ReadBoston 2013 - storytelling all over the city

by Norah Dooley

This summer I mark my 15th year with the Read Boston Storymobile program. We will tell stories all over the city from July 8-August 16, 2013. Storytellers provide the stories and the Storymobile program provides the books, logistics and oganization, plus? They bring a brand new and free book for every child in attendance. All sites are open to the public.  Here is what a day on the road with Read Boston looks like... Typically we are scheduled in three sites in one of the many Boston Neighborhoods and the sites are accessible to one another by public transport. The van will have dropped off books for the expected audience and when I arrive someone at the facility or venue will have boxes of books ready. Sometimes everyone knows where I will perform and which way the audience will be seated. The outdoor venues can be super challenging with rain, traffic noise, other camp groups and many environmental challenges as well. I wrote the following in 2007 about a day in the Summer of 2000  -

My work sends me to some funky venues. This one was a park along side a highway where the planes are low overhead in their approach to Logan. It was about 90º F. It was also before lunch and maybe after nap. About 20 kids about 3 years old each, walking like somnambulists, holding on to clothesline were brought out to me and we were all led to a huge tree. How primal - how essential ! Me, a tree and a group of children. This is storytelling. This is what it is all about! The disaffected teen staff were sullen and glum. Who could blame them? It was so damn hot, humid and smelly. But when I pointed out that the broken glass mixed in the wet with dew*grass as unsuitable for tender toddler bottoms of my audience they became even unhappier. We moved around the tree and finally to another tree.And I started at last. 

A plane roared overhead. I pushed on. Traffic flowed and growled in the background. I engaged and cavorted. Then a bright and perspicacious little boy noticed a huge dog turd about 18" inches away from my foot. God I wished I had seen that first. "Wow. Look Dog POOP!" 20 little heads were snapped around and riveted in attention on the brown, perfectly formed canine offering by my foot. The teen counselors perked up. This became a moment of intense interest. My audience could not get enough - Then it evolved into group participation... more here

Theresa Lynn and Mayor Menino at the Tadpole Pond

But this not all Read Boston does... At their Facebook page I found:  (6 photos) of

ReadBoston's Anna Adler has been working with parents at Boston Public Schools' Newcomers Assessment and Counseling Center in the Madison Park Education Complex. Participants in this nine hour training have been working hard and having fun. With only one session remaining, they are well on their way to becoming "Early Literacy Parent Leaders".

In February they set up this deal. Throw on your jammies and tuck into a good tale during the Hotel Commonwealth’s pajama party and storytelling event Feb. 22-23. The Bedtime Stories package features professional storytellers and performers from ReadBoston. Meet and get your photo taken with George, and make your own hot chocolate. Pay $20 to attend the event each night, 7-8:30 p.m. Or book the Hotel for Kids package for Feb. 22 or 23 at a starting rate of $229, based on availability, which includes a four-person suite, a kids’ backpack with L.L. Bean slippers, free valet parking, and a morning pancake-making class for kids. Stay the second night for $169. 866-784-4000,Parent Training at BPS Newcomers Assessment and Counseling Center or    www.hotelcommonwealth.com

After Schools in Boston are invited to apply for ReadBoston's After School Reading Initiative. Created in 2000, ReadBoston's After School Reading Initiative has worked with over 90 after school programs throughout the city of Boston promoting reading, literature, and literacy. To accomplish this, ReadBoston works closely with after school directors and staff, coaching staff to lead engaging

Back in the day, the Storymobile was a huge RV with bookshelves

literacy activities. These activities include reading aloud with groups of students, creating independent reading times, and promoting book-related activities. ReadBoston also purchases and develops diverse book collections in after school programs, creating inviting spaces for reading. Both school-based and community-based programs are invited to apply. Organizations may choose to apply for more than one site, but must submit separate applications for each site.

