Gary Whitaker talks about Storytelling

Reinventing Myself

2011-11-14T19:25:00.001-08:00

Reinventing Myself

I have come torealize that my world of storytelling has changed and not just the world itselfbut my world in general. In the early years it was all about directing myprograms toward schools and so was my website and everything that I did. Idesign my presentations around schools and my stories around the grade levelneeds. Now I realize that I have steered away from the schools for a number ofreasons.

One: getting intoschools to do my kind of programs became a real pain because the display itemsthat I use are all pretty much prohibited these days.

Two; and moreimportantly I prefer using my vacation time for vacation and not workingschools. I will be 60 years old this December and just a few years fromretirement. My wife and I love to travel but if I am giving up my vacation daysas I did for about 7 years then I can’t do that. So I a wanna travel

Three: and mostimportant, I wanna move on.

So now in the verynear future I am going to redesign my website. My design will be a reflectionof the kind of gigs that I would like to do. I am still waiting on some otherprograms to be completed but I would imagine that will happen early next year.In fact I have already started working on it. I will redesign my website withthe help of my webmaster Walter Hardeman in the direction that would appeal to Festivals,theater and the general public.

I am also looking at how to take my kind of storytellingdown a different road and I am talking to my good friend David Thompson in Austin about how thatkind of thing could be achieved. Plus I plan to also talk with DeeCee Cornishabout this topic. Last year when I was invited by DeeCee to perform at theStorytfest which is held at the Pantagleizetheater in downtown Fort Worth, we spoke about this subject with intent ofgetting together to talk more. I think now that that time has come.

By the way let me advertise the Storyfest which will be held Dec2 and 3, 2011 at the Pantagleizetheater again this year.Check out the Pantagleize website for more info. http://www.pantatheater.org/

In fact thePantagleize is the type of theater I would like to get into with mystorytelling ideas. It is the perfect small very cozy theater perfect for storytellingpresentations of specialized design such as epic storytelling.

That is my othersubject and concern. Storytelling is a very personal contact sport. It wasnever meant for the large crowds like the storytelling festivals though they domanage to pull it off that doesn’t mean that is how it should be done.Storytelling should be performed in small audiences and in close quarters. Astoryteller performs best when he or she is able to make contact with theiraudience, eye to eye contact. The storyteller shouldn’t be 5 feet up and 20 feet a way from the closestaudience members not to mention those that are 50 feet away in back. I am going on a mission of trying to sell mystorytelling to small theaters or small groups. Which to be honest is what I havedone most of my storytelling life. I am going to try to get David to join mebecause we have similar taste and view points.

I understand how thebig festivals came about and I even understand the need for them and they aregreat places for tellers to rub shoulders and talk shop but in my opinion theyare sterile operations devoid of what storytellers need and what the audienceneeds. They need to hear our voices and they need to see our faces.

So somehow somewayin 2012 I will start down that road of trying to change how storytelling isviewed and presented. One other thing and this is more important than all elsewhen it comes to storytelling. Storytelling isn’t just for little kids. I havespent the last 12 years designing programs geared toward middle schools and up.You would be amazed at how effective powerful dramatic storytelling is atreaching kids these ages.

So I must take astep back in order to go forward. Storytelling in the hands of a master telleris an awesome experience. For both the teller and the audience. If you wannasee what I am talking about then please leave comments at the bottom of thisblog. I am hoping that I am not alone out here.

Sincerely

Gary Whitaker 11/14/11

Enchanted Hunters

2011-11-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

Enchanted Hunters

Today’s blog will be focused on the prime focusof any storyteller. In other words, what we are hoping to achieve in the storytelling process. But in order for that to happen we must first consider how toget there.

First Rules to tell by:

RuleNumber 1

Always keep inmind that everyone is different and that works both ways.

( There areprobably as many storytellers with different styles as there are audiencemembers. No matter how good you are I can almost always bet you there will besomeone in your audience who will tell you how you could had told the storybetter or who just didn’t like your story or your version of the story ormaybe even you. Accept it and move on it is a fact of life.)

Rule Number2

Tellstories that you like. The audience can tell when you’re telling a story thatyou are not comfortable with. It shows. Believe me I know.

Rule Number 3

No matter how badly you screw up a story never pause and apologize or stop to straightenit out. Reorganize the story in your head as you are telling and push on nomatter what even if you screwed it up. Been there done that a couple dozentimes.

Rule Number4

Have Fun. This is an absolutemust. You are not just a storyteller but an entertainer. If you are having funso will your audience.

Rule number5

Throwyourself under the bus. Give it all up. Don’t hold back. Commit yourselfcompletely to your story.

( this means use yourvoice (in whatever means is necessary to convey the story), your body hands,arms, fingers , face, eyes. You become the story.)

What happens if you do all of the above? GoodQuestion. A lot can. And that leads us to what we are hoping to achieve astellers.

What we want to achieve with ouraudience while storytelling is to suspend dis-belief. As a Storytelleryou want them to forget that you are the storyteller. Your desire is to getthem to commit themselves fully to your story. You want them to be consumed bywhatever ministrations you use to draw them into the story. You want them tothrow their bodies under the bus with you.

This is pretty much my code of performing thesedays. My desire is simple. I want to lead them down that path, to walk down theroad with Jack, to face the Elf King, to challenge the black knight, to faceoff with the monster. I want them to smell the roses and the carnage withoutever having to really go into it. By “go in to it” I mean without having todescribe in tedious detail the developments of the story. We humans have awonderful in fact extraordinary capability for being devoured and manipulatedthrough words. Words create pictures in our minds.

An oral storyteller and a author are two verydifferent creatures. Keep in mind that we are not authors and we do not need togive them every detail. We use suggestions and use emphasis to help ouraudience visualize the world that we want them to enter. We are in search of EnchantedHunters and they are out there waiting for their stories.

Enchantment is a magicalword. That word alone, suggest endless possibilities. And that is exactlywhat I am talking about when I speak of “Words create pictures in our minds”.There is an almost unavoidable problem with beginning storytellers to try totell stories as if they were a reading from a book ( I know that I did). Thatis because tellers are often heavy readers and don’t understand thetransformation from literary storytelling to the verbal or Oral storytelling.In Maria Tatar’s book Enchanter Hunters this specific concept /element (magically descriptive words) is heavily discussed. In fact I wouldrecommend reading her book if you can find it. It is quite an eye opener. Inher book she reveals that the style of literary storytelling used in preservingthe Grimm tales and other such folk lore is closer akin to what a verbalor Oral teller should be trying to achieve; A simple yet eloquent retellingof a story, where certain descriptive words help the reader to achieve a visualrendering of events.

