to feature the Russian tale “The Mitten.” Herb cut out an enormous red cardboard mitten. Alison loaned me many of her stuffed animals. TOM (the twins were 14 at the time) made a cricket puppet – the last creature jammed into the mitten. Alison also herded the first graders who were the studio audience. A wonderful family collaboration.
But my husband died suddenly in 1992. I entered a new phase of my life and this had an impact on my storytelling as well. I had always been an active member of LANES our local storytelling guild and their support at this time was overwhelming.
Then in the summer of 1994 I met at Brother Blue’s weekly event a ballad- singing biologist named David Ingle. He was the feature and did a verse play from the Orkneys called “The Play of the Lady Odivere” all about selchies. I was hooked in more ways than one. This was the beginning of many performances David and I did together, collaborating with singers and poets on shows primarily for adults. I began work on the Mary Bryant story and the pirate ladies. Both these taled are on my CD, which was produced in 2003.
I retired from my school library work and concentrated on adult programs. Beginning in 1998 I ran a storytelling/poetry series for a local Art Center called the OutSpoken Word. I met many wonderful artists along the way, not just tellers, but singers, folklorists, poets and many others. Our best evenings were focused on specific works: Woody Guthrie, Robert Service, and
Dorothy Parker among others.
I have created more stories featuring strong historical women – a local Colonial figure who rose from being a fisherman’s daughter to the wife of an English baronet. And I have enjoyed working on the story of my mother’s rich benefactress.
I have just received a commission from the Framingham Historical Society to create a story about our town’s 19th century library and involvement in the Chautauqua programs. I plan to do this as a librarian of the 1870’s. Strange how things come full circle.
Tell us about any memorable moments you've experienced as a storyteller.
One Halloween 4th grade classes were filing into the library to hear a story. A girl with big concerned eyes came up to me and said, “This isn’t going to be a Halloween story is it?” I knew she was a Mormon and would not be allowed to listen if it was. So I said, “No, it’s a Scottish story.” And as I was moving along through the story the right side of my brain was engaged in the telling while the left side of my brain was saying “How am I going to pull this off?” And at the right moment instead of saying “And the power of the witch will be strongest on Halloween” what came out of my mouth was” The power of the witch will be strongest… when the moon is full.” All were happy and every child got to listen. Whew!
After telling Odysseus and the Cyclops, one boy filed out of the library chuckling “My name is Nobody. That’s so funny.”
And after telling that Theseus’ father threw himself over the cliff since Theseus had forgotten to change the color of his sails, a sad second grade boys remarked; “He should have gone down to the dock to check.”
During the telling of the Mary Bryant story to adults one woman in the audience got so concerned when one child died. Again with that split brain phenomenon I was thinking “She is really going to lose it when the second child dies.” And she did.
Tell us how you view the future of storytelling and any advice you'd like to pass on to others.
Get the experience of telling a story again and again. Get to know your storytelling community. Get to know other artists as well. Storytellers have much to learn about cutting to the chase in a story from the old ballads. Collaborate and network as much as possible. Through the internet and in person.
I find attracting an audience for “Storytelling” is difficult. Seasonal shows can attract people. But the folks need to know what the show is about. The inner circle can be attracted by a name teller but after running my series for 8 years I have found that it is a subject of the stories, which will bring them in.
I am once again alone. David died a year ago January. But my son’s daughter Miranda who is 3 and a half fills me with delight. And Alison is now a powerful casting director in the NYC area with a boyfriend who just won a Tony. And so the story of my life goes on.
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Libby's Women of the Sea stories are now available on compact disk.
Thrill to these moving tales of adventurous heroines; expertly told and professionally recorded with accompanying music and sound.
Women of the Sea is just $15.00 plus $1.50 postage and handling (Domestic)
Contact:
Libby Franck
39 Pratt Street
Framingham, MA 01701
508-879-0361
libby.franck@verizon.net
http://www.libbyfranck.com/
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• Reda Rackley — Grandma Rosa
Reda Rackley, M.A., is a cultural mythologist, author, educator, storyteller and shamanic counselor. She lectures and facilitates women’s retreats bridging mythology, depth psychology, and spirituality. Reda was initiated into the indigenous medicine of the Dagara tribe in Burkina Faso, West Africa and teaches ancient shamanic traditions through storytelling, ritual, and divination. Recent published selections are included in The Circle Continues Women Respond to the Circle of Stones, Judith Duerk, ed. Kiss me Goodnight, Stories and Poems by Women Who Were Girls When their Mothers Died, Ann O’Fallon & Margaret Vaillancourt, eds, The Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets, Ryan Masters, ed.
Reda’s new C.D. Mud, Blood, and Blackberries: Fictional Memoirs was released in December 2005, 3rd place wiiner in the Just Plain Music Awards, Nov. 2006 for the story The Grapefruit. Grandma Rosa
Online interview with Reda
How did you discover "storytelling"?
Storytelling was a Sunday afternoon sitting on the front porch hiding behind the boston fern listening to the grown folks: remember, regret, tell secrets, gossip. It was just a way of life back then.
When and how did you decide to become a storyteller?
I had to do an oral presentation in a Women's Studies class in 1996 and I told a funny story about the my first menustral cycle and trying to put on a kotex belt.
What were your first experiences like as a storyteller?
My first experience as a storyteller was profound. I was telling stories to a group of women at the YWCA that worked in the local domestic violence shelter. I was telling the story of Persephone and the journey to the underworld, I was in awe of how the women as listeners were as important as the storyteller and how their insights into the myth and what they had to teach me was profound.
What obstacles have you encountered in your career as a storyteller?
