Working as a Professional Storyteller - tl;dr

 Second  in a series of unpublished blog posts from this insanely busy past few months... Definitely one of my tl;dr rants. Written in DEC 2013.

Working as a Professional Storyteller,  Working for Free And Performing for Reduced Fees

http://shouldiworkforfree.com/clean.html#no5 If you love inquiring minds and creatives with a voice, please check out the website of the amazing author of this poster. You will love Jessica Hische's site If you need less profanity there is a clean language version at this link.

Dear Storytellers of the Late Twentieth Century Revival (SofLTCR) -

1st Person storytelling filled the rooms beyond capacity

Back in the day when I was a visual artist, we paid entry fees to have our paintings vetted for any show worth being in. Sometimes there was an additional hanging fee, the cost to make and mail slides (this was a loooong time ago) and we had always materials and mounting/framing fees too. The "surcharge" to be a professional artist was hefty. This was in my formative years so I have always been aware that professionals need to invest in their art and that is why visual artists are often "starving".  If one does not have a patron or a private trust fund, more of your time is required. For example, to afford to be in shows and buy materials I either lived on espresso and ramen or had a second job. Washing pots and then working my way up to dishwasher at a posh restaurant was my favorite because we were given free food. When I invited you all to perform at First Night this month, I understood that, many of you would not be available especially given the lateness of the invite. While the money was not great, it was more than we ever have had to share for Traditional Storytelling. You see, massmouth sometimes breaks even at our 1st person story slams, but traditional storytelling shows have been a money-losing venture.


Believe me, no one is more aware that the budget for our First Night family show is not top dollar for what we were asked to do. Still, it represented a sizable portion of our cash operating budget so we were excited to have $2K for a total of 10 hours of programming in two rooms. The fact that we were invited as traditional storytellers, based on the rooms we have filled in the past made us feel that this budget and invitation were hugely positive.

We had SRO for both 1st Person Storytelling shows

We (massmouth organizers) have worked hard, without remuneration, investing in our art form to realize this important chance to show off traditional storytelling.  Since drawing an audience is essential to our art, I thought it best to spread the opportunity wide, not deep. Why didn't Andrea Lovett and I just keep $500 each for ourselves for all the work we would need to do to pull this off, never mind all the unpaid work it took to get to this opportunity? Then we could have given anyone with the foresight to join us as performers $25-$50 stipends for the chance to showcase their art and reach a wide and general audience. It would still be money trickling into the pockets of artists. Why didn't we just take care of ourselves? Because we want to build the art of storytelling.

Every September I am asked to do a Showcase for Young Audiences of MA.  They are my main booking agent and working with them is my actual "day job" -  in the sense that this is how I make money.  I do not get paid at all for my Showcase performance each year. Not even a travel allowance. Instead, I realize that a Showcase event is like fertilizer; you have to put something in the soil if you want to sow and reap later.

 So, each year I invest my time, which is also my and everyone's most precious resource, into my art.

It is true that a few lucky Storytellers of the Late Twentieth Century Revival (SofLTCR) in the notoriously cheap Boston area have commanded much heftier fees, even from First Night. Because of this history,  there may be storytellers who believe, that First Night, which went belly-up earlier this year, is holding out on us. Other storytellers believe that First Night is trying to low-ball all storytellers at the negotiating table. Other storytellers believe that massmouth is making money on the deal and not sharing fairly.  As if! All of these are equally mistaken beliefs.

Historically, from a producer's point of view, storytelling does not sell.

In the good-old days of the Late Twentieth Century Storytelling Revival, all a storyteller had to do was show up, tell a few tales and collect their check. A storyteller's pay was not based on the number of butts in seats or media recognition. Even so, 30 or even 15 years ago, things were different and seats were often butt-filled and media attention easier to attract. BUT even when tickets went unsold, decades ago there was three (3Xs) as much funding for the arts in Massachusetts alone. So a series or a venue did not need to depend on ticket sales for their solvency.  As one small example, just 15 years ago, the Mass Cultural Council  had a $27 million dollar budget. Yes, we went from $27 million down to $9 million and that is indeed 18 millions of $$$ shortfall, even before adjusting for inflation.



At massmouth we are trying our best to give storytelling the come-back we think it deserves. Not through a rising "star" system. Nor are we working on a "revival" of formerly risen stars.  There is not one storyteller in our area who has enough of a following or name recognition or audience draw that can be counted on to sell tickets and or fill a room large enough to make producing their performance financially viable. Just ask someone who books family entertainment and you'll learn that even the biggest names can have trouble selling tickets.  Or ask someone who witnessed the demise of the Three Apples Storytelling Festival if you need to know more about this phenomenon.

