Friday March 22
7:00-7:30 pm EDT
The Brother Blue & Ruth Hill Award
Named in honor of its two original recipients, Brother Blue (a.k.a. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill, who passed away in 2009) and Dr. Ruth Edmonds Hill (who passed away in 2023). Both have long been recognized as tireless in their promotion of storytelling and storytellers throughout the Northeast region. Each year at Sharing the Fire, the Board of Directors presents the award to a living storyteller or organization in recognition of their extraordinary commitment and efforts to promote a broader understanding of the art of storytelling and the support of storytellers in the development of their art. It serves, as Brother Blue said, “to honor those who give their lives to storytelling to change the world.”
Location: Ballroom A/B & Live-Streamed Online
7:00-7:30 pm EDT
A Foot in Two Worlds
Performance by Eleanor Reissa
Eleanor has had a creative life that has encompassed many worlds, different languages, and unique voices. For this keynote opening performance, she will share in song and story unique treasures of that earthy, poetic, empathetic language – Yiddish – and provide a window into another world seemingly long gone yet alive and revitalized.
Live music performed by Brian Bender.
Location: Ballroom A/B & Live-Streamed Online
Saturday March 23
9:00-10:15 am EDT
Que sera sera: the Life of a Storyteller
KEYNOTE Eleanor Reissa
What does it mean to be a storyteller? How do we know if we are one or how to do it? Eleanor Reissa – actor, director, translator, playwright, author, choreographer in English and Yiddish – has lived as a storyteller without ever actually recognizing that she was one. Her keynote is a conversation about the paths and possibilities, the discoveries and revelations, that have culminated in this storytelling life.
Bio: Eleanor Reissa has lived a life in the theatre and the arts. She is a storyteller in English and Yiddish - her first language. She is a Tony Award nominee for directing, a prize-winning playwright, an actress, singer, translator, choreographer, and published author. A Brooklyn born-and-bred daughter of Holocaust fighters, her memoir, THE LETTERS PROJECT: A Daughter’s Journey, discovers the truth about her father, a slave in Auschwitz, as well as the truth about herself.
Location: Ballroom A/B & Live-Streamed Online
10:30 am-Noon EDT
Story Swap with Feedback
NEST’s Worldwide Virtual Storytelling Guild
Hosted by Cris Riedel
Join in a session of the Worldwide Virtual Storytelling Guild, sponsored and hosted by Northeast Storytelling (NEST), and, as always, live online. This project began with the goals of reaching isolated tellers, encouraging novice tellers, and sharing across cultures. We are storytellers from around the world who are interested in sharing stories, learning about storytelling, and enjoying peer feedback and community. You can come to listen, or put in your name to tell an up to 10 minute story. We welcome tellers of traditional tales, historical stories, personal stories, stories with music, stories with puppets, rhymed stories, improv stories, digital stories, mime, and more.
Location: Online
1:45-3:45 pm EDT
Storytelling Start-Up
Jessica Robinson, Workshop leader
This 90 minute workshop will focus on how to launch a new, or relaunch a previously existing, community based event, such as a storytelling show, open mic events, or a festival. The skills and scope of a festival are different to those of a monthly show, but they are also connected. The workshop will lightly touch on a number of topics, including: forming an entity, choosing a Board or recruiting a committee, building a community of performers and supporters, finding a venue, casting, and promoting your event.
This is a working workshop. Participants should bring paper and pen, or a device, to take notes and start planning. The goal is to leave with a concept and next steps for starting your own program.
Jessica Robinson is the Founding Executive Director of Better Said Than Done, the organization behind the Women’s Storytelling Festival. She’s produced storytelling shows since 2011, and performed at Exchange Place at the International Storytelling Festival, on WGBH’s “Stories from the Stage,” and online for Artists Standing Strong Together, Six Feet Apart Productions, Mostly True Things, The Story Space, Bridgeport Pechakucha, and 2 National Storytelling Network Conferences. Jessica was featured at the Stone Soup, the Washington Folk, the Allegheny, the Florida, and the Hampton Storytelling Festivals, and was a 2023 ORACLE Award recipient from the NSN.
