Lost and Found (with host Simon Brooks): Elisa Pearmain, Jamie Olivero

Buddha, storytelling

Elisa Pearmain

Elisa began her storytelling career by working for ten years as a Storyteller in Residence in the Boston Public Schools. There she came to appreciate and tell stories from the many diverse cultures that the children represented. Other early storytelling experiences included collecting stories from Vietnam Veterans and sharing them with high school, college and adults in a program called, The Defoliated Heart. She also led groups of women to share and learn from their stories together. These experiences helped to inspire her belief in the power of stories to heal.

Recently her most popular storytelling programs  in the schools are on character education and bullying prevention through story. She received a grant in 2002 to study character education through story from the National Storytelling Network.

She is a currently a board member of The Healing Story Alliance www.healingstory.org and is an active member of The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES), and past Board member.  You can learn more about LANES and the storytelling conference at www.lanes.org

Jamie Olivero

Jamie Olivero is a traditionally trained storyteller and arts-in-education specialist. His commitment is a storyteller is to promote social justice and good citizenship by using the wisdom offered in traditional stories to create common ground between people of different cultures, and backgrounds. He has specially designed workshops and performances for students at different grade levels, teachers, community groups, and general audiences. The workshops include activities that develop trust at the group level, and encourage compassionate and peaceful interaction. His performances draw on world folklore: stories that reflect, humour, mystery, wisdom, and adventure.

Guest Host – Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.

Order his new book Under The Oaken Bough and listen to his new podcast Conversations with Storytellers to hear what it is like to perform storytelling for a living from some living legends!

Music by Podington Bear!

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Adventures in the Sky (with Host Isabelle Hauser): Carol Birch, Richard Martin

Carol Birch

In 1998 Carol Birch received the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence Award given to storytellers recognized as master tellers by their peers, setting standards for excellence, and demonstrating a commitment and dedication to the art over a significant period of time. Thirty years of experience have earned her a respected place in the forefront of the revival of platform storytelling: teaching at Southern Connecticut State University; lecturing at forty-one universities across the nation, as well as professional and corporate organizations; producing nine audio-anthologies for the National Storytelling Association; directing seventeen audio-cassettes for independent storytellers as well as August House, Lightyear Entertainment, and Weston Woods Studios; writing THE WHOLE STORY HANDBOOK: USING IMAGERY TO COMPLETE THE STORY EXPERIENCE; co-editing WHO SAYS? ESSAYS ON PIVOTAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY STORYTELLING, the first book on the aesthetics of storytelling; serving as a chairperson of the Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice Award; and producing three award-winning audio-cassettes of her own stories.

Known for a compelling blend of energy, warmth, vulnerability, and directness, Carol restores orality and spontaneity to the fixed silence of stories found in print, but as a third-grader in North Carolina pointed out: “She knows that story ’cause she was there!”

Richard Martin

The stories Richard Martin tells are the folk tales which have been told for hundreds, indeed thousands, of years. With over 300 stories in his repertoire, they reflect the full range of human experience: the comic, the bawdy, the profound, the divine. Far from being for little children (although he does tell for children, too), these powerful and deep tales offer unforgettable listening for adults. If you like theatre, you’ll definitely love storytelling. It combines the intensity of a play by a solo performer with the intimacy of a one-to-one conversation. Richard tells stories throughout Europe and as far away as India, Singapore, Hong Kong and America – in theatres, universities, schools, for corporate events or private parties. He usually tells in English, although having lived in Germany since 1976, he is sometimes asked to tell in German.

Host – Isabelle Hauser

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests.

Music by Podington Bear

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Rumpelstiltskin

Rosie Cutrer

Rosie Cutrer, a storyteller from Topeka, Kansas, has been telling stories professionally for the past fifteen  years, presenting at festivals, schools, libraries and museums.  In the past few years she has been invited to perform at: the Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival,  the Kansas Storytelling Festival,The Land Run Festival in Choctaw, Oklahoma, the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska and was a featured teller at the Kearney Area Storytelling Festival in 2011. In October of 2010 she made a storytelling tour of Ireland telling in schools and libraries in County Wexford and in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. 

Mrs. Cutrer works with all ages. For younger groups she tells folktales, fairytales, ghost stories, stories based on literature, poetry, folksongs and her own original works. She is also a songwriter and accompanies herself on the banjo. Two of her storytelling CDs have won awards from the Children’s Music Web for Best Performer for both younger and older audiences. They are available for purchase online at CD Baby.com. 

