Calendar

Tellabration!™ 2009

with:
 
Peninnah Schram
 
La Bruja
 
Abike Jotayo
 
Sherry Weaver
 
and your emcee, H.R. Britton

The Children's Aid Society
219 Sullivan Street, New York City
(MTA subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4th Street)
Saturday, November 21st, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.

Admission: $15.00
Contact: 1.212.613.3117 or storycenternyc@yahoo.com

Tellabration!™ (a trademark of the National Storytelling Network) is celebrated annually worldwide on the Saturday before the United States' Thanksgiving weekend.

Regina Ress

Stories for the Winter Solstice

The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center inside Central Park
110th Street (between Fifth and Lenox Avenues), New York City
Friday, December 18, 2009, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

For this darkest moment in the cycle of the year, Regina Ress brings tales from the many beautiful winter holidays that celebrate light in the darkness.
 
Come to the Dana Discovery Center for this multi–cultural hour ending with a candle light procession inviting the light to return and with it a sweet New Year.

Admission: Free
Contact: 1.212.860.1370

Visit the Central Park Winter Holidays page

Professional Storytelling at NYU

For New York with Love

New York University Education Building (Room 303)
35 West 4th Street (just east of Washington Square), New York City
(MTA subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, or V trains to West 4th Street,
no. 6 train to Astor Place, or N, R, or W trains to 8th Street)
Select Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 13th, 2009:

Robin Bady

Gifts of the Season: Holiday Stories

Storyteller Robin Bady, accompanied by alterna–pop violinist Deni Bonet, will tell stories for Chanukah, Christmas and Kwansa which celebrate an often forgotten significance of the winter holidays: the miracle of giving from the heart. This delightful show for all ages welcomes this season of connection, gratefulness and love.

The stories are appropriate for families with children 5 years and older.

This storytelling series is sponsored by New York University's Steinhardt School, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions.

Philip Taylor, Program Director, Progran in Educational Theatre
Regina Ress, Artistic Director/Producer

Admission: $5 for adults (free for children and New York University folk)
Contact: 1.212.998.5867 or ed.theatre@nyu.edu

Stories at Scandinavia House

American Scandinavian Foundation
Heimbold Family Children's Learning Center
58 Park Avenue at 37th Street, New York City (View Google Map)
(MTA subway: 6 train to 33rd Street or Grand Central Station, 4/5/6/7/S to Grand Central Station;
MTA buses: 1/2/3/4 up Madison Avenue, 1/2/3/5 down 5th Avenue)
Second Saturday of each month, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,
from October to May (except April 18th)
Admission: Free
(Suitable for children of ages 5 and up)

Artistic Director: Diane Wolkstein
Contact:1.212.879.9779 or hca@amscan.org
 
Storytelling at Scandinavia House is made possible by support from DeWitt Stern Group, Inc. and DeWitt Stern Imperatore.

Lower East Side Stories

at the Tenement Museum

New York City Tenement Museum
108 Orchard Street (at Delancey), New York City
(View travel directions or Google Map)
Select evenings, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

An autobiographical storytelling series about life in New York City.

Each show features four storytellers weaving stories about a particular theme. The second half of the show becomes a "magic hat" open mike, where interested storytellers from the audience have their names pulled out of the hat to tell three–minute anecdotes and stories on the same topic.

Admission: Free
Contact: 1.212.982.8420 (voice), 1.212.431.0402 (fax),
1.212.431.0714 (TTY) or lestm@tenement.org

Storytelling at the Cornelia Street Café

Hosted by Barbara Aliprantis

Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia Street, New York City (View Google Map)
2nd Tuesday of each month
Swap from 6:15 to 7:00 p.m. (seven minute time limit)
Featured teller: 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $7.00 (includes one drink)
Contact 1.212.989.9319

Recent Events

Past events presented by the Center and/or their members.

Work in Progress

Anita Ratnam & Diane Wolkstein

Directed by Richard Armstrong

LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center
31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, New York
(view travel directions or Google Map)
Thursday and Friday, October 29th and 30th, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Internationally celebrated storyteller and author Diane Wolkstein and the great dance/actor of India, Anita Ratnam, presented a special evening of performance in preparation for their full production of Journey to the West. Work in Progress marked the first public performance of the project which was in preparation for two years and on two continents.

