by E.M.Robinson

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 04, 2009

Live storytelling is humorous, heart-felt, entertaining, and based on a basic truth about living. Live storytellers connect to their audiences with a deep sensitivity to characters, setting, and plot.

The value of live storytelling is in the storyteller's ability to take information out of isolation, placing the information in a story context that makes the information meaningful and memorable.

Here are some additional ways that storytelling comes alive in a public performance:

1) Live storytellers find a way to engage their audience so that they can interact with the story and the storyteller in some way.

2) That grain of truth is the basis for a successful story built on a strong foundation of time, place, and humanness.

3) Being in the presence of a storyteller working at his or her craft is a way to experience the richness of a story through dialog and expression.

4) At a public performance, live storytelling captures the senses of each audience member and sweeps them away to a time and place far removed from the storytelling venue.

5) Being in a live story telling performance is a way for the people of any language and culture to connect with generations that have gone before and to participate in an ancient tradition that transcends contemporary society.

The use of electronic media to record storytelling has expanded the audience for storytellers, thus making the power of story available to individuals who would, otherwise, not experience live storytelling. Such recordings enhance learning in schools everywhere, too; but there is nothing like the live in-person experience of attending a public performance.

Check your local newspapers and websites for live storytelling performances. Colleges, universities, libraries, and bookstores sponsor these events.

Here are some opportunities to hear the very finest in live storytelling:

1)36th National Storytelling Festival, October 3-5, 2008 in Jonesborough, Tennessee

2)2008 Four Corners Storytelling Festival in New Mexico
at River Reach Terrace in Berg Park.

3)Nebraska StoryArts is producing the 7th Annual Moonshell Storytelling Festival, September 13th 2008.

4) The Fredonia Storytelling Festival October 17-18, 2008 in the scenic town of Fredonia, NY, at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House.

5)National Storytelling Conference 2008 August 7th - 10th in Gatlinburg, TN

Storytelling in a public performance is magical and helps each member of the audience to connect to the story in a very personal and compelling way. The storyteller's involvement with the audience can sweep the listener away with the use of the low-tech wonders of verbal and non-verbal language, expression, and human connection.

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