Odds Bodkin – Storytelling in the Bardic Tradition

Odds Bodkin Bard and Storyteller Press Play to hear Odds Bokin speak on Storytelling in the Bardic Tradition on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Press Play to hear Odds Bokin speak on Storytelling in the Bardic Tradition on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Odds Bodkin Writes…
Bardic storytelling–that is, spoken words with live music–is a tradition that dates back to Homer and more deeply into almost all
shamanic traditions. Homer plucked a lyre, scholars believe, and recited The Iliad and The Odyssey with character voices. Shamanic traditions have used music with spoken narrative to transport audiences ever since local history and the religious impulse demanded human expression. Read the rest of this entry »

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How do we Succeed in bringing Storytelling to Audiences?

Recently I asked the question on Facebook and elsewhere are you comfortable using the word theatre to sell storytelling events? I liked Mary Grace’s reply and I invite you to think deeply about her application of these ideas. Brother Wolf

Mary Grace Ketner writes…
Marygrace2I would not use the word “theatre” itself, but I often use other terms related to theatre, such as “performance” or “stage.” I fear that if a person comes in expecting lights and costumes, it will take them some real readjustment time to appreciate what is actually going on in a room where one person, dressed pretty much like everyone else, is standing up and holding a microphone. And there may not be enough “readjustment time” for that, anyway. What I like about opera, for example, is the set and costumes and drama. 4 people standing there singing in Italian doesn’t usually do it for me, and 10 or 15 minutes is enough of that. Others have also mentioned the misleading expectation of a particular repeated script (perhaps a famous, well-traveled one that can be compared with a version one’s friends saw or that one has seen before) and the fourth wall: actors talking to each other as though no one were watching, the audience as peeping Tom.

In preparing storytelling programs, even something like a local Tellabration!, I have found that many storytellers do not like to Read the rest of this entry »

Walking Away from Success…

Picture for Storytellers

The Question that we must ask ourselves is if storytelling is so amazing why are more storytelling events not filled with sold out venues?

In today’s internet based world – community, human connection and personal narrative are highly valued and desperately needed in the United States. Modern performers who can successfully and repeatedly bring these values to the stage are loved by audiences everywhere. All of these values are part of a successful storytelling event

Inside the community of storytellers we use the word storytelling to describe what we do. I would suggest that the use of this word “Storytelling” to sell our art form to potential audiences of 1st time attendees outside of our community is both counterproductive and self-sabotaging. Successful storytelling is many things – Read the rest of this entry »

Deirdre of the Sorrows

Diane Edgecomb Deirdre of the Sorrows, by Diane Edgecomb with Margot Chamberlain, compact disc available from Diane Edgecomb, P.O. Box 16, Jamaica Plain, MA, 02130 (617) 522-4335. Email: dedge@livingmyth.com. .00, plus .50 S&H. Suggested age range: 12 years through adult

Reviewed by Linda Goodman

To see Diane Edgecomb perform Deirdre of the Sorrows, accompanied by Margot Chamberlain on the Celtic harp, is to watch poetry in motion. Hearing this haunting story on this exquisite recording conjures up images of both beauty and horror, leaving the listener breathless. Do not plan on listening to this recording and then going back to business as usual. It may take a while to recover composure.

Edgecomb and Chamberlain first met to work on Deirdre in 1989.
The hauntingly beautiful musical arrangements by composer Tom Megan and Edgecomb’s extensive research into the life and world of the pre-Christian Celts have produced an unforgettable adaptation of this ancient tale. It begins at the Feast Samhain at Emain Macha, where Deirdre is born suddenly while her mother is serving the harsh and demanding High King at his banquet. A druid predicts the child will have a Read the rest of this entry »

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“When Cats Could Fly…” Indy Fringe show for families awarded 5 stars for kids by Nuvo News

Reviewer Scott Shoger of Nuvo News awards 5 stars out of 5 for child audiences to the Indy Fringe Show “When Cats Could Fly…” This show by storyteller Brother Wolf will be opening three more times on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week.

Scott Shoger of Nuvo News Writes… “Cats could fly back during Brother Wolf’s New York City childhood, a time when Roman Candles were subbed out for real ones on birthday cakes– and when sleds could fly too, right down an icy hill into eight lanes of traffic (and that’s how Wolf got his first speeding ticket, at age 9). With his ability to bring to life eccentric characters like a WWI vet and Vodou priestess, Wolf is the kind of gentle, playful, imaginative storyteller you loved to sit before, Indian-style, back in your youth.” Published in Nuvo News – Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Read the rest of this entry »

The Bully Billy Goat

Bullybillyghoat By Priscilla Howe. Available at www.priscillahowe.com. (click on Listen to My Stories and from that page click on the CDBaby link to buy this DVD) Email: Priscilla@priscillahowe.com. $12.00. Suggested ages: 3 – 10 years

Reviewed by Linda Goodman


I first saw Priscilla Howe in April 1989
at the Connecticut Storytelling Festival. She was telling a story about a dragon who loved peanut butter, and everyone listening to her was enchanted. More than twenty years later, Accompanied by her puppet Trixie, she is as enchanting as ever.

The Bully Billy Goat
is a collection of five stories, one song, and a movement activity. There is also a bonus story.

The stories come from around the world. The title story, from Poland, is about a billy goat that stations himself in a fox’s den and threatens to head-butt all those who try to make him leave. Luckily for a fox, a wolf, and a bear, a little hedgehog turns the tables on the bully.

The Pancake, from Holland, is reminiscent of The Gingerbread Man, as a pancake accidentally flipped to the floor decides to run away to see the world. Howe allows members of her young audience, to their delight, to choose the animals that the pancake encounters on its journey.

The Bellybutton Bird, a story from Japan,
tells of a desperately poor man who, rather than feeling sorry for himself, delights in being serenaded by a bird that later saves him from execution and helps him gain great wealth. Read the rest of this entry »

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When Cats Could Fly playing in the Indianapolis Fringe Festival

Cockpitsmall

“When Cats Could Fly…” is a family comedy event. A dyslexic childhood in New York City has given Eric Wolf a rich tapestry of warm funny family stories (fact and fiction) to draw upon for your entire family’s amusement. (Ages 9 to 99) This show has a empowering effect on parents of dyslexic children, dyslexic students and other students who have learning struggles. Eric Wolf will be performing “When Cats Could Fly…” at the local Cook Theater as a part of the Indianapolis Fringe festival. Read the rest of this entry »

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