The literarylanguage in this kind of story relies on choice words to illumine the readersmind with mental pictures. The reader does it without thinking about what ishappening or why. This is specifically what an oral storyteller should beshooting for, the very essence of oral storytelling. You take this andcombine it with your own visual manipulations, ( face, body etc. actions) andyou’ve built a bridge for you audience to cross over into your world.
When I talk of using your body I am not saying you need to bejumping around like a monkey. The Storyteller should use distinct subtleactions that help to enforce the development of your story. Facial expressionsare critical, hand and arm movement adds reinforcement. In other words your physicalactions should complement the story.

I make it all sound so simple but it tookme a good 7 years to get to where I really grasped all of these concepts. I wasdoing it without understanding what I was doing because of how I had come throughthe door to storytelling. Also in my case it was due to my approach and styleto storytelling that I adopted early on. But again I really had no idea why itwas working. In other words I made lots of mistakes early on since I did notunderstand the principles that were carrying me forth.

To be a good storyteller consider yourselfto be a vessel through which your audience will be able to travel to your finaldestination. Your Story.

Gary Whitaker

11/07/2011

2011-10-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Blog ; Denton Scare on the Square

October 29 ,2011
Saturday night at the Denton , County CourtHouse, Scare on the Square Ghost Story Concert.
The ghost story concert was lots of fun with fun stories for thekids outside and the adult tales inside the court house. I want to share myappreciation of the other tellers and their talent and donated time for thisconcert. Every teller did a great job and a good time was had by all. Iwould like to thank Genie Hammel for putting the concert together and the othertells were, Tim Couch, Maryann Clark and Janet Latham.
   What most audiences don't realize is how much astoryteller feeds off of their audiences faces, eyes and even their bodies.During the lawn concert, I was the last teller, I asked the kids to comegather around closer to me for the story and about a dozen or more plus aparent did. The reason I did that is somewhat selfish. I had decided totell a jump tale and that requires that I be in close contact with my audiencebut the main reason is that I needed to see your eyes and your faces. I feedoff of your reactions to my story and without that ' 1 on 1 ' interactionstorytelling looses its some of its power. We also had joining us a signer withwhat I believe were his kids or a group of kids and he did a great job.
Storytelling is an intimate and very personal processwhich has greater impact in close quarters. Sound systems are wonderful butthey should be there to help the storyteller be heard but that does not mean weshould be telling to 1,000 people at a time. We have been seduced by the use oftechnology into playing up to larger audiences for the sake of time and money.Really I do understand this and how it came about and I have myself performedon the big stage but just because that is how it is done doesn't mean that isthe best way. We (Storytellers and our stories) are not movies or theaterplays that are designed to entertain large audiences. We are only ' One ' andwe are meant for small groups.
      The courtroom setting inside the courthouse isabsolutely awesome. It is my favorite venue and perfect for almost any kind ofstorytelling though ghost stories do work particularly well in that setting.
   I only had time for one story last night in the court houseand again I was the last teller (which by the way I enjoy being) Iperformed the one story that I wanted to tell the most 'The Erl King'which uses the idea of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe poem as its basis andtheme. This performance takes me back to my earlier dissertationregarding feeding off of my audiences faces. I had practiced this story 7 or 8times trying to develop how the presentation would go. You have to understandthat storytelling is more than just telling a tale. A certain amount of theateris involved as well.
To be honest I never really know how a story will come offuntil I perform it because the story doesn't really come to life until I am infront of my audience. Again this goes back to having an intimate audience butadmittedly not all stories requires intimacy. [ Some stories like 'Jack Tales 'don't require intimacy to tell or for the audience to enjoy but even storiessuch as this will benefit from a small audience.] So last night for thefirst time ever I told ' The Erl King ' not knowing if it would work or not.
I can't begin to tell you how this works. How my mindkicks into gear and how all the practice suddenly fires up and something thathad not existed moments before comes to life. ( it's kind of like Frankenstein"It's Alive... It's Alive...) It is hard to explain how I suddenly findmyself improvising as I tell the story or how looking into the eyes of myaudiences fires me up like a rocket going into the 3rd stage boost. It is allvery surreal as it happens and takes me into a level that is even a mystery tome. The point is though that without that intimacy of the audience I don ' tget the same kick. Otherwise I might as well be telling my story to a wall. Itis not that storytelling to a large audience can't work , it is more of a casethat it is limited in how it works. So what happened last night I really can'texplain. It is a mystery even to me. But what I can tell you is that it is aresult of interaction between me and the audience. When I first discovered theErl King Poem nearly 5 years ago I immediately wanted to find a way totell the tale. Finally last night I did and it became a powerful story just asI had hoped it would.
I consider myself blessed to have had the opportunities that Ihave experienced as a storyteller and that includes the good and the bad(believe me there has been plenty of bad as to me and the setting and evenaudience). But it is moments like last night that make them all worth while.
I would like to thank all who were there last might in that courthouse room as I told the tale of the Erl King . Thank you for letting me lookinto your souls and feed my story with it. It was your eyes, faces and bodiesthat breathed life into that story. I was just a vessel through which thestory took shape.
Thank You for allowing me the opportunity to share

Gary Whitaker aka the Storyman

Halloween Ghost Tale

2011-10-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

The Erl King Story

By Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

WHO rides thereso late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his child so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm

Thus begins a nightmareunparalleled. The Poem of the Erl King is about a Sprite or Spirit much like aBanshee. It is envisioned as a malevolent creature who haunts forestsand carries off travellers to their deaths. The original story developed out ofa ballad called Erlkönigs Tochter,or the Erl Kings Daughter by JohannGottfried von Herder in the late 1700’s. In that version it is a women thatruthlessly calls to the dying.

Of course stories, legends and folk tales blend and grow creatinga monster of epic proportions. Eventually the Erl King becomes a male creaturewho feeds on fear, hate, mistreatment, lack of love and the many otherweaknesses that children of that day would had suffered. Eventually it becomesa creature that seduces children who are unwanted or maltreated into its worldpromising the child a mother who cares, comfort, food and fun. When in truth itonly won’t the child so that it can feed on its soul and suck the life out ofit. As to the treatment of children in those days , If you wonder about what Ispeak of, all you have to do is read theGrimm Tales. It is full of stories about children being mistreated or castaside.

I discovered the poem about 6 years ago andI was immediately drawn to it. I even wrote story using the Erl King as my mainbad guy but have never been able to get a handle on the original poem so that Icould use it for storytelling. The Poem is a subtle story that plays on themost basic of childhood fears. In fact the story is quite direct and simple.The simplicity of the story was not an issue but what I lacked was a background story to weave into the original poem and a way to properly set the moodfor this story.

Iplayed with many devises off and on while trying to find a way to make thisstory work for me. In a recent version that I wrote using this poem as the maininspiration I finally found what I was looking for in a background story butstill the question remained ‘how to use it’. I wanted this to blend flawlessly.