Location: Online
All Levels
All Storytellers
3:45-5:15 pm EDT
“Forget Memory, Try Imagination! Explore Ways to do Storytelling with People with Dementia”
Liz Nichols, Workshop leader
If you've felt the pain and frustration of trying to share stories – or just plain old conversation – with a friend or loved one with memory loss, come discover a fresh approach that is simple but revolutionary. "TimeSlips Creative Storytelling" is the brainchild of MacArthur "genius" winner Anne Basting, and I've been doing it for 2 decades, with groups and 1-on-1, and training others. It combines basic improv principles with dementia-friendly techniques. Learn more at timeslips.org. Come away with hands-on, fun techniques and resources you can adapt.
Liz has an eclectic background in education and storytelling, and strives to bring the Power of Fun - the value of play and creative expression - to folks at every stage of life. She has more than 10 years of professional experience working with seniors, including 4 years as Storytelling Director of Stagebridge, the nation's oldest senior theater company. As a certified facilitator of TimeSlips, a storytelling method developed specifically for people with memory loss, and as a certified Laughter Yoga Leader, she finds that helping others have fun and try something new is what keeps her growing and thriving too.
Location: Online
All Levels
Personal Stories, Applied Storytelling, Anyone impacted by Alzheimer's/Dementia
5:30-7:00 pm EDT
Healing Divides through Storytelling
Sheila Arnold, Workshop leader
Building on the use of storytelling as a healing practice in communities, schools, health care facilities, and religious institutions, Sheila will demonstrate how stories can help us heal divides and create a more inclusive and equitable world. The session will begin with a conversation-sparking story; Sheila will then teach participants how to find healing stories, use them to facilitate discussion, and create spaces where they can be received.
Professional storyteller and teaching artist, Sheila Arnold has been leading workshops with engagement, creativity, and empathy since 1998, while also working for Colonial Williamsburg.
Location: Online
All Levels
All Storytellers
7:30-9:00 pm EDT
Olio Performance - Raising the Roof: Stories of Social Justice and Collective Power
What is an Olio? In cooking, it’s a stew; in storytelling, it’s a variety of tellers and tales together in one show; and at Sharing the Fire, it is our always rich and simmering Saturday night showcase! (Bios and photos will be in the printed program book)
Joy Kelly Smith, Olio Emcee
Rona Leventhal “The Seeker”
Jezrie Marcano-Courtney “The Letter”
Robin Bady “The Cornelia Street Standoff”
Elisa Pearmain “The Butterflies Three”
Merrill Kohlhofer “A Formidable Woman”
Eva M. Abram “Miss Molly Steals the Butter”
Masankho Banda “The Boy Who Didn't Fit (Kuno si kwanu)”
Sunday March 24
11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT
Six Triple-Eight
Performance by Charlotte Blake Alston
Charlotte Blake Alston recounts the incredible story of the first – and only – Women's Army Corps Battalion of all African American Women ever allowed to serve on European soil during WWII. Their incredible achievements have only recently been acknowledged and rewarded with the Congressional Gold Medal for their outstanding achievements. Six Triple-Eight is just the kind of story of African American contributions to the fabric of America's history that is now being banned in many US States, a story teachers in those states would be charged with a felony offense if they dare to teach it. Charlotte believes it is critically important for these stories to be mined, crafted and told.
Charlotte Blake Alston, STF 2024 Sunday Presenter, is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, and The Philadelphia Orchestra's Imasogie Storyteller, Narrator, and Host. She has graced stages throughout North America and abroad, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and at regional, national and international Storytelling Festivals. Awards include two honorary PhDs, NSN's Circle of Excellence Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Award from the National Association of Black Storytellers.
Location: Ballroom A/B & Live-Streamed Online
