by Sharon Haddock | Aug 16, 2021 | Blog, Featured, Festival, Scheduled, Storytellers
Storyteller Alton Chung believes in connecting with others.
When he tells a story, he is 100 percent present—not worrying about dinner or laundry or bills.
“It is my belief that in our current society, we don’t get much of that kind of focused attention,” he explains.
“We are too busy checking our phones or thinking up a response to something someone said, instead of truly listening to them.
“I believe that there is a human need, a hunger for that level of connection.
“When I perform in a school and am present, I have observed that kids react to that.”
Chung has told stories for 18 years, stories from the Japanese experience in World War II, Asian folktales from around the Pacific Rim, and stories based on the Hawaiian Monarchy.
He got into storytelling somewhat by accident.
“I got into storytelling because I took a class from a local bookstore. I used to live in a small town in Oregon and I knew the owner of the local bookstore. I was reading his newsletter in his shop and asked him about an ad for a storytelling class. He said he had found a Post-It note on his desk with all the info about the class. He put it into his newsletter and then got a call from the lady on the note. She said she guessed she was teaching a class. It turned out that the Post-It note had been floating around on his desk for a year.”
He took the class, told a story that impressed the teacher, and it has been a wild ride since.
“I believe that most of us have learned to some extent to close ourselves off to protect ourselves from anyone who might want to do us harm. I have observed that it is difficult to connect with anyone when I am hiding behind my shields,” Chung said. “There is a heart connect, which is established when I lower my defenses, open myself up, and feel into the audience.
“It is a matter of relaxing, trusting and opening myself up to what is there. I focus on being present and try to look into the eyes of everyone in the audience.
“It is scary and thrilling at the same time.”
by Sharon Haddock | Jul 30, 2021 | Blog, Featured, Festival, Storytellers
If you head into a maximum security men’s prison to tell stories, take along your sense of humor, and it’s a top idea to bring along an electric teapot and a variety of teas and sugar!
That’s what Geraldine Buckley—one of the storytellers slated to be on the roster at the 32nd annual Timpanogos Storytelling Festival—advises.
Buckley has been telling stories and serving tea at prisons in the United States and New Zealand for years.
In the prison, she made it a point to remember the inmate’s favorite and how many sugars to add.
“I go where angels fear to tread,” Buckley says. “Some of the scariest things reap the greatest rewards.”
British-born Buckley has told stories, held workshops, and coached for 30-plus years in the United States, Canada, England, South Africa, Holland, Spain, and New Zealand.
Until 2010, she was the Protestant chaplain at the largest men’s prison in Maryland.
“Was I ever scared? I was terrified! I thought, ‘What on Earth am I doing? I wanted to appear cool. So I said, ‘There are not murderers or rapists here, are there?’”
She was told there were about 200 of them! Two hundred prisoners who brought her tea from their daily rations.
So she brought her teapot and started serving tea, hundreds of cups of tea, over the next five years.
She brought in bottles of bubbles and big, beefy men joined in the bubble-blowing.
“We became a community,” she said. “Something happened to me then. I wanted to go in bringing love and laughter—without fear, without judgment. I am so glad I did it! It was my season.”
Her stories of telling stories in prisons are compiled in her CD: “Tea in the Slammer.”
She’s also written and told stories about observing patients in hospitals with COVID-19 in “Pandemic Parables.”
She’s popular at festivals in the United States, England, South Africa, Spain, and New Zealand.
She has a Master’s degree in Communications from Regent University.
by Sharon Haddock | Jul 26, 2021 | Blog, Featured, Festival, Storytellers
If you listen to Bil Lepp long enough, you know he changes tires on planes while they are in the air. He can pick up a bit of conversation and turn it into a tale that wraps itself around the world.
And he comes by it naturally.
“I come from a long line of people who stretch the truth. As far back as I can remember, people in my family lied . . . in a good-natured way,” says Lepp.
“In the 1990s, I entered the West Virginia Liars Contest, having no idea that a person could be a professional storyteller. I just liked doing it.
“Around 1998 I saw Ed Stivender perform and was blown away. As soon as I saw Ed, I knew I wanted to be a professional storyteller.
“I did a 15-minute spot at the National Storytelling Festival in 2000, and the first big festival to sign me up as a full-blown teller was Timpanogos (Storytelling Festival), in 2001. The rest is history.”
“I love storytelling because I love taking an idea, creating a story around it, and then watching the audience enjoy it.”
Lepp says all good storytelling is conversation.
“I’m not talking at the audience, I’m talking with them.
“That’s why I like to see my audience, so I can gauge my pace, style, jokes, and story choice based on how the audience reacts.
“My stories come out of my mouth in a direct reflection of the audience experiencing them,” he said.
That’s why online telling during the Pandemic was hard for him.
“I so loathed online telling during the shutdown. I couldn’t get a handle on how the audience was reacting,” Lepp explained.
He uses common experiences and builds on audience response, sometimes taking a story in several directions before he comes back to the original thought, with hilarious and deliciously surprising results.
“I try to tell stories about topics my audience has something in common with. It doesn’t matter if you grew up in a big city or a small town or on a deserted island—we were all kids once. I try to start at a point that has as many opportunities as possible for the audience to connect with what I am saying, and draw on their own experiences.”
Lepp is a favorite at the Festival which is in its 32nd year scheduled from Sept. 9-11 at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.
by Kim McCloskey | Aug 27, 2019 | Featured, Festival
Don White is a storyteller-comedian-author-troubadour-folk singer-songwriter, and since it’s his first time performing at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival we thought it would be nice if he could introduce himself to our Festival attendees so we asked him three questions.