I find it funny how my mind puts thingstogether. Oft times I have no idea that anybody is up there at all. Somewherein those dark recesses of matter hiding in a tiny cubby hole was a little brainblob just waiting for the door to open. Sometimes I think it must use a pry barto get it open but oh well. It is what it is, whatever it is.

Yeah something up there connected and a verysimple solution presented itself that works and I liked it. So in the end I amable to use the basic structure of the poem as is along with a perfect backstory and incorporate the beginning and end of the poem in the process. Thestory is not long, maybe ten minutes at best. I still haven’t practiced it allthe way through but that will come. This will be a case of presentation makingthis story work and so practice it I must. I have learned over the years howimportant basic simple voice inflections can change how the listener hears whatis being said. You can literally lead your listener by the ear down the pathyou want them to go. In some stories this is more important than in others.

This coming October 29 I will get to usethis chilling tale at the Denton Courthouse ghost story concert in the adultstorytelling program inside the courtroom. I got to perform inside the courtrooma few years ago when we used the inside for the first time and it became one ofmy most favorite settings.

I will dedicate this story to one of my bestfriends Elizabeth Beamon who will becelebrating her 60^th birthday that night and will not be able toattend the program. So here to you Liz! Happy Birthday Sweety and thanks forthe support and friendship.

All My love

Gary

Class of '71, 40th Nolan High School Reunion and Southlake Bob Jones Nature Center Festival

2011-10-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Class of '71 ,40^th Nolan High School Reunion and Southlake Bob Jones Nature Center Festival

I found myselflooking back at old faces this last Saturday night at Picosos Restaurant up inthe old North Side area of Fort Worth.I had come grudgingly to my Nolan High School class of 1971 Reunion.The buddies that I had run with in high school are all gone now. I know of onedead for sure and the others I just have no idea. Time can be a cruel mistresssometimes. So I really didn’t have anyone that I thought would remember me thatI could share memories with at the reunion.

I had been asked byDavid Eishen, the class mate who put this reunion together, to tell a storyonce he had discovered my side profession. Based on nearly 15 years ofperforming I was not of a mind to work a program in a dinner setting andespecially amongst old class mates who I had no doubt had a very different memory of me. Generallythese type of non professional settings seldom work well for storytelling. Iargued with myself over what to do. I wanted to do it but my fears wererattling my old chains mightily.

Eventually I gave inand agreed to do it but why I am not sure.

The next issue waswhat kind of material to use. I wanted something that I thought they couldconnect with. Though fairy tales can be lots of fun and there are some that youcan adult up considerably, I pushed that aside. I considered doing some AdultMaterial that would delve deep into morals and choices.

Yes I could makethem sob! I could wrench their hearts with an emotion tale of woe and hardship.

NO ain’t gonna dothat. We’ve probably all sobbed enough as it. After all most of this class isclose to 55 and over. I’ll be 60 this year. So I blew that off.

Then I decided toshoot for a middle ground. A place that we all remember with great fondness;Our childhoods and youth. So I decided on Summerof the Red Dragon and I was glad that I did. This is a story set in the1960’s and is about two boys and their adventures. It is a fun story. So Iperformed the intro to the Red Dragon.

I still wasn’t surehow they would respond to me and to this. I had really enjoyed mixing with theclass members who had come and to my amazement many remembered me. Many oldmemories had been dredged up and many stories had been exchanged. After DinnerDavid introduced me. I don’t even think that he had any idea of what to expectfrom me.

So with a short explanation of what I did andthe reasons for my choices I launched into the story with zest. Vividly Idescribed a time period that is near and dear to us all. And then suddenly allwas quiet. They had stopped talking and gathered round to see me and watch me.Their eyes and faces intent with focus and interest. I knew I had them. Theywere with me walking down those paths. So I lead them down those ancient trails andbrought them into my world, word by word, step by step and lead them into themagical world of the Red Dragon.

At the end of mystory I received a very strong applause and was surprised and glad that I hadmade this choice to share my passion. I don’t think that I will ever forget it.Those faces, those eyes, those memories. Once again my instinct had not lead meastray. I had chosen well.

On Sunday I was toperform for The Southlake Library at their fall harvest Hike festival being held at the Bob Jones Nature Center.This was my first time to be performing at this location. I wasn't sure how thiswas gonna work if at all. My old friend Elizabeth Beamon had suggested me as astoryteller along with DeCee Cornish. Decee and I are old friends going back 15years in storytelling. We have performed at the same functions dozens of times.This time we were set up in different locations and ran two separate storytelling venues set up at different times. It worked quite well.

I ended up down thetrail with a background setting of an open meadow and a path running rightthrough my storytelling area (It turned out not to be an issue). Before me wererows of benches big and small and soon I found them full of kids and adultsstopping by to listen to my stories. The kids and adults were good listenersand a fun audience.

Southlake had anexcellent turn out and I truly enjoyed myself. The audiences were great andstorytelling lots of fun. I did a variety of stories including Lazy Jack, OneShot, Big Foot Wallace and the Hickory Nuts and closed with a Scottish TaleCalled The Ogre of Castle Grim.

I want to thank Cynthia Pfiedderer who alsohelped me at the festival and Nancy Roper who invited me and set me up. I hopethis will become a annual event because I would have loved to bring my grandsonto it (actually Grandmama or his mother would had to do that but you get thepicture). I hope also that I will be invited back for future storytellingevents.It is these kind of events that are so much fun to work and give so much back to the public.

So all in all It wasa good weekend and one I will not forget for a long time.

To all of my old school mates May the Good Lord watch over and protect you and bless the rest of your days.

All for now

Take Care and God Bless

Gary Whitaker aka The Storyman

2011-09-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Beowulf Retold Rises

This project begantaking shape nearly a year ago, when my son in law, Walter, showed me some ofhis new brother in laws video work on his computer. The work that he showed mewas very creative and perfectly suited to the website in which it had beencreated for. Though Brian is a young man his work showed artistic talent andskill. It appealed to me greatly. Following my son in laws suggestion Ifollowed up on some other work that Brian Hobbs had created for websites andfound myself getting more and more excited. Using Walter as a go between Iasked him to broach Brian on the idea of helping me shoot a video of myprogram. Brian related that he would be interested.

Then for a while wehad dead air and then finally we connected. I visited him at his place onemorning and we discussed what I was interested in doing. He seemed genuinelyinterested. I warned him that this could get involved and that I was seekingsomeone with a flair for artistic work. Despite my warnings we discussed termsand on a hand shake made a deal.

This of course is asimplified version of events but it is the nuts and bolts of what happened. Tobe honest I really had no idea if he could pull this off and if I was throwingmany into the wind or his pocket and to no avail. It is a chance you take whenyou can’t afford developing a product like this with someone that has areputation for doing this kind of work. Brian did have a reputation that wasfor sure and all the work that I had seen was excellent BUT he had never doneanything like this before ( and he may never do anything like this again afterhe is done with me- poor soul- but I hope that I am wrong.)