In New England, storytellers are known in some quarters as "box-office poison".  As one librarian from the North Shore told me,

"If I advertise a visit from Ronald McDonald in costume, I'll have over 100 people signing up for it and a room that is filled to standing room only. If I have a storyteller we may see a few sign-ups and be lucky if a dozen people eventually come to the show."


She concluded that with limited budgets for programs, many libraries could not afford performers like storytellers, who typically draw such small audiences. Meanwhile, LANES storytellers vie for a slot at the annual OLIO,  give workshops and perform at Sharing the Fire, for free, every year.  Storytellers sometimes do balk at the lack of remuneration by LANES but they keep coming back. The unpaid performances at Sharing the Fire are for a dwindling group of some 200-300 storytellers and a few people new to storytelling. In contrast, the paid performances we are producing this year at First Night are for a general public who are looking for quality entertainment. We will potentially reach an demographic who, once they hear some really good storytelling might well be won over as loyal audiences who bring others to our shows. All of this history is not meant to depress you but rather to support the notion that we storytellers need to do things differently if we want our art form to thrive, not just survive.


Here was a chance to show the world just how deep, wide and beautiful the traditional art of storytelling is.

First Night, 2014 represented a chance to show people how great storytelling can be and, be paid to do it. 

 It is fine if SofLTCR  do not want to perform on First Night. I am not trying to guilt trip you.

Hey, I am often mistaken. Maybe some of you who declined have great paying gigs on New Year's Eve? Maybe there is a whole economy of storytellers getting bookings in 4 figures, all over Boston and New England.? If so, I apologize for my ignorance.  If I am leading people astray here, please - correct me. 

But I will be "show me the money" doubtful. The harsh realities of 21st century professional performers are well documented and I am pretty certain that no one is on easy street when it comes to paying audiences. 
 We, all the SofLTCR, should acknowledge that the times have changed and to paraphrase Bob Dylan that our old road has rapidly changed. We'll need to " ...get out of the new one,  if we can't lend our hand For the times they are a-changin'..."

Don't go on any extended guilt trips on my account.

The art of storytelling will go forward.

Storytelling: at Tufts ExCollege FALL 2013

 First in a series of unpublished blog posts from this insanely busy past few months...

An open letter to my Tufts ExCollege Students:

Thank you, all. Last night was an absolutely fabulous final-project-end-of-term, slam. I can honestly say it was the best ever, being the first. Levity aside, and despite interruptions from my overreaching desire to document, facilitate and generally futz around with technology, your slam was every bit as amazing as you may have felt it.

Didn't everyone bring their A game? Were we regaled with hilarity and depth, personal growth and deep insight? Yes. From the very first story, (which set a high bar) to the very last, we experienced real life, beautifully crafted into narrative. Through each story the art of storytelling shone.

Before I get even more cringe-worthy gushy, I am posting a few sloppily snapped photos which do not do the performers or performances justice. Then, I am getting to work on my critique of your performances, collating all your comments and finding a way to get them to you and creating grades for you all. Once that is set I will be editing the audio podcast and video clips and posting same. It may take me a while so when you are in the throes of finals look for an email with links to this amazing night of stories to buoy your spirits. Again, thank you all for working to bring such great stories and making my "first time" teaching a college level storytelling course truly rewarding.

National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN -2013

National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN -2013

What a delightful surprise. When Susan O'Connor from the ISC wrote to me to invite me to tell at the Exchange Place - I had to read the email twice - I was that stunned. Yes! I would be honored to come and perform at the 41st National Storytelling Festival on OCT 4th 2013.

Although a storyteller for 20+ years this was my first opportunity to come to the National Storytelling Festival.  - As a mother of 4 and an independent artist (aka living in splendid penury) I never could pull it off. But a paid gig plus a gig to pay for the gig got me there -  literally.

Well...it was a long weekend. When we arrived in Jonesboro it was dark and I had missed the welcoming dinner and the sound check at the tent. This turned out to be more problematic than I thought. We'd been in transit since quarter of four on Thursday a.m. and let me say how wonderful it is to have a friend like Carolyn Stearns to do a road trip like this. Although we did fly most of the way we drove from the airport in Atlanta to a private school where I had three presentations and a 3 o'clock book signing. So we hopped in the car a bit late to drive what I thought was 4 hours to Jonesboro Tennessee. Carolyn did a lion share of the driving as I got very very sleepy but never completely fell asleep. We were stuck in some massive traffic and realized there and then that it is in fact + six hours from Atlanta to Jonesboro not 4 hours.  Especially when you drive through Chattanooga and Knoxville. Having missed dinner and unable to find the church on Main Street ( there are more than a few churches) we checked into the hotel and then were looking for some refreshment.  God Bless America! In Tokyo,  Paris or London, could hungry travelers,  at 10:30pm just waltz across an interstate to a Shell station and buy salted peanuts and a quart of beer? I think not! But once we got to meet up with the Festival staff, all the people around us were incredibly friendly, helpful and caring. And, there was nothing but fabulous storytelling surrounding us at every moment - on the street, in the lobby,  at the breakfast table - just everywhere.