 Simon Brooks

Since 1991, British storyteller, humorist and raconteur Simon Brooks has been telling to audiences from all over the world. Simon became a full-time, professional storyteller in 2003, released his first CD in 2006, and his first collection of folk and fairy tales in 2018. Simon has won awards and honors for his storytelling albums from Storytelling World and Parent’s Choice. Simon travels all over New England and to other parts of the USA, and has told his tales in Europe. He presents anywhere you want him, be it a school, college, library, festival, camp, hospital, business, restaurant, coffee house or home.

At the onset of the COVID-19 ‘lock-down’ Simon immediately recorded a podcast for kids – his audio rendering of Lindyline, an adventure story for young people. He also began a weekly kid’s show – Wednesday Stories – which he had to cancel in mid-summer 2020. Another weekly on-line show Simon produces is Friday with Friends, geared for parents and other grown-ups, where he virtually chats with storytelling and musician friends. This lighthearted on-line event has become a staple for some viewers because of its humor and light atmosphere.

Simon has completely reinvented himself to accommodate on-line presentations and workshops. These are high-quality events with much in the way of new material and presentation styles.

Music by Podington Bear!

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Away with the Fairies (with All the Hosts)

Guest Host – Simon Brooks

Since 1991, British storyteller, humorist and raconteur Simon Brooks has been telling to audiences from all over the world. Simon became a full-time, professional storyteller in 2003, released his first CD in 2006, and his first collection of folk and fairy tales in 2018. Simon has won awards and honors for his storytelling albums from Storytelling World and Parent’s Choice. Simon travels all over New England and to other parts of the USA, and has told his tales in Europe. He presents anywhere you want him, be it a school, college, library, festival, camp, hospital, business, restaurant, coffee house or home.

At the onset of the COVID-19 ‘lock-down’ Simon immediately recorded a podcast for kids – his audio rendering of Lindyline, an adventure story for young people. He also began a weekly kid’s show – Wednesday Stories – which he had to cancel in mid-summer 2020. Another weekly on-line show Simon produces is Friday with Friends, geared for parents and other grown-ups, where he virtually chats with storytelling and musician friends. This lighthearted on-line event has become a staple for some viewers because of its humor and light atmosphere.

Simon has completely reinvented himself to accommodate on-line presentations and workshops. These are high-quality events with much in the way of new material and presentation styles.

Rachel Ann Harding

Traditional Storyteller and Musician, Rachel Ann Harding is passionate about telling the most beautiful folk, myth, and traditional tales.

Rachel Ann weaves story and song together to create unique and entertaining storytelling events, keynotes and workshops that display the relevance of storytelling in our lives. She believes that fairytales are not just for children and mesmerizes audiences with old tales woven into new adventures. As the producer of the Story Story Podcast she brings traditional stories to people around the world who also are in love with fairytales.

Rachel Ann Harding began singing and playing a variety of instruments in her early twenties, crafting lyrics laced with tenderness and humor. She blends harmonies on the ukulele and looper to create melodies that connect to the heart and the ear. Her music has been called, “delightful, folksy, avant garde.”

Host – Isabelle Hauser

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests.

Music by Podington Bear!

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Clever by Half (with host Simon Brooks)

story story podcast

Priscilla Howe

“I live in my head. A lot. I make stuff up, I borrow from old tales, I reinterpret new stories. As a storyteller, I’m a tour guide to that space in my brain. I work without a script, without costumes, without props. When I’m doing it right, listeners laugh, smile, sigh and breathe together, connected in the space of stories. I perform at schools, libraries, festivals, special events, and in my own backyard, literally. My mouthy hand puppets come along to shows for young children. I tell more grownup stories to, well, grownups and older kids. We play together. Apart from being the oldest educational method in the world, storytelling is just plain fun.”

Join Priscilla Howe for online story time or join her Patreon to get stories directly from her!!

Laura Packer

Laura Packer has been telling stories her whole life – her mother reports she was born talking. The daughter of a children’s librarian and a writer, it seems inevitable that she become a storyteller and writer herself, since her childhood was steeped in narrative. By second grade, Laura was telling stories to her classmates, creating her own magazines and writing letters to the editor of her hometown newspaper; her deep love of fairytales and mythology eventually led her to obtain a degree in Folklore and Mythology from Boston University. Imagine her surprise when she discovered, upon graduating, that there isn’t a crying need for folklorists!