Two years ago I wrote this post on my last day... It is my last day of Read Boston. I will be in Charlestown all day. Yesterday was a great day. I worked in the South End Settlement House in their lovely walled garden, the Tadpole playground on the Boston Common, at a school in Chinatown and then at the zebra gate of Franklin Park Zoo in the evening. Hard to express fully how joyful and satisfying it is to tell stories all day. Biking from place to place, on a gorgeous day, telling stories. My idea of heaven.

Today I wrote this on the way to Charlestown. What I especially enjoy about bicycling to the venues  are the little things I get to see in the city.  A meditation on some black details while riding on the Charles River to work.

black starling bathes in a tiny puddle on asphalt path
what a yellow beak!
kingfisher is a black question mark on top a
round white buoy.
A long shadow behind as I peddle by on a
black bike in early morning sun.

Here is my schedule for  summer  2013:

·         7/15  Roxbury

10:00 AM  HATTIE B. COOPER COMMUNITY CENTER -1891 WASHINGTON STREET

11:15 AM 12TH BAPTIST CHURCH PRESCHOOL
- 160 WARREN STREET  1:15 PM VINE STREET COMMUNITY CENTER- 
339 DUDLEY STREET

·         7/16  South Boston

10:00 AM  LABOURE CENTER
 -275 WEST BROADWAY  11:15 AM TIERNEY LEARNING CENTER
 125 MERCER STREET  * 12:45 PM *  SOUTH BOSTON BOYS & GIRLS CLUB
      -230 WEST 6TH STREET

·         7/17 West Roxbury


10:00 AM  ROCHE CENTER
- 1716 CENTRE STREET

  11:15 AM BILLINGS FIELD
 CENTRE STREET & LAGRANGE STREET

 1:15 PM  OHRENBERGER COMMUNITY CENTER
  175 WEST BOUNDARY ROAD

·         7/23 Dorchester

10:00 AM ROCKWOOD EARLY EDUCATION ACADEMY- 995 BLUE HILL AVENUE
11:15 AM CODMAN SQUARE LIBRARY - 690 WASHINGTON STREET  1:15 PM ELMHURST PARK  31 ELMHURST STREET

·         7/24 Jamaica Plain 

10:00 AM JAMAICA PLAIN HEAD START 315 CENTRE STREET – REAR  11:15 AM HENNIGAN COMMUNITY CENTER - 200 HEATH STREET 1:15 PM  MARCELLA PARK
CORNER OF MARCELLA & HIGHLAND STREET

·         7/25 Boston, South End, Chinatown

10:00 AM TADPOLE PLAYGROUND/ BOSTON COMMON 11:15 AM  ESCUELITA BORIKEN 85 WEST NEWTON STREET 1:15 PM BOSTON CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER 885 WASHINGTON STREET

·         7/26 Roslindale

10:00 AM  FALLON FIELD  ON THE CORNER OF SOUTH WALTER & SOUTH FAIRVIEW ST.    11:15 AM SOUTH SIDE HEAD START 19 CORINTH STREET  1:15 PM ROSLINDALE COMMUNITY CENTER   6 CUMMINGS HIGHWAY

·         7/31 Dorchester

10:00 AM PROJECT HOPE CHILDREN’S CENTER -45 MAGNOLIA STREET 11:15 AM GROVE HALL LIBRARY 41 GENEVA AVENUE  1:15 PM KROC CENTER 650 DUDLEY STREET

·         8/1 Allston

10:00 AM FAIRY TALE CHILDREN’S CENTER 14/20 LINDEN STREET 11:15 AM JACKSON MANN COMMUNITY CENTER 500 CAMBRIDGE STREET 1:15 PM HONAN-ALLSTON LIBRARY  300 NORTH HARVARD STREET

·         8/2  Dorchester

10:00 AM  THE CRISPUS ATTUCKS CHILDREN’S CENTER - 105 CRAWFORD STREET  11:15 AM HOLLAND SCHOOL 85 OLNEY STREET  1:15 PM CLEVELAND COMMUNITY CENTER  11 CHARLES STREET