The only obstacles I encountered are the road blocks I place in front of myself. There are so many places to tell stories, just take the risk, show up and share yourSELF witht he world.
What thrills you most when you are telling?
What thrills me most is the dance between the audience and the teller. When I tell stories I always make time for the audience to respond to the story and to tell me how the story jumped into their bones and then to tell me what story was stirred from their cauldron of memory.
Any particular "telling" moments stand out in your memory?
I created an evening of honoring our ancestors and was telling stories about my own ancestors. I had asked before the event for people to bring photographs of their ancestors, it was around All Hallow's Eve. I did an innovation before the storytelling - calling in the ancestors and telling them to "Come on in pull up a chair." As soon as I said that, a chair in the back row , tipped over, and I said, "Well I guess they have all arrived."
Have any endearing comments come from the kids you've worked with?
My audience has been teenagers and adults. But one night, a young girl of 19 was there with her mother, and she held in her hand a thick journal of poems and stories. It was open mic night and I invited her to tell a story. She was so shy, she could bare to share with work with us. But she asked her mother to read a few poems. They were exquisite, but they needed her voice. There were a few young children in the audience that night and we all ended up dancing around the room together in a circle singing "We all fly like Eagles." At the end of the song, the young 19 year old girl, said, Can I sing a song, and out of mouth song birds flew, she had the voice of Enya, Sinead O'conner. Many people were in tears, when she finished the song.
What advice would you give beginning storytellers?
Simple begin, jitters and all, there is a story in each of us and someone is waiting to hear that story, because your story will bring to life a story that they need to tell, that someone else needs to here.
Reda's website:
http://www.ancestordivination.com
Remembering the Indigenous Wisdom of the Soul
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• Margaret Lawrence — Professor Bookworm
Margaret has retired from active storytelling these days, but her passion for storytelling remains strong. And her wonderful Panchatantra stories are recorded for future generations to listen to and enjoy.
Online interview:
How did you discover "storytelling"?
I discovered storytelling in India, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, during the 23 years I was following my foreign service engineer husband around the world! The people of those countries would spend hours listening to storytellers, and I loved every minute of it that I experienced. Then he retired, and we moved back to the U.S. One day I picked up a magazine that announced there would be storytelling in Jonesboro, Tennessee, one entire weekend! What! You mean there is storytelling in the States?
When and how did you decide to become a storyteller?
I found ways to learn about storytelling, opportunities to practice, places to tell "for the experience" and finally, people who would pay me to tell stories.
What were your first experiences like as a storyteller?
After years of doing fairly well at playing various musical instruments in orchestras and bands, and participating in a number of plays, I found that storytelling was the most satisfying experience of all. It was what I was meant to do.
What obstacles have you encountered in your career as a storyteller?
Outdoor venues were sometimes difficult, especially when a brass band was set up next to the stage. I don't consider it a rocky road, certainly no more difficult than is required of any other performing art. At first I made the mistake of trying to memorize the story, and I would find myself groping for the right words. Later I found it better to make pictures of the action in my mind. I might describe that picture one way on Saturday, another way on Sunday, but I still had the picture.
What thrills you most when you are telling?
The response of the listeners. I loved making them laugh, but sometimes it was fun to be more serious. I loved using different voices for the characters.
Have any endearing comments come from the kids you've worked with?
The most wonderful one was accompanied by a hug. "I love you!"
What was your funniest experience as a teller?
I went to the annual Florida Storytelling Camp. I stood up and began to tell a story. It suddenly occurred to me that I was telling to these people who were storytellers! Panic consumed me, and I could not continue. After a moment, I said, "I"m sorry, but I'll have to sit down. I've forgotten the rest of the story." A voice in the audience said, "But it's such a beautiful story!" Instantly, the story came back.
If you were doing it over again, would you change anything?
I would start much earlier in my lifetime.
What advice would you give beginning storytellers?
To become a storyteller, get out there and tell stories. You'll iron out the bumps as you go.
Additional comments.
In 1990 a small group of storytellers here in Florida chose the name Sandcastle Storytellers and participated in our first Tellabration. We've been part of Tellabration every year since, and our membership has grown. One of the truly wonderful things about this group is that is spans several generations.
Margaret's Panchatantra recording:
Stories: Leap and Creep; The King's Addiction; The Gander's Advice; Professor Bookworm; The Blue Jackal; The Brahman, The Thief and the Ghost; The Mouse Maid; The Monkey and the Crocodile; A Matter of Trust
The Panchatantra stories, gathered in the Vale of Kashmir over 2,000 years ago, have traveled in numerous translations from their native India through Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Europe, bringing delight to millions of people of all ages.
nnIt is said that a certain king wanted his three sons to learn "the wise conduct of life." When they showed no interest in education, he engaged Vishnusharman, a Brahman, as their teacher. (A Brahman is a person of high caste.)
Vishnusharman made the boys memorize the 87 wise and witty stories contained in The Panchatantra. In six months' time they had learned how security, prosperity, resolute action, friendship and learning are combined to produce joy.
The nine stories presented here are adapted from the Arthur W. Ryder translation from the Sanskrit of The Panchatantra, with the permission of the University of Chicago Press, copyright 1925 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Copyright renewed 1953 by Mary E. Ryder and Winifred Ryder. Cover illustration by Tim Tewalt.
Contact:
Margaret Lawrence
storyglobe@yahoo.com
Closing comment from Margaret:
"
One time I asked an Indian friend if she had told the Panchatantra stories to her children, and she said, 'Yes, I raised my children on those stories.' The values taught in those stories are values this world desperately needs."
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(Page created 3/31/07)