Undaunted by the lack of job openings for folklorists, Laura has built a career helping people and organizations find their own story, performing original and traditional tales around the world, and creating written narrative that draws the reader into new possibilities.

Guest Host – Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.

Order his new book Under The Oaken Bough and listen to his new podcast Conversations with Storytellers to hear what it is like to perform storytelling for a living from some living legends!

Music by Podington Bear!

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Duels (with host Isabelle Hauser): Anne Shimojima, Cooper Braun

Anne Shimojima

Anne Shimojima is a third generation Japanese American, born and
raised in Chicago, Illinois. An award-winning elementary school library
media specialist of 35 years, she first discovered the power of story
with her students, using storytelling to enrich and expand the
curriculum and develop a deep emotional connection with her listeners.

Some highlights in her storytelling career include a week as Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN and performing at such venues as the National Storytelling Festival, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the 1st Asian-American Storytelling Festival, the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the Talk Story Storytelling Festival in Honolulu, Storytelling Arts of Indiana, the Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Central Park, and the Stories Connect Us All Online Storytelling Festival.

Cooper Braun

Cooper Braun was raised by granola eating coyotes in Boulder Colorado and grew up without a television. Lacking the traditional American form of child pacification, he found a love for storytelling from records and cassette tapes. Drawn to performance and theater from a young age, Cooper started as an actor (what do you do with a BA in Theater?) and has been working as a professional theater technician the last ten years. In a whirlwind return to the world of live storytelling, three years ago, he now co-hosts the Boulder Story Circle and performs regularly with Rachel Ann Harding as Stories with Spirit. He is a mammal.

Host – Isabelle Hauser

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests.

Music by Podington Bear

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Eth-noh-tec (with Host Isabelle Hauser)

Eth-Noh-Tec

Co-directors Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, longstanding San Francisco artists founded Eth-Noh-Tec in 1982 and  have contributed greatly to the Asian American performing arts movement.

Originally named the SF Kulintang and later the Kalilang Kulintang Ensemble, in 1990, at the urging of its Board of Directors, they dissolved the traditional ensemble to concentrate entirely on their artistic venture of fusing the ancient with the contemporary. Both Artistic Co-Directors having trained and performed in traditional and contemporary art forms for over two decades, they have since enjoyed tremendous success in this focused fusion, truly meeting the goals of their name Eth-Noh-Tec: The weaving [tec] together of distinctive cultural elements of the East and West [eth] to create new possibilities [noh].

Host – Isabelle Hauser

You have heard these stories before, just not like this!Join Isabelle Hauser as she explores mysterious shops in Zug while sharing stories, with Ed Stivender telling "Red Ridding Hood Improv" and Priscilla Howe telling "The Small Tooth Dog".

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests. As a storyteller and harpist, she wants to create a space for her audience to see that reality, too. Or to just provide them with a break from everyday life! Whisking people of all ages and origins to long ago and far away with music and story is her greatest passion in life.

Music by Podington Bear

Did you know the Story Story Podcast was featured Feedspots Top 30 Fairy Tale Podcasts? There are a lot of great podcasts on this list and we are thrilled to be included!

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Giant Problems (with Host Simon Brooks)

Sarah Brady

Sarah Brady is a storyteller, actress, and writer. Her experience in the arts started at an early age and continued throughout high school and college, where she earned a B.S. in speech education and an M.A. in interpretative speech. She taught communication, acting, and interpretative speech for six years at the college level, with over half that time spent at Hampton University as an assistant professor who was also responsible for the school’s forensics and debate team. Sarah’s acting credits include such roles as Nurse Kelly in “Harvey,” Perdita in “A Winter’s Tale,” and Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth.net.” Her one person shows are varied in subject and style, from “The Book of Ruth,” a telling of the biblical story, to “Two Women, Two Worlds,” a historical narrative of women in the American Civil War. When not acting, telling, or writing, Sarah likes reading, traveling, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Tim Lowry

Tim Lowry’s love for show business began when he was six years old, watching a thrilling performance of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. Waiting for his big break Tim filled his childhood with performance opportunities.  As a theater major in college, Tim studied Shakespeare and romantic opera, but when he took an elective class in storytelling he found himself. After college, Tim taught English language arts for five years. Drawing on his love of show business his teaching methods were often considered “unorthodox and disruptive.” In 2000, Tim left the classroom to pursue a career as a professional storyteller. (Ironically, he is now hired as an educational consultant to bring creative and innovative programs to schools across the country and is approaching his 10,000th performance!) In 2012 Tim began touring the National Storytelling Festival circuit and has shared stories on stages from Connecticut to California. Occasionally, Tim provides applied storytelling workshops for corporate and non-profit groups. His client list includes the North Carolina County Commissioners (Raleigh, NC), Dollywood Dream More Resort (Pigeon Forge, TN), and Daramic LLC (Charlotte, NC).

