The Pleasures and Perils of Professional Storytelling

The Pleasures and Perils of Professional Storytelling ©2020 Laura Packer Laura will be presenting her workshop The Working Storyteller: How to Run a Storytelling Business  at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ It took me four tries to launch a functional storytelling business. The first time I had no idea what I was doing and thought enthusiasm, skill, and talent would be enough. I was wrong. I quickly found myself back in a day job with storytelling on the side. The second time I actually had some idea of the business and administrative skills I would need. What I didn’t have was much external support or good boundaries around family members who thought that being self-employed meant I had plenty of time to help them with other things. Within a year I was back to full-time employment in a job that didn’t really suit. The third time I had the practical skills, the talent, the connections, the boundaries, and the support I needed. Everything went really well until my personal life collapsed and I could no longer work anywhere, let alone as a performing artist. The fourth time was the charm. As I pulled myself back, I planned well, worked hard, and began to develop a functional, sustainable, storytelling business that is now my livelihood.   I love being self-employed as a working artist. I love dedicating my life to an art that enriches the world, helps others find their voice, and gives me a platform to create meaningful change in many levels of society. At the same time, I am working harder than I ever have and at least 80% of that work has nothing to do with storytelling performance, teaching, coaching, or consulting. I am my own graphic designer, book keeper, booking agent, administrator, publicist, IT professional, chauffeur, travel agent, etc. The day-to-day work of it is sometimes as grinding and relentless as that ill-fitting day job was, only with less pay.   I wish I had known both how hard and how rewarding this storytelling life can be, when I first decided to leap. I wish I had known how vital it is to ask for help and to accept it without guilt. I wish I had known how important boundaries are and that I would need to schedule vacations for myself that had nothing to do with work, no matter how many lovely places I travel to as a professional storyteller. I wish I had known that it was important to have new hobbies now that storytelling was my source of income. I wish I had known that sometimes I need to take jobs I don’t want to, so I can pay the rent. I wish I had known so much.   Now that I do know all of this and keep learning more every day, I share what I know. I can be a teacher and mentor around the work of being a working artist. This is as rewarding as teaching and performing storytelling, because just as helping people find that their story changes lives, so too does helping people find their path to the right work. We thrive and build a better world when our work and our lives are rich with meaning. About Laura: Laura Packer has been performing, teaching, coaching, writing, and promoting storytelling for almost 30 years. She is the author of From Audience to Zeal: The ABCs of Finding, Crafting, and Telling a Great Story and the creator of #storyseeds.  www.laurapacker.com       

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The Power of Play

[Above Image from: Ring Around the Rosie by Edward Henry Potthast 1910-1915]   Story Play ©2020 Karen Chace Karen will be presenting her workshop Story Play at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."   --Fred Rogers Throughout my 18 years teaching storytelling, that quote by Fred Rogers has guided and motivated me to include as much movement and play into my classroom as possible. Each year when I begin with a new storytelling troupe, I use my original, interactive games that are not only fun, but offer the additional benefit of reinforcing the storytelling skills the troupe will learn. I am always looking for new ideas and sometimes inspiration strikes in the strangest places. One spring day I was in the local Dollar Store, picking up craft items. It was Easter season and colorful pastel baskets were waiting to be purchased, but there was something different this year: white felt baskets with red stitching designed to resemble baseballs.  As I walked by, I began to think, “How could I use those in my storytelling class?” On another aisle, I noticed a package of plastic baseball bases, first, second, third and home plate; this was too much of a coincidence! Still unsure of what I would create with them I decided to listen to my inner voice and bought the baskets and bases. When I returned home, I began brainstorming and came up with the interactive activity, Step Up to the Story Plate, a storytelling baseball game where every base leads you through your story. My fourth and fifth grade students played it the following week. It was a great success. They enthusiastically cheered each other on; a perfect activity for encouraging them to think on their feet about their story elements while continuing to build comradery. More than once I've reconfigured a childhood game into a new classroom activity. Sometimes inspiration strikes in an instant! One year, during my after-school program I was working with the third-grade storytelling troupe. We were using the school hallway for a version of the Virginia Reel. Rather than standing still and facing each other, they were paired up, walking side by side, one line of tellers sharing their tale with their partner. As they were executing the activity, I suddenly noticed two girls reach out to hold hands. Immediately, the memory of a beloved schoolyard game popped into my head and a brand-new activity, Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Story Right Over, was born, combining movement, play, and story all rolled into one. It has been a staple in my program ever since! Renowned educator Vivian Paley believed that “play is, in fact, a complex occupation, requiring practice in dialogue, exposition, detailed imagery, social engineering, literary allusion, and abstract thinking.… Play is absolutely essential for [children’s] health and welfare.” Children need to move to learn. If you want to engage your students more effectively, experts tell us that play-based learning engages children on their cognitive, physical, social, and narrative learning levels. According to neuroscientists, “play activates the brain [in a way] that rote memorization, testing, worksheets, and traditional classroom techniques do not.” It is no surprise that two beloved educators, Vivian Paley and Fred Rogers, believed in combining education and play. Why not follow their lead and integrate as much play as possible into your own storytelling residencies or classroom? As Mr. Rogers said, “play is serious learning.”     Sources “How to Use Play for Learning” https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-use-play-learning “The Importance of Fantasy, Fairness, and Friendship in Children’s Play: An Interview with Vivian Gussin Paley” https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/2-2-interview-paley-fantasy-fairness-friendship.pdf “The Importance of Play-Based Learning” https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/play-based-learning/ “Importance of Play in the Early Childhood Classroom” http://performancepyramid.miamioh.edu/node/1119   About Karen: Karen’s award-winning book, Story by Story: Creating a Student Storytelling Troupe, is based on teaching the art of Oral Tradition to over 700 students. Karen produces and hosts the “Story Café” television series and is the recipient of the Brother Blue Award and the NSN Oracle Award for Service and Leadership. http://www.storybug.net      