1. This is our 30th anniversary and we’re so happy you will be celebrating this milestone with us. As a first-time teller at the festival, what would you like our audience to know about you?
“My performances used to be songs with little stories in between them. Over the past twenty years they became stories with little songs in between them. I like to go back and forth between being funny and being serious. I think humor that is friendly and not mean spirited is a very powerful tool for connecting with an audience. I’m interested in putting stories into the world through as many genres as possible. Whether I am singing or telling, being funny or serious, speaking plainly or poetically, I am always trying to serve the story so that it will find as many ears and hearts as possible.
Old people are hunched over by the weight of their untold stories.
If you encourage an old man to tell you his stories you will see his back straighten and his skin tighten quite discernibly with the telling of each one.
If an old woman could find an attentive ear for the dispensing of only one story each day she would be young again in the span of one year.
An odd world, don’t you think, where billions of stories live for year upon year in search of a place to be told?
Of what earthly good is a story without an ear to receive it, without a mind to be challenged by it, without a sense of wonder to marvel at it and, most importantly, without an open heart to possibly see the world differently after being moved by it?
It is something of a miracle to me that a body of ninety years can summon the strength to move one inch under the weight of ten thousand untold stories.”
2. Our theme this year is Timeless Tales. Would you consider your stories to be more timeless (traditional stories) or timely (personal narrative)?
“My stories and songs are drawn from my life. I’d like to think that the stories I tell from my life focus on universal themes.”
3. How can a new fan hear more from you after the festival? Do you have any published work, a website or other social media sites?
“I have a website: www.donwhite.net – and a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Don-White-62176263069/ – My ten CDS, my two DVDs and my book are available on the website as well as lots of concert video for viewing.
You can see Don and all of the other tellers at the 30th Anniversary of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival September 5-7, 2019 at the Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point by purchasing tickets online or at the gate.
by Kim McCloskey | Aug 2, 2019 | Featured, Festival, Timpanogos, Uncategorized
We recently interviewed Antonio Rocha (pronounced Haw-sha) and he gave us his thoughts on the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, advice for new storytellers and the timelessness of storytelling.
Q- As you well know, this is our 30th anniversary and we’re so happy you will be celebrating this milestone with us. As a veteran of the festival would you please share some of your memories of the festival?
A- I have many wonderful memories of being at Timpanogos: the setting, the people all creating an awesome Festival atmosphere. As one of the Nation’s top festivals with incredibly dedicated listeners and staff, Timpanogos delivers a setting where I can relax to do my work for I know I will be well taken care of. I have also a great memory of resting between sets in the green room and getting a revitalizing massage. Timpanogos is the only festival to offer massages in the green room. What a great treat! I understand it’s not offered anymore, but it was a great memory. With all these amazing qualities, it is hard not have have great memories.
Q- What is one piece of advice you could give our young tellers or anyone who would like to share their stories?
A- Storytelling is not about words, it is about the images the story creates in your imagination. So, the more immersed you are in the imagery world of your story, be it fictional or not, the better will be your telling. Dive deep into the imaginary and you will never be lost for words and enthusiasm to tell about it.
Q- Our theme this year is Timeless Tales. In what way do you think storytelling is timeless or timely?
Storytelling is timeless because we are the only species on Earth who use story. They have been our companions, teachers and care givers for millennia.
A- Storytelling is timely because we, as a species, tend to spend too much time forgetting what being human is all about. Stories remind us of our humanity. Storytelling is the new fire we sit around of in order to keep us warm.
Join us on September 5-7, 2019 at The Gardens at Thanksgiving Point for the 30th Anniversary of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. Ticket prices increase August 1st, so get your today!
by Kim McCloskey | Jul 23, 2019 | Featured, Festival, Timpanogos, Uncategorized
Our theme this year is Timeless Tales, a perfect theme for our 30th year don’t you think? For thirty years we have been celebrating the timeless tradition of storytelling and the timeless stories that transcend the generations. As part of this celebration we have asked our returning veteran tellers to give us some thoughts on the theme and on what the Festival means to them. We’ll begin our series with Tim Lowry.
Q- As you well know, this is our 30th anniversary and we’re so happy you will be celebrating this milestone with us. As a veteran of the Festival would you please share with us some of your memories of the Festival?
A- Of all the festivals in which I’ve been privileged to tell, Timpanogos best fulfills the promise of a “family event.” I love the wide mix of age groups that you see in the audience and on the stage. You have young children listening as older children tell; teenagers and college students telling. There’s juggling, and playing music, and presenting puppet plays; parents and grandparents cheering the young folks and also sharing stories. Everyone is involved in every way!
Q- What is one piece of advice you could give our young tellers or anyone who would like to share their stories?
A- I like to think of stories as wonderful treasures or marvelous discoveries that are best shared with others. Whether you sing, speak, or dance, generosity of spirit is essential to good storytelling. Love the story enough to treasure it, love your audience enough to share your treasure with them. Don’t worry about yourself—Will my voice shake? Will I mess up? Will they like me? Just love your story and love the people who have come to listen. Storytelling is an act of love!
Q- Our theme this year is Timeless Tales. In what way do you think storytelling is timeless or timely?
A- Timeless Tales! Oh, that makes me think of so many classics—Moses’s Pentateuch, the four New Testament Gospels, Arabian Nights, The Brothers Grimm, the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Aesop’s Fables, Mother Goose, Robin Hood Legends, Stories from Dickens and Twain, the Greek myths, Norse legends, and Cinderella. We mustn’t forget Cinderella! So many stories! So many voices! And yet one message—See! Hear! Wonder! (I’ll try to come back down to earth in time for the 30th annual Festival!)
Join us September 5-7, 2019 for the 30th Anniversary of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival at The Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.
