The Storytelling Center, Inc. of New York City

2007 News

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Bob Reiser, Anne Pellowski, and an Indonesian story scroll

Tellabration!™ Producer Bob Reiser and Anne Pellowski unroll an
Indonesian story scroll during Anne's workshop.

November 24, 2007:

Tellabration!™ 2007:
A Brooklyn–Grown Storytelling Feast

At 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 18th, 23 children and parents gathered across from Prospect Park, at the Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture to dive in to Anne Pellowski's playful workshop on "How to Start a Family Storytelling Tradition." For an over an hour Ms Pellowski taught us to tell tales with picture games, handkerchiefs and strings, just as children and parents still do from Indonesia to Japan to Great Britain.

But this was only the beginning — the appetizer. By 5:00 p.m., nearly fifty had arrived for the main course: A cornucopia of tales about Autumn and apples, spun by Simba Yangala, Tammy Hall, Bill Gordh, and Ms. Pellowski. It was the New York Story Center's first Inter–borough Tellabration!™

Simba, painted to look like her namesake, the Lion, told an African folktale of how the little mouse saved the biggest creatures. Tammy raised the roof and the hair on our necks with tales of the ghostly going–ons in her childhood farm in Tennessee; the multi–talented Mr. Gordh strummed a wondrous duet between banjo and teller about an unforgettable apple–gathering ride upstate; and Anne recounted a gorgeous wonder–tale with an apple–riddle at its heart.

When the audience at last erupted into applause, forcing the tellers to take four curtain calls, the Storytelling Center won its dessert: Nearly half of the audience, folks who had rarely attended story events in the past, now vowed that they would keep coming back for more. How do we know? They put their names on our email list, with one request: "Please let us know whenever something is going on!"

October 29, 2007:

Greetings from Robin Bady, our New Director…

Robin Bady

I am delighted to greet you as the new President of the Board of the Storytelling Center of New York City!

I follow the marvelous Marilyn Iarusso, who served in this position for many years, so the shoes I have to fill are large. Luckily for me and for you, I am working with a fabulous Board, consisting of Center founders, old timers and new timers, all dedicated to bringing renewed energy to the organization…

Read the rest of the letter here…

Marilyn Iarusso, Director of the Center

Marilyn Iarusso, the Center's Director from 1994 to 2007.

…and a Word of Thanks to Marilyn Iarusso

The Storytelling Center's long-time Director, Marilyn Iarusso, has passed the baton to our new Director, Robin Bady. Marilyn has been on the Board since 1984, and has been its Director since 1994. She has given her time, energy, passion, and a lot of "stamp licking" in those years. She has also hosted great storytelling get–togethers in her wonderful loft in NoHo. We have been so fortunate to have her for these many years… and we send her a big cheer as she prepares to move back to her hometown of Seattle, Washington. Thanks, Marilyn!

October 26, 2007:

The 2007 Lillian Oppenheimer Storytelling Concert

The Storytelling Center's Lillian Oppenheimer Storytelling Concert opened our fall season on Sunday afternoon, October 21, 2007. What a treat! The theme was "Considering the Alternative: Reflections on Life and Storytelling." The event, our annual tribute to the "godmother" of the New York Storytelling Center, Lillian Oppenheimer, was held in the Theatre at the Downtown Center, on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. In addition to honoring Lillian, we dedicated this concert to two of our former board members — storytellers and lovers of storytelling, Selma Wiener and Ruth Lesh — who recently passed away. In addition, the late Helen Porter, a Canadian storyteller who often appeared in New York, was spoken about by Diane Wolkstein before her performance in the concert…

Remembering Ruth Lesh

The Storytelling Center has lost another dear friend, Ruth Lesh, who passed away on August 27th. Ruth was a board member for many years, always happy to help in any way needed.

For a decade she served as the monitor for the storytelling series at the Hans Christian Andersen statue, her warm presence felt and appreciated by both storytellers and audience. When her death was announced at the statue on September 1st, there were tears all around. Diane Wolkstein dedicated the program that day to Ruth, and the tellers, Therese Folkes–Plair and Melissa Heckler, told stories that she loved.

Ruth was a storyteller, a story listener and a steadfast and enthusiastic supporter of storytelling in New York City and New Jersey. We all will miss her. We've gathered some of the thoughts sent by the storytelling community, which you can read in our Features section.

The Storytelling Center's recent October 21st concert honored both Ruth Lesh and Selma Wiener.

June 6th, 2007 (revised October 22nd):

A new night for our Swaps

The Swaps at Manhattan Plaza are now held on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m.

We hope that this will be a convenient time for all.

Some new and interesting new tellers are developing their talents. Please note the change in our schedule and feel free to join us any second Wednesday.

Margaret Dawson.

January 16th, 2007:

January 28th, 2007 — The Midwinter Story–Swap and Potluck!

After our successful Tellabration!™, we hoped our next event would be equally as wonderful. And lo and behold! Our Midwinter Story Swap and Potluck was as good and better!

Nearly forty tellers and friends jammed into Marilyn Iarrusso's amazing loft, bringing stories, food and good company. The tables groaned under delicacies like homemade brownies, irresistible cookies, yummy dips for vegetables and chips, cheeses, artisan breads, fruit salads… well the list could go on and on. Needless to say, no one left hungry and anyone who so desired left with a doggie bag!

The storytelling began at 2:00 p.m. Ron O'Reilly and Jean Hale were our esteemed swapmasters. Each teller had ten minutes to share whatever story he or she wanted. And the stories kept coming! We told until 4:45 p.m., with one short food break. The tellers ranged from old timers like John Colligan to newcomers to New York like Christiaan Oranje to Master Lee (who runs his own story swap at the Mug Lounge on Tuesdays).

Officially, the program ended at 5:00 p.m., but at 5:30, people were still milling around. By the time the party broke, the Center had made some new friends and Marilyn had a lot of help cleaning up!

Robin Bady.

Please remember: if you have some storytelling gigs coming up — or know of some quality storytelling–centric websites we should be hyperlinking — please let us know so we can list them here!

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