Guest Host – Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.

Order his new book Under The Oaken Bough and listen to his new podcast Conversations with Storytellers to hear what it is like to perform storytelling for a living from some living legends!

Music by Podington Bear!

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Tell it to the Trees (with Host Simon Brooks): Jenni Cargill Strong, Anne Shimojima

Jenni Cargill-Strong 

Jenni Cargill-Strong is an enchanting award-winning Australian storyteller and Owner Operator of ‘The Story Tree Company’ and ‘Stories on Foot: Tales of Byron Bay and the Rainbow Region‘. Jenni has twenty-eight years experience as a professional storyteller, four award-winning story albums, seventeen years experience teaching storytelling and several years experience teaching online. She is Australian, and lives with her two nearly grown children in the seaside town of Ballina on the east coast, just south of Byron Bay. Discover testimonials and details of preschool and school shows on Jenni’s Performance page, see a gallery of images or watch videos.

Anne Shimojima

Anne Shimojima is a third generation Japanese American, born and
raised in Chicago, Illinois. An award-winning elementary school library
media specialist of 35 years, she first discovered the power of story
with her students, using storytelling to enrich and expand the
curriculum and develop a deep emotional connection with her listeners.

Some highlights in her storytelling career include a week as Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN and performing at such venues as the National Storytelling Festival, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the 1st Asian-American Storytelling Festival, the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the Talk Story Storytelling Festival in Honolulu, Storytelling Arts of Indiana, the Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Central Park, and the Stories Connect Us All Online Storytelling Festival.

Guest Host – Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.

Order his new book Under The Oaken Bough and listen to his new podcast Conversations with Storytellers to hear what it is like to perform storytelling for a living from some living legends!

Music by Podington Bear!

Continue Reading

Surprising Discoveries (with Host Isabelle Hauser): Vaishali Raithatha, Cindy Rivka Marshall

Vaishali Raithatha

Vaishali Raithatha is a professional Story Teller & a Certified & Trained  Yoga teacher, originally from India , currently living in the UK.

She is passionate and committed to working with children & adults through the medium of Storytelling to enhance learning and listening skills & to bring a Sunshine Smile on faces through Stories & Yoga .

She loves every opportunity to narrate stories to children & adults in schools , museums , libraries , other events & through  her stories & story videos reaching  out to children & adults  wherever possible.She also shares stories on Talking Stories , East  London Radio , UK .

She enjoys colouring Mandalas , Dance & cooking.

Cindy Rivka Marshall

Whether she is performing, teaching, facilitating or consulting, Cindy Rivka Marshall is guided by her value of respect for all.

Cindy tells multicultural and Jewish stories with universal lessons that resonate with her sense of wonder. She teaches storytelling, communication, interviewing and listening skills, and story-based approaches to teaching. Cindy creates safe environments for participants to speak and be heard. As a consultant, Cindy facilitates groups to articulate their values and message and build a sense of community.

Cindy has performed stories and presented workshops since 1989 throughout New England, nationally and in England, at festivals, conferences, schools, libraries, synagogues, churches and community groups. She studied acting, movement improvisation and storytelling with Julie Portman, Daena Giardella, Marsha Hiller, Elisa Pearmain, Peninnah Schram and others.

Host – Isabelle Hauser

You have heard these stories before, just not like this!Join Isabelle Hauser as she explores mysterious shops in Zug while sharing stories, with Ed Stivender telling "Red Ridding Hood Improv" and Priscilla Howe telling "The Small Tooth Dog".

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests. As a storyteller and harpist, she wants to create a space for her audience to see that reality, too. Or to just provide them with a break from everyday life! Whisking people of all ages and origins to long ago and far away with music and story is her greatest passion in life.

Music by Podington Bear

Did you know the Story Story Podcast was featured Feedspots Top 30 Fairy Tale Podcasts? There are a lot of great podcasts on this list and we are thrilled to be included!

Continue Reading