·         8/14  Dorchester

10:00 AM YAWKEY CENTER 185 COLUMBIA ROAD 11:15 AM GERTRUDE TOWNSEND HEAD START  198 GENEVA AVENUE  1:15 PM BLUE HILL BOYS & GIRLS CLUB
15 TALBOT AVE

Reflections on the Creative Leadership Award

Introducing Maria Tatar at our first "Grimm and Twisted" fairytale slam - also the 200th anniversary of the Grimms

Reflections on a Creative Leadership Award

by Norah Dooley
Photos by: Paula H. Junn
This Tuesday, June 4th, 2013  I am honored to receive a Creative Leadership Award at Puppet Showplace Theatre at the Garden Party Gala, celebrating the occasion of their 39th birthday. See details at their website and let me know if you would like to come.

When we first approached Puppet Showplace, in 2010, with the idea of a collaboration, massmouth was just over one year old. We had long known and respected Puppet Showplace Theatre as a venue that supported the art form of puppetry which,  much like storytelling,  it is an art form with ancient roots that evokes rather than replaces imagination. We also knew that Puppet Showplace Theatre were successful. They had a history that showed grit and commitment that we could admire and aspire to; they had survived as artists and had maintained a continuously operating theater right in the heart of Greater Boston for over 3 decades.

Three years ago,  we were whippersnappers, who had just finished our first season of story slams and believed we had a some social capital to share. And if leadership is boldly asking for what one needs, whether  appropriate or not, then I have earned some part of this honor -  although Cheeky Monkey Award would be a name better fitted to my style. We were beggars at the Puppet Theatre gate and  very seriously in need of inexpensive or free office space because our operations had outgrown bedroom/living room arrangement. I suggested a collaboration based on our needs. Ultimately and not surprisingly, the first date between massmouth and Puppet Showplace Theatre did not lead to a relationship.

Skip ahead to this spring.  I am reading ( more precisely, skimming)  the email announcing I was being honored with this award. At first glance I thought that I was being asked to write a recommendation for Roxie Myrhum.  She was the one who helped us find a way to work together.  How perfect, I thought. Roxie is someone with vision, passion and drive. She really deserves this kind of award. I was so delighted to be able to do a small favor for Artistic Director of the Puppet Showplace Theatre that I started to read the email, just to be sure I knew when the deadline for my recommendation might be.

This closer reading revealed a mind-blowing truth - The Creative Leadership Award was being given to me and Roxie had been my nominator. I know. It was crazy!  Immediately I was on the phone asking Maria Finison if the award could be expanded to include the other organizers and founders of massmouth who are still active in Boston. Specifically, Doria Hughes who co-hosted and planned the series at Puppet Showplace Theatre with me and Andrea Lovett, who is always actively promoting the art of storytelling.  They both are leaders in the very best in contemporary performance of traditional material. But, no dice. This is an award for one person and Puppet Showplace Theatre wanted me. They cited the other areas of my work as fitting their criteria; my picture books, workshops, curricula etc. and so, although it is awkward to be so honored, I realized that I had to man-up and take one for the team.  So I accept this award for me as a representative of the art of  storytelling.

Last summer after a different kind of overture we shared a proposal with Puppet Showplace Theatre and created a project that worked. It had been a dream at massmouth,inc. that we would one day be able to entice a theater or another arts group to support traditional storytelling.  This was an area of storytelling that we had mastered and worked in for decades. When we saw all storytelling on the wane, we started massmouth. When we saw the new energy slams brought to the art form we came up with an idea to mimic our successful 1st person story slams only using traditional content.

Doria Hughes, storyteller fabulosa,  traditional storytellers from Greater Boston and the region and I presented a monthly series of folk & fairy tale slams events right here. Our Slamming the Tradition: Six traditional storytelling events for adults were part open slam, where tellers presented stories no longer than 7 minutes, that were fiction and in some traditional form and part featured performer. Unlike our other story slams, tellers could include props, costumes and music BUT no notes. We secured the prizes and the audience chose winners: A bag of magic beans, magic wishing stone and a small bale of hay were award each month along with a gift card, donated by the Brookline Booksmith. Our first event was written up in ArtsFuse OCT 21 2012.