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Open Face Puppetry

The Simplicity of Open Face Puppetry The Simplicity of Open Face Puppetry ©2020 Lona Bartlett Lona will be presenting her workshop The Simplicity of Open Face Puppetry at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ I have been a puppeteer and storyteller for more than three decades.  The world of puppetry began for me in high school when my friend Marg and I each purchased small hand puppets. I built a portable stage out of a cardboard refrigerator box and metallic wrapping paper and we started doing puppet shows together in coffee houses, local fairs, classrooms, and other simple venues. The more we performed, the more our puppet skills grew, as did our collection of puppet characters. I began sewing and building many of my own. Time went on and we both grew up, but I continued with my puppets, performing as a solo puppeteer. I worked with a number of large puppet teams in churches and schools. I taught workshops at national conferences, and created a number of puppets and scripts that are now on four continents. When my children were born we became a family puppet team performing together. One by one my children grew up, moved out, and developed their own careers in the arts.   I still own puppet stages, curtains, props, blacklights for blacklight puppetry, and lots and lots of other items for big puppet shows and I still am involved with them from time to time. However, knowing that I would be a solo artist again, I wanted and needed a new way to combine puppetry and storytelling. I had a list of criteria: my new way needed to be simple – no performance setup on stage as well as no take-down. It needed to be easy to carry from one location to another (tent to tent, classroom to classroom, building to building … you get the idea). And I needed to be able to switch from puppet storytelling to traditional storytelling easily and quickly. I also wanted it to be interactive, whether I was performing for adults or children. Enter what I call “Open Face Puppetry.”   What is it? Open face puppetry as I define it means that at all times you can see my face; I am out there with the puppet, not behind a curtained stage. It also meets all of the criteria that I mentioned. It is as simple as having a small silent hand puppet come out of a hat, or as complicated as selecting several participants from the audience, giving them each a puppet, and coaching them with cues to insert dialogue to tell a story.   One of my favorite puppets is a small hand puppet I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter. His name is Little Tiger and his stage is a top hat I made out of foam. He is completely silent but I, of course, can understand everything he is saying so I translate for the audience. Little Tiger tells a personal story about cookies and he also performs a magic trick called The Disappearing Scarf. It is all interactive; cues are given to the audience so they can all participate in the telling of the story. For instance, I say something like, “Little Tiger has his cookie, what do you suppose he would like to drink with his cookie?” The answer “milk” always comes. Little Tiger brings the “aww, so cute” factor to the stage and because he is adorable, the audience listens. Yes, adults and children love Little Tiger.   I really like being able to call up participants from the audience to help in the telling of a story. This past summer I build a new Open Face Puppetry story with stick puppets. The story is one you may know: the Aesop tale of the Sun and the Wind. Stick puppets are on (all together now!) sticks. I built a sun and a wind puppet with faces; I also used a hoodie for a prop for the 3rd character in the story. I select 3 people from the audience; one for the sun, one for wind, and one jacket person. Each character inserts improvised dialogue. I give them cues such as, “It was a very hot day and the sun said … [character inserts dialogue].” Sometimes participants need a little help and they may need to be told what to say. But in the end, the story is told and everyone has a good time.   I have had some memorable occurrences with Open Face Puppetry. One that really stands out involved a second grader by the name of Edgar. I was doing an arts in education lesson in a public school. I had called Edgar up to use an alphabet big mouth puppet I had made (big mouth puppets have a -- what? Yep, a big mouth); I use these puppets to teach reading. When I put that puppet on Edgar’s hand he began chatting away. His teacher sat in the back of the classroom with tears rolling down her face.  After the lesson I asked her if she was okay and she replied, “That little guy, Edgar, doesn’t talk! I mean I have never heard his voice before. You put that puppet on his hand and he just opened up and chatted away.” I smiled and told her, “That is because Edgar wasn’t talking, the puppet was.” That teacher brought in a hand puppet for Edgar so he would communicate with her for the remainder of the school year.   Puppets are a wonderful tool to use in story and to engage an audience. They don’t have to be complicated to be effective. About Lona: Lona Bartlett is a professional storyteller, puppeteer and educator who has delighted audiences throughout the U.S. and internationally for over 30 years. Degrees in education, a small town upbringing in the Catskill Mountains, along with her mother being from the Carolinas, and her father a generational farmer provide lots of inspiration .   LonaBartlett.com      