I had a 12 minute slot and Exchange Place which is everything they advertise it to be – and more. It is a revered tradition and thousands of people listen to your stories and they do send you lots of love! I had told the producers back in July that I would be telling a story inside a story and it was really the story of how I became a storyteller. Although I had no time to rehearse the parts that I knew I wanted to put together, in fact I had been telling these stories for decades. I really wanted to do what I told them I would do and to keep to the 12 minute time limit. Mainly because I wanted to do that kind of mash-up story that showed I could tell both traditional and contemporary 1st person tales. So, I used most of Friday to time and rehearse and time and rehearse over and over again.

You might logically think that the state I was in was Tennessee but on Friday, mostly I was in a state of Terror-fication. It was way too late to explain to people who had hired me that I wanted to change up what I was going to do. So I just had to make it work. Whether I did or not is questionable. So many of the folks who gave me comments afterwards were very kind. They mostly said that they appreciated or were intrigued by the structure of my story. I told about my first time speaking up and folded in the traditional tale of the girl with no story, Molly O'Donahue. My sense is that had I been truly successful they would have noticed the technique and structure less and the story more. But then,  I tend to be a very harsh self-critic. Yet my first note from the audience was on a different topic altogether. A woman zipped right up to me, rushed to the stage really, tell me how she enjoyed my performance but that she did want me to know something very, very important. I needed to know it in a hurry. Ouch! When I told my husband what she told me he said "Don't worry, maybe somebody at the local Bonga-Bonga room might ask you back to Jonesborough." There is more but if you haven't heard or just want the full story from the horses...um, mouth? You'll need to write me   - norah.dooley@gmail.com. My immediate reaction was not "Lord have mercy!" -as we often hear around these parts.

Carolyn Stearns

No. Not this New York citified girl. My reaction was an unspoken yet screamed good ole Anglo-Saxon word that is sometimes used as a noun and more often an adverb. Truly, I am a train wreck sometimes.  And the woman who rushed the stage  to tell me the "news" had a point that was well taken. My wardrobe issue likely was distracting. Not quite Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl but I know I would be distracted thinking about the poor idiot (me) up there sharing an 'insight' that no one wanted or expected.  Still that is just about me. And the festival is so much bigger than all that. And so amazing. I loved performing with such a great group at Exchange place: Sheila Arnold, Rick Huddle, Bob Tyranski, Chuck Brodsky and Isaac Freeman. When people asked me if I was having fun, I had to say - "We need a new word..."fun" doesn't cover half of it."

As for the career move of performing at the premier festival in the nation ?  Who knows, maybe I'll be back to Jonesborough again... the Bonga-Bonga room may be calling any moment.

Takao Shinzawa, artist and friend

(Originally published August 31st, 2013 and updated 2024) My long-time friend Takao Shinzawa, has had several shows in JP lately.  For decades I knew Takao as a talented musician but I was blown away by the depth and character of his new visual work.

Shinzawa’s careful renderings reveal a sense of awe in the details of everyday life. His works also resonate as a silent hymn to the unexpected beauty found in urban places. Every stroke and line of Shinzawa's drawing attends to living objects, bricks and mortar with equal sensitivity.

I first met Takao when he came to the US from Japan more than thirty years ago, and has been living for 24 years in Jamaica Plain. He has always painted and drawn from real life. Takao is a gardener and dead-funny commentator on modern life, who also works part-time at Mass Art. Shinzawa is a also classically trained flutist and has studied with Doriot Anthony Dwyer. In addition to western flute he plays Japanese flutes called ryuteki and komabue which are integral to Gagaku dance and ceremonial music; a musical form with an unbroken history stretching more than a millennium.  To find out more: Contact Takao Shinzawa: cell: 617.721.1371  https://pixels.com/profiles/takaogallerystore Or say hello as you see him sketching in the neighborhood!

Being Mary Read

Photos by: Halldor Sigurdsson from Schoharie Crossing - thanks!