Performing with Susan Miron on February 14th, 2013

Audiences and performers enjoyed the project and you can read more about specific nights here. One of the highlights of our series for me was that I was able to create a program and present a feature on Feb 14th,  2013, telling longer stories from Boccaccio's 14th century collection of tales, The Decameron. Giovanni Boccaccio, a favorite of mine. He was an Italian author and poet, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio is particularly noted for his natural, his skewering of hypocrites in high places, witty dialogue and his sympathetic female characters.

My stories ranged from naughty to lusty, and included romantic tales that came from ancient story traditions of India and the bards of the Holy Roman Empire. Susan Miron accompanied me on the harp. She drew on various ancient folk melodies and dances from Southern Italy. The music comes from authentic folk songs of Campagnia, Calabria, Puglia & Napoli as transcribed by John LaBarbera, mandolinist.

Some traditional stories 'back story below and more at this link: Folk tales: the TV of preliterate culture Folk tales: entertainment for adults & the TV of preliterate culture

Since we announced our Folk and Fairy Tale Slams, all sorts of people I thought would know better, have been perplexed. "Traditional stories? Huh? What is a traditional story?"  In the paragraphs below I have tortured and twisted a wikipedia article into illustrating a Miller Analogy Test type statement. My main intent was to explore and hopefully explain the difference between traditional storytelling and contemporary 1st person narrative in performance. Secondly, I hoped to save time by lifting lots of the material for my explanation. This process is sometimes called slapdash, and, when less transparent, also known as plagiarism or "lack of artistic integrity". The statement I am working with is: traditional stories are to contemporary 1st person narrative stories as traditional folk songs are to singer-songwriter's songs. Imagine an acoustic performance of Arrow, by Cheryl Wheeler next to a performance by Simon And Garfunkel "Scarborough Fair"  or any other traditional ballad of Great Britain. 

From a historical perspective, traditional/folk storytelling has these characteristics:
    •    Traditional stories were transmitted through the oral tradition. Before the twentieth century, most people were illiterate. They acquired stories by listening and memorizing them. Primarily, this was not mediated by books, recorded or transmitted by any media. Contemporary yet traditional storytellers may extend their repertoire using picture books or CDs, but these are secondary enhancements when they are of the same character as the primary stories experienced in live performance.

• Storytelling is typically culturally particular; from a geographic region or culture. In the context of an immigrant group, storytelling acquires an extra dimension for social cohesion. It is particularly conspicuous in the United States, where immigrants and  oppressed minorities strive to emphasize their differences from the mainstream. They may learn stories that originate in the countries their grandparents came from.
• Stories may commemorate historical and/or personal events. Religions, spiritual traditions, and religious festivals may have a storytelling component especially a set of teaching stories. 
• Stories at communal events bring children and non-professional storytellers to participate in a public arena, giving an emotional bonding that is unrelated to the aesthetic qualities of the  performance.
• Traditional stories have been performed, by custom, over a long period of time, over many generations. 

Other characteristics sometimes present:    •    Fusion of cultures: In the same way that people can have a mixed background, with parents originating in different continents, so too, storytelling is often a blend of influences. A digital element can be added to an old  story creating a new genre for the art form of storytelling.
    •    Traditional storytelling is non-commercial in that no one can own a traditional story and we are within our rights to say, "Back off, Disney! Put the law suits away, and the folktale collection down and no one gets hurt."

All the performers at "Love, sex and heads may roll."

Thank you so much to Andrea, Doria and Stu, the co-founders of massmouth, to Paula Junn and Hannah Lapuh the staff, the Board of Directors and all the volunteers at massmouth. Thanks to all my friends and supporters especially Sheila Leavitt and Susan Miron. Thanks to all the storytellers and listeners. Thanks so much to all at Puppet Showplace Theatre. You are our artistic cousins and have treated us like family -and you all have been delightfully collegial and fun to work with besides.  And, saving the most important for last, thanks to my family for their support my art and endurance of my absences, rants and excesses as I follow a quixotic quest for a path that leads to right livelihood through work as an artist. Thank you, all.