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Finding a Niche Market

Finding a Niche Market - Joey's Story ©2020 Joey Novick Joey will be presenting his workshop Take Your Story to Corporate Market at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ I've been doing standup comedy since the late 80s. I was elected to the Borough Council in Flemington in 1995. And for 20+ years I have spoken at many state leagues of municipalities – conferences of elected officials – around the country, including the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and the American Bar Association. I was able to create a unique speaking niche for myself as a storyteller by recognizing that the presenters at conferences I was attending were not particularly good storytellers. Most of them lacked one or more of the essential rules of good storytelling – to be inspirational, informational, and educational.As a standup comedian, I have appeared at the legendary Catch A Rising Star, the nationally known Comedy Cellar in New York City, and at Dangerfield's. Along with dozens and dozens of comedy clubs and theaters over the years, I have television credits including MTV and Rascals comedy hour. I have opened for Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Chris Rock, and Rosie O'Donnell. I discovered storytelling quite by accident when I wished a Happy Hanukkah/Merry Christmas to a group of email recipients to whom a comedian friend of mine had sent his well-wishes (that's a story in and of itself). On that email list was a woman by the name of Sherry Weaver who ran a storytelling night called "Stories From the Backroom" at the Cornelia Street Café. I went to one of her shows there, and I was hooked. And so, I began my journey in storytelling about 10 years ago with appearances at Yum’s the Word, The Liar Show, Twice-Told Tales, – and many of my own storytelling productions around the New York-New Jersey area, including This Really Happened at the Hopewell Theater. Somewhere in the middle of all of that activity, I found time to go to law school. I enrolled in law school at 47, graduating at the age of 50 licensed to practice law in the state of New Jersey. And so, I put into the same 'mixing bowl' several elements: my ability as a storyteller, my skills as a standup comedian, my professional engagement as an attorney, and my experience as an elected official for 15 years in my town. And voila: A new profession---storyteller at conferences. I have been able to create two unique niches for well-paid speaking engagements utilizing all of these elements. Attorneys and elected officials hire presenters for many conferences. My presentations are marketed and branded under the titles "The Improvisational Lawyer" and "Comedian Elected to Town Council in New Jersey" (stories from my solo show). Both require strong skill sets in storytelling – being informational, educational and inspirational – as well as persistence and marketing skills. About Joey: Joey Novick is a stand-up comedian and storyteller with appearances at The Liar Show, Yums the Word, Sideshow Goshko,  Mostly True Tales, and many others.  He has performed at Capital Fringe (nominated for Best Comedy Performance), Philadelphia Fringe, and the Jersey Fringe. Recently Joey won the NJ Storytelling Festival Slam and the Cape Cod Story Slam. www.improvforleaders.com    

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Bringing Your Audience onto the Stage, Into Your Story and Beyond ©2020 Judith Heineman Judith will be presenting her workshop Bringing Your Audience onto the Stage, Into Your Story and Beyond  at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ Comedian W.C. Fields (1880 - 1946) was famous for saying, “Never work with animals or children” – although, according to his IMDb biography, he secretly admired children. He was warning theater actors that they might often be upstaged.  Despite that warning, if you want to shine a spotlight on your story and have keen attention paid, I strongly urge you to bring children onto the stage with you! When you physically bring children into your story, you evoke hyper-focus from family and friends in the audience who want to see what they are doing. The audience is sitting on the edge of their chairs -- snapping pictures, of course. It is also exciting and fun for the teller to have a bit of unpredictability in the performance; it keeps the retelling fresh. If you have always stood on stage alone, speaking the words of various characters, delineating them by shifting body language, tone, pacing, etc., this technique might be an enjoyable change of pace.   To select these living “characters,” you can simply ask for volunteers in the moment, or if you want a bit more control in a school setting, ask teachers to identify cooperative students in advance. On some occasions, when I have needed only one character and have pointed to one child in the audience, two children have come up to the stage. I never send one back, but just make two of that character work as in “The Magic Pot!”   Once these strangers are standing next to you, populating your story, how can you seamlessly make them part of the tale? Preparation is all. Know your story so well that you have planned numerous places where you can feed volunteers lines from the story quickly and easily, shifting the microphone back and forth between you. I have found that this technique works particularly well in outdoor festivals when there are more distractions and concentration is harder. You can give audible stage directions, such as, “Use a deep voice”; “Whisper”; or, if you want more than one person to speak simultaneously (perhaps as animal characters), “Say these lines together.” You can also turn to the general audience and ask them to speak words or phrases in unison, expanding the story even more.   Not only did that W. C. Fields quote resonate with me, but I also kept hearing the snarky lyrics to the clever 1930’s Noel Coward patter song, “Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington”:  “I’m on my knees, Mrs. Worthington, please, Mrs. Worthington, don’t put your daughter on the stage!” I am proposing just the opposite, but nevertheless, try to find that song and give it a listen.   About Judith: Judith is an international award winning storyteller. She is a Chicago Moth winner and NSN Oracle Award winner for Service and Leadership. Her CDs: Grimm’s Grimmest: The Darker Side of Fairytales and The Magic Carpet: Songs and Stories from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt have won numerous awards.  www.judithanddan.com    

