Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild supports and celebrates World Storytelling Day: New Beginnings on March 20, 2021 @ 7 PM EST. This event is free to the public and will be streamed at a special site set up just for the event! Registration is required. All registered guests will be provided with the video link on the day of the event. Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/patchwork-storytelling-guild-supports-celebrates-world-storytelling-day-tickets-145555810347
According to Denise McCormack, president of Patchwork, “Storytellers traditionally tell to live and intimate audiences, but we’re delighted to be able to bring our stories, with all of their integrity and charm, right into people’s homes. It’s thrilling to see that this age-old art form has found a place on such a broad, accessible, and diverse platform, and we’re happy to use it.
The stories are incredible and run the gamut from folk and fairy tales to personal memoir, each one as unique as the teller who tells it.
This really promises to be a great show, and the audience can sit back and relax and just enjoy the experience of imagining those once-upon-a-times that capture our fancies and our hearts, right from their own living rooms.”
This program is sure to delight storylovers everywhere, and we encourage everyone to spread the word!
More info on Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild and ways to get involved: https://patchworkstorytelling.org
The cast of tellers includes Denise McCormack, Dennis Strain, Karen Maurer, Ed Lewis, Jill Lamede, Ray Tackett, and Rob Aptaker.
About the Tellers
DENISE MCCORMACK
Denise McCormack has been telling professionally for more than a decade, presenting programs throughout the tri-state area--to listeners of all ages and in a multitude of venues-- and is deeply committed to sharing the benefits of storytelling in a broad spectrum of applications from education and community to business, health, and well-being.
Among her many roles in storytelling, McCormack is president of the Patchwork Storytelling Guild, and an active member of various other local and national organizations wherein storytelling plays an integral role.
DENNIS STRAIN
Dennis Strain has been telling stories for over twenty years. His storytelling journey started in Harrisburg where he told with two storytelling groups: Tapestry of Tales and Susquehanna Tellers. Retirement brought him to Philadelphia in 2005. He joined Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild that year, and told frequently at Tellabration In Philadelphia and at the N.J. Storytelling Festival. Dennis currently resides in Elizabethtown and teaches a four session course entitled Storytelling For Beginners. Dennis tells traditional tales, with an emphasis on Irish folklore.
KAREN MAURER
Karen Maurer is one of the best-loved storytellers in the Lehigh Valley and enjoys a remarkably storied background as a library youth services coordinator, writer, and blogger of children’s literature. She tells tales to all ages, coaches and runs Storytelling Workshops for children and teens, and writes songs for Chiles’ Play, a children’s musical duo with her brother, Dan. Maurer has engaged audiences with her storytelling for more than two decades, is a member of the LVSG board, an advisor to the Patchwork community, and a presenter and reviewer of books for middle grades and teens for area literature conferences and on her blog, booksnstories.blogspot.com.
ED LEWIS
Ed Lewis is a storytelling "groupie" attending as many storytelling events as possible. He is a current Board Member of his local Sacramento Storytelling Guild, Board Member of the Storytelling Association of California, and one of the Pacific Region Liaisons to the National Storytelling Network, besides being a producer of Storytelling Festivals and other Storytelling events in the Northern California area.
A retired Early Childhood Education professor, Ed has taught storytelling classes for teachers and has had the good fortune of telling stories to children and adults throughout the world. His especial favorites include personal, folk, and tall Tales.
JILL LAMEDE
Jill Lamede, The Tintagel Storyteller, lives in the magical birthplace of King Arthur, and may often be found telling tales on the cliffs above Tintagel Castle. Having been an actress all her life, she only discovered storytelling some 25 years ago and realised she had found her true calling at last. In ancient days tiny Tintagel was a major port – excavations have found pottery fragments from all over the Mediterranean and even further East. The stories that would have been heard in the taverns would be the ones told by the visiting sailors and merchants – so these are the tales Jill loves to tell.
RAY TACKETT
Ray Tackett is a retired computer engineer with a passion for flying AND STORTYELLING. Ray's aviation experiences led to the founding of his Piston Engine Story Factory. Inspired by the writing styles of Ernest K. Gann and the imagination of Marshall Dodge, Ray has crafted a repertoire of stories for grownup enjoyment. The stories are mostly about flying and mostly true.
ROB APTAKER
For over forty years, Rob Aptaker spent time visiting Native American people from many tribal nations. He has learned stories, tribal traditions, and songs, and he has taken part in ceremonies and celebrations. Rob is an avid student of Native American oral histories and of Native American historical and anthropological records.
Rob asserts, “As a non-Native who has been privileged to learn some of the stories, songs, and traditional ways of North America’s indigenous people, I strive to serve as a bridge between the visible world of modern America and the vibrant but often overlooked reality of Red World People. If there is artistry in my presentations and performances, it is not in imitation; rather, it is in finding the words, sounds, and gestures to help audiences connect with what is universal in the unique and particular story I am sharing. To make history and culture come to life for school children, I call on the power of stories to awaken their imaginations.”
This event is FREE to the public and will be streamed at a special site set up just for the event! Registration is required. All registered guests will be provided with the video link on the day of the event. Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/patchwork-storytelling-guild-supports-celebrates-world-storytelling-day-tickets-145555810347
Donations will be accepted during the event on behalf of and in appreciation for the tellers, but are not mandatory.