If someone took a notion to sing the "Mary Read Blues" ? It could rightly be said/sung that "If it were not for bad luck, she had no luck at all." Her story starts in poverty but then, most pirate stories do... I created a monologue about her back story that I tell as I take off the skirt and shawl to reveal pants and shirt as I  arm my self and transform into Mark Read, pirate.

and transform into Mark.

I enter as Mary...

" After my dear mother died I went to live in London with Granny. She was not fond of me and she sent me out to earn me keep as a stable boy – which I did.  I had hoped for an apprenticeship or schooling but it was not to be. From her own mouth I heard the reason behind my mother’s disguising me as a boy. My grandmam was not even sure that I was her grand daughter but as my brother was 2 years older, she believed him ( that is me) to be her blood...But after Granny died I had no place and no one… so I joined the army – Some of me mates had gone across the channel to Holland and I heard they could learn the language right quick enough and the food was regular and peace ruled the land and the Army was the place, so I went too. It was there I met my first husband. . .We were tent mates see? ...And got to know each other very well.  After, we got to know each other quite well we opened an Inn –  work was easy. For the first time I dressed as a woman. But we were only married 11 months when he took sick with the same fever and I was just frantic. No issue to show for our union just bills – I took on men's clothing again and I went to the sea – thinking to live again in London..."  I was very excited to be invited to bring this character and bit of history to the  "Not Just For Kids Storytelling"at Schoharie Crossing. A bit about their series from the local paper: "The "Not Just For Kids Storytelling" series was the inspiration of the site manager Janice Fontanella, who said she fell in love with the art form more than two decades ago and was looking for a way to share it with others. "I was just so excited myself that I discovered storytelling and it was something I wanted people to hear," said Fontanella. And she thought the events would be a "perfect fit" at the site."I'm sure there's been storytelling going on here for years," Fontanella said, noting the famed storytelling traditions of both the Mohawk Indians and the area's early European settlers."Storytelling is more of a traditional art form," she added. "It's appropriate for a historic site." 

The storytelling series is funded, in part, by the Fulton-Montgomery Arts Grants, part of the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts administered by Saratoga Arts.It's sponsored by the Friends of Schoharie Crossing, Stewart's Shops, the Garden Bug, Tribes Hill Deli, Southside Coffee Shop and Dolci Sweet Shop.
According to Fontanella, the program is run entirely through sponsorships and donations, and all of the money raised goes to the storytellers themselves, some of whom travel many hours in order to participate. Admission is free to all of the performances and they take place rain or shine. Free refreshments are also served following each show."

l. to r. Claire Nolan, Maddy and Greg Reid, descendants of Mary Read

My intention is to humanize the character and the times as I tell what it was really like to be a pirate and a woman in the late 17th and early18th  century. I have always loved doing the research but much of her story is unknown. I  had decided to make up an ending to her life that I like to think about as being true.  On this trip to Schoharie Crossing, NY I had a very unusual meeting that made me think my idea about the end of her life was more truth than fiction.

In conjunction with my gig I was lucky enough to be invited to teach a workshop for the Children At The Well a group of young storytellers in the Albany, NY/ Capitol District.  Check them out and you will see for yourselves that they are wonderful. That was a lovely turn of events in itself and many thanks Paula Weiss for her generosity and connecting us all.  But... check out this crazy serendipity.  Here is a post-script from Paula: "PS- oh, hey- it turns out that one of our dads- he & his daughter are coming to the workshop- is a descendant of Mary Read's!"  After meeting Reid he told me that his grandmother from Curaçao always said that they were direct descendants of Mary Read. How cool is that?  You cannot make this stuff up.

Brilliant flash mob sparks ideas

Brilliant flash mob sparks ideas  

by Norah Dooley

An acquaintance sent me this yesterday and I was enthralled. A flash mob fully realized and then enacted a back story to a very well known painting, Guards of the Night by Rembrandt in 1642. This past April this "flash mob" or guerilla theater event was a project of the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands to advertise with their slogan; "Our Heroes Are Back" that after an absence of one decade, all major pieces in the Rijksmuseum’s collection are back where they belong.

It helps to have the backing of a major multinational corporation when you want to document this intricate a staging. It looks like they had a dozen cameras and at least 2 dozen actors and free range of the mall to plan, rehearse and set props before the performance. When one desires to bring art to the people, a healthy budget makes smooth the way.  Still the really amazing part of the project, in my mind, was to inject a clear story into the staging. A gorgeous tableau would have been very effective but...the story, acted out in real time? Sheer brilliance. Imagine all the viewers talking to each other about the part of the story they actually were witness too.

And I wonder - did this elaborate staging work to get people to come to the actual art in the museum? Seems likely that it did since the prank itself garnered over 3 million views on youtube.

