by Timpanogos | Jul 9, 2019
Mary Gay Ducey is a storyteller who performs throughout the United States, Canada, and Ireland. She has appeared several times at both the National Storytelling Festival and the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and was featured on the television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. She is a children’s librarian at a branch of the Oakland Public Library where she is also staff trainer for volunteer story-readers placed in Oakland Head Start programs.After a childhood in segregated New Orleans, Ducey moved to Berkeley—just in time for the protest marches and sit-ins. From a childhood steeped in tradition and heritage to beginning her own family amidst the social unrest of the sixties, Ducey lived the social change which swept the country. As a storyteller, she draws from her life experiences to delight audiences with her humorous and insightful tales that mix personal and historical, literary and folk. Ducey is the former chairperson of the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling, the 2001 recipient of the Oracle Award for Distinguished National Service in Storytelling, and was named one of the “Outstanding Women of Berkeley” by the Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women. She has taught storytelling at the University of California, Berkeley’s Library School and at Santa Rosa Junior College and Dominican College. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Bay Area Storytelling Festival.
by Timpanogos | Jul 9, 2019
Willy Claflin is a one-man festival. Spanning historical sagas, intergalactic yarns, Mother Moose Tales, and counter culture misadventures, he covers the full spectrum of spoken word entertainment.
A headliner and master of ceremonies at the National Storytelling Festival, Willy is a favorite at festivals throughout the U.S. He offers stories for families as well as adults, often weaving music into his performances. An accomplished guitar player and narrative ballad specialist, Willy is sometimes joined by his son Brian for performances of In Yonder’s Wood—a celebration of traditional music from the British Isles and Appalachia.
His tributes to departed tellers, especially Gamble Rogers, revive wonderful talent that might otherwise be forgotten. Festivals love sidekick Maynard Moose. Original, traditional, historical, personal, comic—regardless of genre, Willy fits any playbill.
Maynard Moose, Willy’s famous comic sidekick, is the author of three award-winning children’s books: “The Bully Goat Grim”, “Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “The Uglified Ducky”. He can also be heard on a variety of audio CD’s, most notably “Maynard Moose Live From the National Storytelling Festival”.
The only authentic Native American Moose currently on the festival circuit, Maynard is the last known teller of ancient Mother Moose Tales. Preserving this oral tradition has been his life’s work. Maynard and Willy have been traveling and working together since 1977.
by Timpanogos | Jul 9, 2019
Sheila Arnold currently resides in Hampton, VA. She is the CEO and Lead Performer of History’s Alive!, where her primary focus is performing, managing, and marketing the flourishing business. Through History’s Alive!, Sheila has given over 600 presentations for schools, churches, professional organizations, and museums in 26 states. In addition, she contracts with Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to present Historic Character Interpretation and teach teachers at their Summer Teachers Institute. Sheila has twice been one of the featured “regional” storytellers at the Colonial Williamsburg Storytelling Festival.
Sheila has also presented professional development sessions, storytelling programs, and character presentations at educational conferences, including the Valley Forge Teacher Institute, and Social Studies Conferences in New York, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. She has also presented at the National Council of Social Studies. Previously, Sheila worked as a social worker with aggressive adolescents having emotional problems, a Hampton City Schools substitute teacher, and led a drama ministry. She often uses her creative talents to conduct creative writing and drama workshops with children and teens and has been called on to be a motivational speaker for high school students and young adults on many occasions.
Sheila was a Coordinator for Colonial Williamsburg’s Teachers’ Institute for the past six summers, where she had the privilege to work with and train teachers further about colonial history and exciting teaching techniques. Previously at Colonial Williamsburg, she held positions as Manager of Programmatic Outreach and Assistant to the Director of Public Relations. Through these positions, Sheila learned she loved developing, coordinating, and scheduling programs for guests and visitors. She was often called upon by administrative officers and conference sales to develop itineraries for high-level organizations and groups coming to visit.
Earlier in her career, Sheila worked with Information Technology Systems (ITS) and managed their first-ever weekend shift, creating the training document used for new employees entering the project. She also served as a Mary Kay, Inc. Independent Senior Beauty Consultant. For three years, Sheila was the Drama Ministry Director at First Baptist Church of Hampton, VA, where she created a viable “seasons” of major and small plays, as well as directed and wrote many original skits and plays performed at the church.
Sheila has performed in a myriad of ways since she was eight years old, including playing the role of a “Little Ray of Sunshine,” a slapstick comedy performed on several Army bases in Germany. She has been writing—poems, plays, fiction, and songs—since she was in 7th grade when she was encouraged by her English class to read several of her stories for her classmates. Sheila has written and directed many plays and is often asked to collaborate with other playwrights or evaluate their work. In 2003, Sheila premiered her monologue series, “And the Women Were There…” (seven women who talk about their life with Jesus), and has a full-length play of the same title. Sheila often presents one or two of these women to requesting organizations and offers workshops focusing on women in the Bible and relating them to women of today. Finally, Sheila has been doing character portrayals since 1998, starting with the role of Ol’ Bess, an 18th-century tavern slave. Sheila also enjoys working with youth, reading legal mysteries, watching football and basketball, and traveling.
by Timpanogos | Jun 21, 2019
As a community historian, storyteller, and musician, Charlie Chin has been at the forefront of Asian American artistic expression since 1970. He was the Community Education Director at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City and has continued his research and performances as the Artist-in-Residence at the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco. Charlie’s interest in Chinese American history led him to collect oral history and family stories from the old timers of Chinatown. He studied with the late storytelling master, Leong Chi Ming of Toishan, China, and specializes in the “Teahouse Style” of classical Chinese storytelling. He has presented at organizations such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, American Museum of Natural History, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
In addition, Charlie has been a frequently featured teller at the Sierra Storytelling Festival in California, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Utah, and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Continuing his role as an active storyteller, Charlie leads regular walking tours and docent training workshops in San Francisco’s Chinatown. On top of performing live, Charlie has published several children’s books, including China’s Bravest Girl (1992) and Clever Bird (1996); and several of his plays, A.B.C., American Born Chinese (1983), The Last Spirit Boxer (1992) and Hawaiian Sweethearts (2001), have been produced in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco.
by Timpanogos | Jun 21, 2019
Mitch Capel / “Gran’daddy Junebug”, who calls his style of storytelling “sto’etry” (stories recited poetically), has been described as a “word magician”, a “national treasure”, “unexpectedly powerful” and a “transformer of lives”. He has been featured at numerous festivals including twice at The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN & The Timpanogas Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah; The Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC; The 2009 Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC and annually at both The National Black Storytelling Festival (since 1988) and The Signifyin’ & Testifyin’ Storytelling Festival in Minnesota (since 1994)…where he is the official emcee of both “Liar’s Contests”. He has performed at hundreds of venues including The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; The United Nations & Aaron Davis Hall in New York; The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH; The DuSable Museum in Chicago; Newark Symphony Hall and at AAPAC in Albuquerque, NM. He was Artist-In-Residence at The International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN and invited by the Smithsonian to perform in Washington, DC for the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. He has been featured on National & International Public Radio, has performed his character education programs in over 2,000 schools and has received numerous awards from local, state and national organizations for his work as a storyteller, including “The Zora Neal Hurston Award”, the highest honor given by the National Association of Black Storytellers. Mitch also co-founded the African American Storytellers’ Retreat held annually in North Carolina in 1990.