Brian has done allthe editing in his spare time. We finished shooting in May. A few months ago he and his wife had the firstchild, a son. I am an old man these days, a grandpa (Dadoo to my grandkids) andI remember quite well what it is like raising my first child. Demanding justdoesn’t even get close to it. So his work on this video has been slow but hehas maintained his standard of excellence and is producing an awesome product.Probably better than I deserve.

Today ( 09/07/2011)I received a link from Brian to Part 1 of the video, an essentially finishedproduct that will require some tweaking. The link is a private set up allowingonly myself to view this video. Besides my wife and one other person no onewill see this video until the entire product is complete which will be a fewmonths down the road. When the video is nearly complete I do plan to post theopening segment on youtube with a link to it from my site and to remove thefirst video that I filmed myself nearly 3 years ago.

Until today I wasn’tsure what I was gonna get. I knew what hurdles Brian would have to jump to getthis done. I knew of all the re-shoots we had done because of cracking voice ormisread lines or mentally exhausted mouth and brain. I knew that we had to dotwo complete run through with each part so that we could move cameras (He onlyhad 2 cameras to work with) and capture each performance from different angles. I knew that when we filmed part one Iwas still fighting some kind of cold that had racked my voice and all day as wefilmed I was chugging a vitamin drink and water to keep the voice stable. Iknew that I was giving the boy a tall order.

Well today I foundthat Brian Hobbs is a miracle worker. I was stunned at the quality of theediting. I cannot even imagine the work he put into this video to get the lookthat he came away with. I was literally stunned. And what I am seeing right nowis a compressed version. Not what the actual final product would look like onsay a TV. Also he filmed this in HD so that the quality would be equal to the TV's on which it might be seen.

I know there arefew folk out there who would love to see this. But you will have to wait alittle while longer.I have learned my lesson about rushing into things from past experiences. It could be four to six months before the final product is available.

As to my ownperformance in this video, I was pleasantly surprised at how well I cameacross. I sounded better than I expected and the look that I had created workedreally well. But what I wanted was to come across with strength and power. Idid not want a static shoot. I wanted the video to have a visceral feeling toit. I wanted it to be gutty and physical. I did not want my audience to bebored. I wanted them to be drawn in by my performance as if it were a liveperformance. I wanted them to walk into Hrothgar’s Hall, Herot. I wanted them tosmell the blood and fear.

There gonna.

Beowulf Rises!!!

Beowulf Retold- Beginnings

2011-07-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Retelling Beowulf on Video

Over ten years ago I started writing a storytelling script based on “Beowulf”. At the time I had no idea where it would lead me or how it would change me as a storyteller. Well paths are meant to walk down and I’ve beaten this one to death.
A few years back I recording the first part of Beowulf Retold for my CD, Tales of Ancient Warriors. I did some different things on that CD by adding some sound effects to help enliven the presentation. The CD sounds great and has had moderate success.
Starting about 5 years ago I began performing the first part of my Beowulf Retold
( Beowulf vs Grendel) Script at local high schools. Again it was well received and quite affective. The feedback I got from teachers was very encouraging. In fact every where I have taken this program it has been well received.
My goal from the very beginning has been to bring Beowulf to life for modern day audiences, young and old alike. That meant I needed to make it understandable and accessible to my audience and yet still retain some of the sound and feeling that a English translation brings to it. I poured over it again and again. I threw away at least a dozen or more efforts in dealing with the opening scene. It eventually became obvious to me that I had to approach the work from a different angle if I was to succeed in the fashion that I desired. So then I deviated from the usual storytelling contrivances.
I had to find a new door.
I battled with myself on how to present the story and how much needed to be presented and of course how the material should be brought together. I tried dozens of approaches. Finally I realized that the beginning of the story did not elaborate enough in regards to the early attacks on Hrothgar’s Hall and needed to be expanded. This way the audience would grasp the depth of the horror of the king’s situation and realize the horror of the monster itself. I needed to bring Grendel alive. Then one day it all fell into place with a phrase, “It dwelt in the darkness.” Then like dominoes lined up on a path they all came tumbling down after the first one was pushed. Weeks later I had a working script but it needed refinement and so week after week I came back to it and whittled it down.
Still after the 1st part was done I needed to know. Will it work? This text was so word specific in order to achieve the sound that I wanted I was forced into a corner I had not previously considered. To capture the feeling that I had created in my script I had to deliver it pretty much as I wrote it. So I did something I haven’t done since I began performing. I memorized it or at least most of it.
Thus I started bringing the program to High Schools and the program has been very well received.
So my next question was how do I bring a program like this to audience (high schools) who can’t afford to haul me across country, especially for such a selective limited audience program.
My wife who runs the computer lab at her elementary school had the answer. Put it on film, stream it because that is where schools are going today
So about 8 months ago I started the process of putting Beowulf Retold on film. It has been a grueling process but also a very educational one. Until we are done I really won’t know if I will be able to afford to stream the final product. I am recording the entire program which is one hour long. So I will start by selling the DVD’s from my website and work my way up. The story behind the filming of Beowulf Retold is another story all to itself.
At the 2011 TSA Festival in Denton I was given the opportunity to open the first Fringe stage ever with my Beowulf Retold Program ( Part 1 only),and many thanks to David Thompson for inviting me to do so. I go at Beowulf full steam ahead and with a vengeance. I am passionate about this program and the audience ate it up. In fact they were caught flat footed by my presentation. They really liked it.
That is my goal.
If I can make adults and teen agers like Beowulf and find it interesting then imagine what other doors we could open to storytelling venues.
Thus I push forward, to open doors.