Guards of the Night Rembrandt 1642, Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

The videos show how they took one painting, a Rembrandt from 1642, Guards of the Night (above), and brought to life the characters in it, placed them throughout a busy mall and you can see for yourself how it all fell (literally) out.

Imagine what a group of storytellers with a lots of imagination or the backing of anybody or entity with deep pockets might be able to do? My mind is swimming with fun ideas.

Like Banksy - only 1/100th as talented

Chalk-Le-chat: Like Banksy or Blek Le rat (only 1/100th as talented)

A different kind of chalking

By Norah Dooley

Last month I compared my work to Jenny Holzer and this week I am thinking about Banksy and his predecessor, Blek le Rat, (born Xavier Prou,1952) who was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the “Father of Stencil Graffiti”.  Lest you think I am totally out of my mind -  I

Mon petit signature

shall clarify. I do not believe myself to be in anyway comparable to these world-class artists. I only mention them as examples of the inspiration for my work and to give some point of reference for what I am doing. Deciding I needed a "nome de plume" like my heroes ( my heroine, Jenny Holzer, is simply herself) and knowing that imitation is the sincerest form of mimicry I have, for now, settled on Chalk le Chat.

Cool, right? It is like Blek Le rat, only I am 1/100th as talented or prolific. I am also considering the moniker "Pastore Fata" after Shephard Fairey but he gets into a lot of  trouble so it ma be a bit risky.  Running with the Chalk Le-chat idea allowed me to
designed myself a little signature
( see left ). Mostly, I create really simple chalk drawings about the stories I have just told to surprise and I hope delight the children who stumble upon them. If they mystify and inspire those who have not heard my stories - that is great. The fact that the act is noncommercial and intends a democratic inclusiveness. I sometimes draw with my audience, teaching them how to use simple shapes to draw some of the animals that feature as characters in my stories. And other times I  leave chalk beside or nearby the drawings,  inside a chalk circle of words saying "Express Yourself".

Here  is the wiki entry for "street art"
Street art is art, specifically visual art, developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, sculpture, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, and street installations. Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

Artists have challenged art by situating it in non-art contexts. ‘Street’ artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment with its own language. They attempt to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes in ways that are informed by esthetic values without being imprisoned by them.John Fekner defines street art as "all art on the street that’s not graffiti".

Whereas traditional graffiti artists have primarily used free-hand aerosol paints to produce their works,"street art" encompasses many other media and techniques, including: LED art, mosaic tiling, murals, stencil art, sticker art, "Lock On" street sculptures, street installations, wheatpasting, woodblocking, video projection, and yarn bombing. New media forms of graffiti, such as projection onto large city buildings, are an increasingly popular tool for street artists—and the availability of cheap hardware and software allows street artists to become more competitive with corporate advertisements. Much like open source software, artists are able to create art for the public realm from their personal computers, similarly creating things for free which compete with companies making things for profit.

Traditional graffiti also has increasingly been adopted as a method for advertising; its trajectory has even in some cases led its artists to work on contract as graphic artists for corporations.Nevertheless, street art is a label often adopted by artists who wish to keep their work unaffiliated and strongly political. Street artists are those whose work is still largely done without official approval in public areas. For these reasons street art is sometimes considered "post-graffiti" and sometimes even "neo-graffiti.St reet art can be found around the world and street artists often travel to other countries foreign to them so they can spread their designs.

Children join Chalk le Chat at Honan Librar

The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and subversion in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Some street artists use "smart vandalism" as a way to raise awareness of social and political issues.Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow. Street art can also be a form of political expression used by the oppressed and people with little resources to create change.

Banksy - © Clipstone Crop

From a blog that follows Banksy:

Banksy’s latest street pieces which appeared in London over the Easter bank holiday reworks an old anarchist slogan coined by Emma Goldman “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” The piece seems to be a reference to a spate of recent arrests in LA of street artists such as Invader and Revok who are involved with the MOCA show. — New Banksy street piece in London references arrests in LA.

Blek le Rat in LA

From the Street Art Blog, post NOV 19, 2011:

Blek recognized the great ability of street art to address the populace in ways other art could not. Through stencils often centered on social observation, Blek involved his viewers in a guerrilla war against complacency and conformity, highlighting the strength of the individual and inspiring a reflection upon the status quo. The guerrilla art we are familiar with now has much to thank Blek le Rat for, a point driven home with impact when looking at the work of notorious British-graffiti artist Banksy, whose style is not only based on that of Blek but whose subject matter (including soldiers, rebels and even rats taking over the streets) is inarguably influenced by Blek as well.