Megan Wells
Storytelling Live!, the International Storytelling Center’s celebrated teller-in-residence series, continues its season in September. The program, celebrating its 20th year, features America’s best-loved storytellers, one each week, May through October. Each teller appears in matinee performances Tuesday through Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Mary B. Martin Storytelling Hall. The month also includes an evening concert. Storytelling Live is also available online. One concert a week is recorded and broadcast Friday at 2 p.m. Viewing access continues until the following Monday.
Corinne Stavish performs Sept. 1 and 2. She specializes in personal and historical narratives and biblical interpretative tales that are warm, witty, thoughtful, powerful and poignant and enhanced by a lively performing style. Featured at festivals nationwide, Stavish has also been a keynote speaker at the National Storytelling Conference, a Detroit Jewish Woman Artist of the Year, a contributor to “Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul” and “The Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible” and author of four award-winning CDs. Stavish serves on the Board of Directors of the International Storytelling Center and is a professor in humanities at Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan.
Adam Booth takes the stage Sept. 5-9. Booth’s storytelling blends traditional folklore, music and an awareness of contemporary Appalachia. His original cinematic style, both humorous and touching, is influenced by generations of diverse storytellers from West Virginia. He is a member of the Recording Academy and his stories and recordings have been honored with two Parents’ Choice Silver Honors, four Storytelling World Awards and Honors, NSN’s J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Grant and four West Virginia Liars’ Contest wins. Booth teaches Appalachian studies at Shepherd University and is the founding director of the Speak Story Series. Booth is most at home sharing stories and music with the next generation of listeners and tellers throughout Appalachia.
Megan Wells performs Sept. 12-16. Wells’ telling is time travel at its best. With exquisite language she takes listeners into deep-mind cinema, bringing worlds alive. Her telling is passionate, soulful and warm with humor. A master of the literary tale as well as long-form myth, Wells is known for her delicious timing, character portrayals and the theatrical sensitivity she brings to her work. She tours her one-woman storytelling shows and historical re-enactments of famous women across the country and performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Peter Chand performs Sept. 19-23. He performs a concert Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Chand is one of Europe’s finest storytellers who has told his fantastic tales all over Britain, and in Ireland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Greece, Canada, Denmark and India. Of Punjabi heritage, Chand is constantly in demand for his fantastic tales and has worked with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. His parents migrated to Britain from the Punjab region in the 1950s, and though he was born in the Midlands, he grew up using Punjabi as his first language. He combines these two cultures seamlessly to tell stories full of life, wisdom and humor. Chand is also one of the organizers of the Festival at the Edge (FatE) International Storytelling Festival, the longest-running festival of its kind in England.
His evening show tells the tale of his parents. Chand’s parents were raised in the Punjab region of India, where their families were held back by the oppressive caste system. Dreaming of a better life, they migrated to Britain in the 1950s. He shares the story of their difficult past by weaving together their experiences with traditional Indian folk tales. Tickets for the evening show are $15.
Roy Book Binder takes the stage Sept. 26-30. Binder has been rambling around the world for the past 45 years as a blues guitarist, singer-songwriter and storyteller. He gave up his Greenwich Village “pad” in the early 1970s and has spent his days since then crisscrossing the U.S. and appearing at festivals throughout Canada and Europe. A veteran performer and guitar instructor, he has released 15 albums and shared the stage with notable blues musicians who include Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, John Jackson, Sonny Terry, Doc Watson, Ray Charles and Brownie McGhee.
For more information about Storytelling Live! or to purchase tickets visit www.storytellincenter.net. Tickets for the virtual storytelling are $15 per teller. In person tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for seniors/military/students. The evening show is $15.
For more information, visit www.storytellingcenter.net.