Gary Whitaker aka the Storyman
05/16/2011

Performing Summer of the Red Dragon for 5th Grade at Spicer

2009-05-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I had the privileged of performing my "Summer of the Red Dragon" Program for the 5th graders at Spicer Elementary BISD. Though today was Memorial day it was also a make up day for Spicer and so the most of the kids were at school. So today was treated as a fun day for most of the classes.
Jane Redfern is the new librarian at Spicer and earlier this year I had given her my CD on which this program is based on for her to listen to. She loved the CD and decided today would be a good day to have a program like this one for her 5th graders.
I ended up doing the program in their small gym which normally is not my favorite storytelling location because of sound problems but this worked out ok or better than I had expected.
This particular story is one hour long and with the kids having to sit on a hard gym floor for an hour I decided that I might need to spif the story up a little bit to keep their attention. So I decided to use some props that would suggest items from the story. Also in order to tone down the drama of the story and to tie the idea of imagination and playing together with the story I decided to use toy props. In other words all plastic except for the artifact and sleeping bag. I used two toy swords that I had purchased a couple years ago just for this program and a little toy bat. The props worked just as I thought they would. I thought maybe the kids would be put off by them but just as I had hoped it seemed to peek their interest or help draw them into the story.
Despite having to sit on a very unforgiving hardwood floor for an hour (I kept the program to one hour almost exactly) and being late in the day, the kids did great. Some I could see were more interested or drawn into the story than others but overall they all seemed to enjoy the story and performance. The story itself is about two teen age boys, the time period is 1963 and I call it a modern day fairy tale. The story is a combination of mystery, drama and magic. The focus of the story is about how Jason must over come his fears to help save his friends.
This presentation was the FIRST full performance of this story ever. I wanted the kids to know that it was special and it was. I hope to have more opportunities to tell Jason's story again and again in the years to come.It is a special story that I believe many youths can and will appreciate. It is also a story that adults would enjoy as well.
I would had liked to expand on the story and supplied more details but reason dictates that with circumstanced as they were that I make the story as tight as it was on the CD. This I did and with hardly a mistake. It was a near perfect telling.
So thank you Jane Redfern and Thank you 5rth graders of Spicer for making this a very special day for me.I hope that I made it special for you.
Gary

Summer of the Red Dragon- Beginnings

2009-05-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to write. It has been a dream since I was a kid. Not so much to be published but more to just find a way to use my ideas and material. When I was a youth I wrote short stories all the time. This is one of the reasons I fell into oral storytelling and have had such success in this field. Storytelling and writing stories for storytelling or converting material for storytelling falls easily within my mindset or how I approach material. I have off and own tried to approach writing a novel or book. But as always success is limited to vision and personal road blocks (basically bad habbits) that have been developed over the years. In other words oral storytelling and writing the novel are conflicting concepts in my mind. Your focus as oral storyteller is to reduce the material to a compact well organized and contrived presentation where as when trying to write a novel or novella you are doing just the opposite.

What about just writing short stories you ask? Good question. Yes I probably could do short stories and maybe get them published but that is not what I want in the end. What I want is to do the full blown book. To take a story and to flesh it all out. That is my real desire.

In 2001 I wrote a short story that I called Summer of 63. It actually developed out of a fun writing session that I had picked up from a book about writing Called The Zen of Writing by Ray Bradbury. I left the story alone and came back to it six months later. Reread it, liked it and decided to play with it some more. I did a rewrite of it and came back again to the story a few months later and decided to rename the story after the 2nd rewrite. I renamed it Summer of the Red Dragon.

The story sat again for another year when I decided I wanted to try and convert it into a oral presentation for a audience. I broke down the story like I do all material and began playing with it. I made some more changes of the oral version and I was quite pleased with what it sounded like. I don’t remember the 1^st time I did the oral presentation but as all of my oral storytelling the presentation changes with each performance. I figure things out as I tell the story mostly through watching my audiences faces. Then I make the necessary changes to the performance on the fly. Lots of fun.

Finally in 2003 I decided to try and convert the story into a longer or more complete story. In other words finish what I had started story wise. To complete the tale more for fun than anything, so I went about the task of seeing what I could do with the original story. It truly took a beating. I fought with the characters and plot off and on trying all sorts of attacks and approaches and pretty much deleting all my efforts of what I wrote. What finally brought the story together for me was a series of incidents. I won’t go into detail on that but on of the major contributors to the final story involved a strip to England and Scotland on a vacation with my wife. At least that provided the fodder I needed to bring the story full circle.

In 2006 I produced a CD called Summer of the Red Dragon in which I tell the 55 minute story of Jason and Weasel and their struggle against a fairy tale beast that is destroying their neighborhood. The oral version was not every thing I wanted but it was close enough to do the job. It worked in other words. I have had many praises for this CD from a variety of sources but it has not had the success that I had hoped that it would have. I envisioned doing this as a special one hour presentation at schools and libraries but I am apparently the only one who sees this.

At the end of 2007 I began work on writing a novel version of this story. At first I started out like gangbusters and quickly discovered the complexities of trying to write a story this long. After about four chapters I started creating reference materials. I wrote out a chapter by chapter brief, what I intended to write and then discovered that I was adding material as I went along and started up a chapter adaption brief to keep track of everything. It got worse, much worse. Eventually I bogged down myself after about 6 chapters and stopped for about a year, I did nothing on the story.

Last Month I decided to try and attack it again but this time I took a completely different tack with writing the story. I started by reviewing all I had previously wrote and rewriting and editing it as I saw fit. I have not yet picked up where I had previously left off but in a few weeks I will be there. I may make some other changes now after reviewing my writing and story but only time will tell.

One of my previous problems when I stopped before was due to the fact that I knew inwardly that something was missing or wrong with the story. I couldn't quite figure it out. So when I run into road blocks like that I shut down till the answer comes. Well it did a last Sunday in Sunday School. I went in and added the needed text and changes and now I am ready to continue on once I get to that point. Also some other problems with the story had previously haunted me and I think that now I have resolved those issues.

If I am lucky I will overcome my own issues with writing a novel and produce a final product, hopefully in the next six months I should finish. Whether or not it is ever published is another problem but I will deal with that when the time comes. At the moment that is not my concern. I must conquer one wall at a time.

When I first started working on this novel version I had intended to try and mimic my one hour story version but that soon proved to be folly. I realized shortly after starting that the story was to simple and needed a more interesting and complex plot. This is a story about two teenagers and thus if it is ever published that is the group that it will be published for and so because of that I need to keep that in mind when writing the story.

What I hope to have in the end is a fun and thrilling tale about two boys set in the year 1963 that will have the focus of watching a young man who is afraid of his own shadow and has low self esteem learn to face his worst fears. And learn what is most important in life through his experiences.

If I am fortunate God will bless his endeavor and help me to face my own demons and get this story published. And hopefully my story will help others to fight their own demons in their lives.

In the future I will write a few more blogs regarding this story and its status.

2009-01-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

Preparing for North Texas Irish Festival and Beowulf Retold
I love working the North Texas Irish Festival ( NTIF ) held in Dallas at Fair Park (this year March 6-8, 2009). It is by far the most fun and enjoyable festival in all of Texas. It has the best music and entertainment and is run far better than any annual weekend festival I have ever worked for. Not only is it the best but those who run it treat their performers great.

As a storyteller I have known Dawn Sparacio for well over 5 years now. I first met her when I was working the Celtic Heritage Festival in Bedford Texas which is pretty much defunct now. She was running the childrens area for the festival and it was obvious from the first that she is a creative and inventive soul who had a big heart for kids. She eventually gave up on the Bedford festival and went over to NTIF. They gave her full reign over the children's area and she over the years moved this program up a quite a few notches. Last year she technically resigned from running the area because she remarried and moved to another state but she still has her hands in the general organization of this program. I owe a lot to Dawn. Now Dawns Daughter has taken her place and is continuing with Dawn’s same vigor.