These two remarkable artists told the beginning of the great Chinese epic — an adventure story of the impetuous superpowerful Monkey and the devoted, fearless (but not always) Tang priest, who journey from China to India to bring back the Buddhist scriptures. Through gorgeous, unexpected movement and song, Diane Wolkstein and Anita Ratnam threw the text back and forth and take the audience on a Journey of the Soul no one will ever forget.

A question and answer period moderated by Rebekkah Ross followed each performance.

Contact: 1.718.482.7200

Visit the Monkey King Epic website

Gioia Timpanelli

Stories of Lucky Children in Folklore, Memoir, and Fiction

New York Open Center
83 Spring Street (at Broadway), New York City (View Google Map and travel directions)
Friday, June 19th, 2009, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Contact: 1.212.219.2527

Regina Ress

¡Cuentos! in English and Spanish
at the 13th Annual Community Mosaic Street Painting Festival

Presented by the East End Arts Council

Old School House
Main Street, Riverhead (Long Island), New York (View Google Map)
(Long Island Rail Road: Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, then change trains for Riverhead,
please check the MTA website for train schedules)
Sunday, May 24th, 2009, at 3:00 p.m.

Contact: 1.631.727.0900 (voice), 1.631.727.0966 (fax)
or psnyder@eastendarts.org

Sunflower Story Arts Festival

Mt. Kisco, New York
Friday through Sunday, May 22nd–24th, 2009

A new — and fabulous — storytelling festival made its debut on Memorial Day weekend in Mt. Kisco, an easy hour's ride north of New York City. Laura Simms, Regina Ress, Ron Sopyla, and Diane Wolkstein were among those telling stories on the main stage during the festival. A full write–up will be posted to our website shortly.

Contact: 1.914.248.0880

Dive into "Water" with the Editors of Parabola

Orchard House Café
1064 First Avenue, New York City (View Google Map)
Saturday, May 9th, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Master storyteller Diane Wolkstein, musician David Rothenberg, singer, Therese Folks Plair, Jeff Zaleski, Bob Doto, Tracy Cochran, and other editors and friends of Parabola Magazine joined forces to tell stories, play whale and water music, and otherwise dive into the theme of "Water" (the theme of the Summer 2009 isssue of Parabola.

Information: 1.212.371.1170 or orchardhousecafe@gmail.com

New York Stories Swap/Open Mic

92nd Street Y —Buttenweiser Library
1395 Lexington Avenue (at 92nd Street), New York City
Thursday, April 2, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Journey to the West

The Monkey King Marathon

La Salle Academy Annex
38 Second Avenue (at Second Street), New York City
(MTA trains: F, V) (View directions or Google Map)
Friday through Sunday March 20th–22nd, 2009

Twenty–seven storytellers from the United States and Canada joined together in this three–day epic telling of Journey to the West. Each teller explored his or her section in their own voice and style. Diane Wolkstein drew the map and assembled the honorable group to journey with the Monkey King. All thanks and blessings to those who came along!

Visit the Monkey King Epic website

Contact monkeykingepic@gmail.com
or 1.212.929.6871

Tales from the Body

Storytelling about Illness and Disability

New York Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th Street at Central Park West, New York City
Sunday, January 25th, 2009, from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.

The Storytelling Center of New York City joined forces with the New York Society for Ethical Culture in presenting Tales from the Body, a half–day event in which we explored the nature, meaning and value of storytelling about illness and disability.

We were delighted to present this event so soon after the passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, a landmark treaty that went into effect in May 2008, which radically advances the legal recognition of the civil rights of persons with disabilities in every country in the world.

During the five hours together, we focused on personal stories about disability and illness, but also include traditional stories from different cultures.

Tales from the Body featured a storytelling concert with five storytellers — Nancy Donoval, Kenny Fries (The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory), Puma (a "talking doctor," shaman, and storyteller from the Seminole and Cree traditions), Matt Mitler (actor and director of the experimental theatre group Dzieci), and Robyn Ringler — followed by a panel discussion and an hour–long story swap (in which we invited ordinary people as well as professional storytellers to tell their tales of disability and illness, on the grounds that storytelling on these subjects can be a means of healing for everyone, "ill" or not, temporarily able–bodied or not).

Contact: Donna Minkowitz at 1.718.857.9275
or bodytales@gmail.com

Co–sponsored by the Storytelling Center of New York City,
the National Storytelling Network, and the New York Society for Ethical Culture.