What is a traditional story?

What is a traditional story?

by Norah Dooley and wiki 

The author telling traditional tales to children in South Boston through the literacy program, Read Boston, 2012

Since we announced our Folk and Fairy Tale Slams, all sorts of people I thought would know,  have been asking me, "Huh? What is a traditional story?" In the article below I have tortured and twisted a wikipedia article into illustrating a Miller Analogy Test type statement. My main intent was to explore and hopefully explain the difference between traditional storytelling and contemporary 1st person narrative in performance. Secondly, I hoped to save time by lifting lots of the material for my explanation. This process is sometimes called slapdash, and when less transparent, also known as plagiarism or "lack of artistic integrity" and will be covered in another post. Just as soon as I find an essay on that topic from which I may quote... But I digress. 

The statement I am working with is: traditional stories are to contemporary 1st person narrative stories as traditional folk songs are to singer-songwriter's songs. Imagine an acoustic performance of Arrow, by Cheryl Wheeler next to a performance by Simon And Garfunkel "Scarborough Fair"  or any other traditional ballad of Great Britain.  

The song Arrow is a beautiful contemporary love song, with melody and lyrics composed by Cheryl. Scarborough Fair is a song in the public domain; melody by Anonymous ( not the hackers but in the late 16th century sense via late Latin from Greek anōnumos ‘nameless’ ) and words by Anonymous. In the article below I have substituted "story" or storytelling for every citation of song or music. There are way more interesting things to know about folk tales but this will have to do as a start.

Odetta was a folk singer of the late 20th century revival. She left a career in opera & musical theater to sing folk songs.

From a historical perspective, traditional folk music storytelling had these characteristics:

• It was transmitted through an oral tradition. Before the twentieth century, most people, especially ordinary farm workers and factory workers were illiterate. They acquired songs stories by listening and memorizing them. Primarily, this was not mediated by books, recorded or transmitted media. Contemporary yet traditional  Singers  storytellers  extend their repertoire using broadsheets, song story books or CDs, but these secondary enhancements are of the same character as the primary songs stories experienced in the flesh.

• The music  Storytelling was often related to national culture. It was culturally particular; from a particular region or culture. In the context of an immigrant group, folk music storytelling acquires an extra dimension for social cohesion. It is particularly conspicuous in the United States, where immigrants and  oppressed minorities strive to emphasize their differences from the mainstream. They may learn songs stories  that originate in the countries their grandparents came from.

• Stories They may commemorate historical and/or personal events. On certain days particular songs stories celebrate the yearly cycle. Weddings, birthdays and funerals may also be noted with  songs stories...Religions and  religious festivals traditions often have a folk music storytelling component especially a set of teaching stories. Choral music Stories at communal events bring children and non-professional storytellers to participate in a public arena, giving an emotional bonding that is unrelated to the aesthetic qualities of the music performance.

• The songs stories have been performed, by custom, over a long period of time, usually several generations.

As a side-effect, the following characteristics are sometimes present:

• There is no copyright on folk songs. stories. Hundreds of folk songs tales from the nineteenth century have known authors but have continued in oral tradition to the point where they are considered traditional for purposes of music publishing. This has become much less frequent since the 1940s. Today, almost every folk song tale that is recorded or written is credited with an arranger author.

• Fusion of cultures: In the same way that people can have a mixed background, with parents originating in different continents, so too music storytelling can be a blend of influences. A particular rhythmic speech pattern, or a characteristic instrument, cultural detail or element is enough to give a traditional feel to music, stories even when they have been composed recently. The young are usually much less offended by the dilution or adaptation of songs stories this way. Equally a electric guitar digital element can be added to an old songs story creating a new genre for the art form of storytelling.

• Traditional storytelling is non-commercial.

Please let me know in the comments below if this makes sense to anyone else but me? All the words in bold italic have been added by the blogger.