I wrote Dawn a few months ago and asked her if there was anyway I could get an adult stage to do my Beowulf Program (I could not do this program in the children’s area) . She plugged me into Connie Ener and I told her what I would like to do and she listened. Connie told me that she would see what could be arranged but didn't promise me anything. In the meantime I created my youtube presentation of my opening segment of Beowulf Retold and posted it on in the last week of November 2008 ( a link is posted on my website to this presentation on the home page).

Once I saw that my youtube video was getting a favorable response I sent an email to Connie and gave her some background on the video and sent a link of it to her. I can only assume that it made a difference in some way or form or fashion because the next I heard from her they would try to find me an adult stage, which they did. Finally I was contacted by John Hebley who is running that stage and I was set up. I will get my chance to do Beowulf Retold on the Traditions Stage at 2pm Saturday March 7, in the Creative Arts Building at the 2009 festival this year.

Of course I am pretty excited about this opportunity to do this program at the NTIF. I did get to do this program at the Bedford Celtic Heritage Festival on a main stage last year but this festival was so poorly attended that I only had an audience of 30 by the time I finished the program and that was in the big tent. I was told that the program would be advertised and that was one of the reasons I came back to the Celtic Heritage Festival but the only promise that was kept was that I got to perform on the main stage. I had no other form of advertisement besides the sign and all it said was my name. And adding to that I was never paid for my time and performance because the festival made no money.

Still it gave me an opportunity to do the program on a main stage with my hand made lyre to complement the presentation and with a professional sound system and sound man. In that it was great. I started out with an audience of 6 and ended up with 30 and I sold 5 CD's which turned out to be the only money I would get for that festival. This is how it is sometimes for a storyteller such as myself.

It is my hope to be able to present the entire Beowulf Retold or in other words the entire Beowulf story in my version when I am done. I just recently finished writing the 3rd and final section, the part of the story dealing with Beowulf as King of the Geats and his battle with the dragon. I finished and refined the 2nd section last year. I will probably have the 3rd section completed (refined to final form) by this summer. After that I will start memorizing those final two sections just as I did with the first one. Through memorization I will be able to present Beowulf as I see it and in the words that I see it being told in. The entire presentation performed with my lyre will probably take one and a half hours, maybe less. I won't know until it is finished. My ultimate goal with this presentation is to make it presentable for stage and to take it around Texas and beyond when I retire in a couple years or maybe even before.

The script for Beowulf is the only script that I memorize when performing. Even with that it still varies on occasion because it is an intense presentation and not designed for younger audiences. Normally a storyteller does not memorize their story. They learn the basic plot, names and or structure of the tale and the story is literally remade before the audience eyes and ears. It is a thing of beauty. But with Beowulf Retold I decided early on to take a different tack with it. The first script covering the first section of Beowulf took me nearly two years to write, mostly because I wanted something original. I tore up a lot of scripts that did not do what I wanted. When I finally stumbled onto what would be my final approach to telling this tale I soon realized that in order for it to work that I would have to tell it just as I had written it. Nearly word for word. Believe me when I tell you this, memorization is not my thing. It took me nearly three months to learn the first section and will most likely take me at least twice that time to memorize the entire program.

Why? You ask should I torture myself like that. Good Question. The answer is quite simple.
When I began writing the first script I had been studying Beowulf for around 10 years. I had fallen in love with the original version. I had found it enthralling. Yet I understood quite well that it was archaic and challenging to modern day audiences. I myself had to resort to all kinds of translations to figure the story out. But once I had accomplished that, much became clear and the beauty and power of this tale unfolded before me. In the beginning I was just trying to write a version I could perform in schools. Then that progressed to trying to do it at festivals and other settings. Now I want to turn it into a stage production and that explains the decision to memorize the entire program. If I am perform it on stage for repeat audiences it needs to at least be similar or exact every night because that is what audiences like that pay for. That is what they want to hear and see.

So there is my goal for Beowulf Retold.

So hopefully by 2010 I will have the complete program ready. In the mean time I plan to try and hit more stages to do the first part of the program on and to try and develop a following for my version of Beowulf. For those of you who know me, you understand that I am quite passionate about this program and often with passion comes the unexpected. So if you have not heard my version of Beowulf, please come see me March 7 on the Traditions Stage at 2pm at the North Texas Irish Festival. I will be looking forward to performing for you.

Storytelling at Worth Ranch

2008-12-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

Storytelling at Worth Ranch
Last weekend I had the privilege of camping with my old Boy Scout Troop 336 at Worth Ranch. We spent Friday night at the cola camp site and then went up to Kyle on Saturday night and left Sunday morning.

The soul purpose of me being there this weekend was to do some storytelling because the troop still keeps me on the books as the Troop Storyteller (God Bless their little souls collectively) and Worth Ranch is where I discovered my talent for storytelling. It is also the only place I will tell my version of the Hugo Monster tale.

There are lots of things I would like to talk about here (such as freezing my rear end off in below freezing tempts) but for this particular blog I am going to just stick to the basics, the adults and the boys of 336 and then my choices regarding stories.

It had been over two years since the last time I went to Worth Ranch with my troop to do some storytelling or as they would say, since I told the Hugo story. In two years a lot can change.

Now the boys who were still kids when I last told at the camp are now young men and helping run the troop .Most of the faces in this troop are fairly new to me because I only make a few meetings a year. I served 336 as their 2^nd assistant scoutmaster from 1993 to 1997 and raised my son Joe in this troop. The troop log is my design.

First, for those of you who have never dealt with scouts a little insider info. This is an organization that thrives on boys running the program. The adults are there to answer questions and provide a referee when needed and supervision to those scouts whose job it is the provide leadership. The adults are mainly there to make sure things happen and to help when needed.

This is also a chance for the boys to seek their wild side. Whether moms or dads realize it or not most boys have a desire for adventure to do something out of the ordinary. Something that requires a little more of them than normal society ask, to challenge themselves.

So the boys are given the chance to be boys with some guidance. Some camp outs are meticulously planned with all kinds of activities for advancement and some are easy going. This particular camp out was fairly easy going. Some of the advancement work needed this weekend was for cooking and so on Saturday morning they cooked bacon and pancakes and did a pretty decent job. Yes moms your boys can cook if given the opportunity to do so.

The older boys in the troop who have done all their rank advancement or most of it are the true guides to the younger scouts. In fact if you wish they are the younger scout’s inspiration. Yes the same kids who want or claim that they can’t clean up their rooms are providing guidance and inspiration to the younger kids. Interesting hmmm….