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You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup

You Can't Pour from an Empty Cup ©2020 Linda Marchisio Linda will be presenting her workshop You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup: Discover Movement for Self Care at Sharing the Fire 2020. Register today at https://www.nestorytelling.org/conference-details/ You can’t pour from an empty cup. A familiar adage. It reminds us to take care of ourselves. To refill, revive, relax.  As storytellers, teachers, keynote speakers, and actors, you probably remember to take care of your voice or at least recognize you’ve gone too far when your throat hurts or your volume is strained. You might even practice vocal warmups before performances. Our voice is our avocation and our vocation.You can’t pour from an empty cup pertains to more than your voice.  Your physical body needs care too.  In fact your body directly affects your voice. I first learned about the voice body connection during an introduction to the Alexander Technique.   F. M. Alexander was an actor who experienced laryngitis whenever he performed. Traditional medicine did not help him. Finally he discovered his own solution which is now known as the Alexander Technique. He concluded that body alignment (especially the head, neck and torso) were essential to the creation of voice.  He changed the way he stood and moved and reduced vocal strain. When you drive 3 hours to a job exiting the car stiffly, when you are filled with annoyance and tension from the airport rigamarole, when you are anxious about telling that brand new story, a massage would sure feel good but you are on stage in 30 minutes.  What can you do? You can’t pour from a stressed, tense, empty cup.  Gentle stretches, body alignment movement, and breathing exercises can release pre-performance tension and reduce travel stress and stiffness. “Standing is harder than moving” asserts Moshe Feldenkrais, and so is sitting.  Physical therapists will tell you how bad sitting is for your body so take a little stroll before a performance, even if it’s around the parking lot. Try a few gentle neck rolls. Roll your shoulders. Yawn with a big stretch letting your arms reach far out or over your head. Shift your hips from side to side. No, not twerking (LOL), but a gentle weight shift. Try a bit of laughter yoga with ha, ha, ho, ho and engage your diaphragm and wake up your breath. Be mindful of your body.  Nothing should hurt when you stretch and move.  Be gentle.  Feldenkrais developed a method of movement based on body awareness -- finding the most efficient way for your body to move, decreasing pain, increasing flexibility, and improving the all-over feel-good feeling. Your respiratory system is physically connected to your spine. As Feldenkrais says, “breathing reflects every emotional or physical effort and every disturbance.” When I balance my body and align my posture, I breathe more freely.  I feel stronger.  I tell the stories from a strong base.  I feel powerful and positive. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so fill up with some gentle movement warm-ups.   Barker, Elizabeth. "Physical (re)education: the Feldenkrais Method helps prevent aches and pains by changing the way you move." Natural Health, Feb. 2007, p. 98+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A158091367/GPS?u=s1353&sid=GPS&xid=c9a03051. Accessed 20 Dec. 2019. Fedlenkrais, Moshe.  Awareness through Movement.  Harper & Row Publishers, 1977. p. 37. Sagolla, Lisa Jo. "Intelligent body: practicing the Feldenkrais method." Back Stage West, 14 June 2007, p. 16. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A166001222/GPS?u=s1353&sid=GPS&xid=eb649b9b. Accessed 20 Dec. 2019.   About Linda: Linda Marchisio is a storyteller and dance movement teacher. As a storyteller, she is an animated performer who frequently uses song, dance, and audience participation.  She majored in Movement for her Master’s degree at Wesleyan University. She studied anatomy-kinesiology, Laban's Efforts, and creative dance.  Her thesis was on Movement Assisted Storytelling to Motivate Reading. She taught creative movement for Eugene O'Neill Theatre’s school program and exercise/dance programs to adults at many locations.  Linda is offering a hands-on workshop session at Sharing the Fire 2020 on Movement for Self Care. Librarylinda10@gmail.com    

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