Yes, it is never pretty or perfect and seldom works as it should but the fact is that it does and will work to some degree. Sometimes it works great and others so so.

Worth Ranch is a special place to me as it is too many adults. My father was an assistant scout master for troop 34 out of Saint Georges in Haltom City. I had two older brothers who both went through scouts and so when I was 6 or 7 years old dad was taking me out with him on campouts (thanks Dad) and many of those camp outs were at Worth Ranch. By the time I became a scout I was steeped in the lore of Worth Ranch. I spent many wonderful and challenging summer camps at Worth and in the end as an adult it serves as the place where I found my love for storytelling.

This camp out was also a back packing camp out which means we carried a minimal of food and supplies and that Saturday morning after lunch and some play time we packed up to Mt. Kyle (it is actually a typical Texas Plateau) and camped out up there that night.

This was a real challenge for most of these younger boys just hiking up to Kyle. The boys learn quickly about balancing your pack (how you pack it) and what to leave behind or take. They figure this out about half way up the hill when their packs start falling apart or their legs begin to give out under the weight of what they thought they needed. Yes, the leaders told them and showed them how to pack and what to do but most kids have to learn by experience (you can lead the horse to water but…).

Unfortunately the meds my Dr. has me on for my diabetes has been giving me severe cramps and muscle pain on occasion and sure enough even though I had limbered up all morning with a good hike I started cramping in my right leg just as we were getting ready to mount up and I could not carry my pack. The scout master did not hesitate, Steve said, ‘don’t worry the boys will get it’ and so I did not worry about it. Sure enough I went up without the pack and as soon as we reached the top, duties were given out by the SPL , Kinkaid (Senior Patrol Leader) and two boys went down to fetch my pack and some fire wood (it was Derek who brought the pack back up for me). Eventually several shortages were realized and the SPL was quickly sending boys back down to retrieve supplies even to the extent of creating a relay line to get supplies up to Kyle as dark was descending on the hill. I was very impressed.

Finally after dinner my time came to do my bit and with a log for a seat and a nice warm fire before me I told my tale of my experience with Hugo Monster in 1963. Then I told the tale of 'Teig O’Kane and the Corpse' (an Irish Ghost Tale) and finally upon request from the troop I did the intro for 'Summer of the Red Dragon'. When I go camping with my troop I always want to give them something special, extra. Some thing that no one knows about except for a special select few. So next I shared with the boys some facts relating to the creation of Summer of the Red Dragon and other interesting tidbits related to my storytelling. The boys were awesome and listened intently. But what I told them that night is between me and the boys of 336.

It was a wonderful night for me. The boys and adults were awesome. The boys were rapt in listening and wanting more. The camp fire was perfect and the setting almost unbeatable. The boys thanked me afterwards for my storytelling but what they don’t get is that without them I am worthless.

A storyteller must have an audience and 336 is my all time favorite.
I want to thank all the adults of 336 for continuing to make me comfortable with my infrequent visits with the troop and their incredible support of my efforts to keep storytelling alive in boy scouts (far to many adult leaders believe that storytelling is just for cub scouts).

I especially want to thank Scoutmaster Steve Grady and his two adult assistants Rich Treu and Mike Everett, all three of these guys were easy to talk to and I found them all very friendly and courteous. I want to thank them for their efforts last weekend and for their comradery during the camp out (can't tell you how much I miss that). I want to thank the Kincaid and Derek for their extra efforts to help a tired old man. (They even offered to carry my pack down Sunday Morning but by then I seemed to be okay). I want to thank the boys of 336 for being a little different and giving scouting a chance and I especially want to thank all you mom's and dads for keeping these boys in scouting. You won’t regret it.

Over the last 15 years I have managed to develop a career as a professional storyteller and I have performed in front of audiences of 1 and a 1,000. Today I am called a Master Storyteller by many of my piers. I have sometimes not been paid and others I have received a hefty payment for my performances. Yet in the end all that matters is that someone in that audience listens and realizes that I have a message for them and if I succeed in that then I have done what I was born to do and that makes me smile.

Thanks 336

Mr. Whitaker aka The Storyman

Beowulf Retold, Gary Whitaker , Storytelling - Recording for Youtube

2008-11-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

I will be the first to admit that I have to do things before I can see what works what doesn't work. I can plan what sounds and looks good on paper but until I actually do it I am at the mercy of what appeals to me. Last night I spent over 5 hours working on a video for youtube of my intro to Beowulf Retold. My original idea for this specific video was to film it in my backyard. I have an area back there with a fire-pit. I figured build a fire, use the dark as a back ground and the sounds of the night. Shoot the performance across the fire and use my wireless sound system to make sure I am heard. What I did not anticipate was the battery life on the camera nor what it would look like trying to handle my lyre in between passages and the wider camera shot. After about 2 hours and 4 shootings I decided that it wasn't gonna work. I doused the fire-pit and put everything up. Previously I had made a three minute recording for my facebook site of a portion of the Beowulf intro, in my library, and so I decided to try it back there again

So eventually I went back inside the house to my library and took a another shot at it. Still trying to minimize the light but have enough to illuminate the performance (I had loved the look that the fire outside had given my face and so I lit some candles and put them on the book shelf and came away with a similar look) . After a couple attempts with the sound system I eventually decided to drop it and go for a closer approach and see what that looked like.I continued to go through the batteries like fire on old wood. Finally with the camera about two feet from my face and keeping body movement to a minimal, I let my face tell the story. I finally ended up with what I thought was the best I could do on my own and loaded it onto youtube. When I began this process I had given a lot of thought to how I should dress and in the end it didn't matter except for the fact that I kept my clothing dark to add to the effect. So this was how all this came about.

In the end I was happy with the final product (and yes that was all done in one take- I hav eno editing systems at the moment). My video is in no means meant to be a professional recording. My purpose was truly quite simple. When I tell people that I have done a version of Beowulf or that I am a professional storyteller they look at me like I'm crazy. Well besides that fact, I want people to be able to see and hear what I sound like, especially those who will never come to one of my programs or for the fact to any storytellers program). Also when I storytell I become a very different person, kind of the Jeckel and Hide thing, I literally transform into a different person. So this is a way for them to see me in action. In many ways I am a unique storyteller and my approach to some material is quite different than other tellers. I will do typical material in typical storytelling fashion when it calls for it but some material requires a different tack as far as I am concerned and Beowulf is one of these programs. I will eventually add a link to to my youtube site from my website.

My intention is to do a few more recordings once I work out the camera issue (Batteries). I plan to do a portion of my Legend of Sleepy Hollow and I have some other complete stories I might add but now I have a better idea of what I am dealing with. I had given this idea thought for some time now (posting some of my work on youtube) but was not comfortable with doing that during that time frame. Why I finally changed my mind I can't say but I think in the long run it will pay off.

Beowulf Retold

2008-11-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

I started working on a Beowulf Storytelling Script several years before I finally came up with the version that I am using now. It was quite a learning experience for me. Mostly because I ended up trashing a lot of work that didn't suit me. I had been studying this ancient work for nearly ten years when I finally decided to try and tackle it. I also had listened to several other storytellers attempts at bringing this great tale alive and all were good but I felt that something was missing. Whether or not my final version is any better or succeeds in a way that I had hoped for is purely up to the audience.
My basic desire was to create a version that somehow reflected the sound and feel of the original and yet be wholly original in creation, Beowulf Retold. I eventually ended up mimicking the sound of the Alliteration poetry by created a phrasing sound to my storytelling or in other words by breaking the sentences into phrases. I also did a little alliterative phrasing in the process. It was never my intention to do poetry. I just wanted to mimic the sound because I felt like that was imperative to the sound and feel of this great work. I also wanted to capture how some of the story was told, the language and the feel of it. All very important to what makes Beowulf such a great masterpiece.
As in all things it all came together with a phrase. "It Dwelt in the Darkness" and from there it grew. Even though the poem does not go into great detail about the initial attack by Grendel of Hrothgar's Hall, Herot. I needed a way to draw my audience into the story, so to speak, to set the stage. And so I enlarged on Grendel's first attack and established this creatures motives and blood lust and hate right off the bat.
The final script was over ten pages long. It was so exacting, so specific in language that I decided that I needed to learn it word for word. Something I had never done before. So over a six month period I memorized the entire script (memorization is not my thing). The thing is that this is not how a storyteller normally learns their story. Instead we learn key elements of a story and then depending on setting, audience and other factors we literally reinvent the story right in front of the audience. Sometime the story stays the same and sometimes it will change quite a bit.
But with Beowulf I decided to take a different tack and for the first couple years that was how I presented the program in a variety of fashions which I will not discuss right now. The first time I ever did it at a school was for a teacher at Haltom High School, Connie Sanchez. The kids seemed impressed with it and so did she. I remember her saying something to the effect 'I guess that this will change and grow with time like the rest of your work' and I responded ' that it was not my intention to do so. '
Well I was wrong.
She was right.
the story has not changed a lot but like every story it has taken on a life of it's own through me and because of that it has changed quite a bit in other ways.
Stories are never static. They are meant to grow.
Even the surviving script of Beowulf is just one version of this great story. I have little doubt that there were many other versions that were told. The Druids of old use to say that the written word killed the story and in some ways that is very true but what I have found is that the storyteller keeps the word alive.
I am now trying to bring my version of Beowulf into Irish and Celtic festivals. If things work well I will get a chance to do so at the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas Texas in 2009. I have been a regular in the childrens area for over 5 years now but Beowulf needs and an adult audience. So I am hoping to get my chance with a decent audience at this festival. I have not had the success with the schools that I had hoped for but Beowulf is my passion and I will do what I have to do to give it life. If I do get the chance to do the program at NTIF I will advertise it on my blog and on my facebook page. Thanks for taking time to read my thoughts.

Tamlin, The ballad

2008-11-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to put together an oral storytelling version of the ancient ballad Tamlin that I would be happy with for several years now. Tamlin is a very unusual ballad especially for the time in which it would had been conceived, similar versions of what we today call Tamlin are referred to as early as the 1500's but the first written version appears around 1776.
The elements that make Tamlin unusual is that this is a story about a young girl (Janet) who decides to take her fate into her own hands and defy her parents (more specifically her father) and the culture that pervades their lifestyle.
This is in a time when young women were used like cattle to barter better lands and power for their fathers own status. Sometimes these deals worked out well between bride and husband. Since women had little power they were at the mercy of men and if the brokered deal was a good one (with a decent man) then she would at least be taken care of but in most cases they were horrid arrangements.
I have done research off and on regarding Tamlin but it was while reading a blog at Sarah Beth Durst blog site that I finally found what I had been missing before.
Sarah is a youth writer and has her 1st book out called, "Into the Wild" which I am looking forward to finding and reading. In her blog she called Janet a' Kick-butt heroine' and goes on to justify her perceptions of Janet, making some very insightful remarks about the kind of person she is. I had read similar reviews before or interpretations but somehow what Sara said and how she said it got through to me. Anyway something clicked inside that dark corridor that I call my brain. A light came on. AllI had to do was find that stupid switch.
So after doing more research ,either in my books or on the net, I finally put down a version of Tamlin for oral storytelling. I will have to refine it, play with it and tell it several times before I get it somewhere in the ball park of a fianl version but now I have something substantial to play with. Also keep in mind that a storyteller seldom has a FINAL version. It is a thing of growth and reinventing. It will always be changing as I see more of the story in my mind with each telling but the cruz of the tale will remain the same.
I decided to go with the version I have in the 1902 Oxford Collections of Ballads by Arthur Quiller and Couch ( there are actually many versions of this ballad and some with quite different takes on the story). I stuck to there version fairly faithfully but took took the liberty of filling in some gaps that would had left a modern day audience in the dark.
The trouble with trying to do material like this is how to convert it in such a way that a modern day audience, (youth or older), would get the crux of Janet's delima and what kind of being Tamlin had become.
It is my personal opinion (though I did not exercise it in my version) that Tamlin is a dog. When he describes to Janet how he came to be with the Faery folk he says he fell from his horse while riding one day.
If I was to interpret how that sounds; it sounds like he was doing what he pleased how he pleased with whomever he pleased and got caught by the fae folk in the process. In truth Tamlin is pretty much a scuzz. He gets Janet pregnant. ( but I think this is her ultimate desire) as he has many others who have come to Carterhaugh and then uses her to save him.
Of course in the end, it all ends well because when he was human he stood to inherit his grandfathers lands. So Janet is not only saving Tamlin but herself and her child. Pretty smart little girl. She has broke away from her father's power over her and taken care of herself and her child all in one fell swoop. In her day and time this would had been unheard of and that is why this ballad is so important.
In every since of the word, it was different. It told a different story about entittlement and power and the system. Though the ballad is called TamLin it is in truth about the girl, Janet.
This just goes to show that the concept of equality has been hanging in the shadows for a long time. If you were to go back even further , to the dark ages, you would find that in some cultures women were worshiped and highly respected.
When I deal with material like this I try to keep an open mind as to what kind of audiences I would tell this to and how I would present the material. Often it just depends on how the audience itself reacts to what I am doing and saying. My goal is always quite simple. to share, to open minds and to make people currious. The Balllad of Tamlin offers all of this.

Storytelling at Longhorn Council 100th Anniversary Campore

2008-11-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had the honor of telling stories for the cubs and weblos scouts at the Longhorn Council Campore which was held at Texas Motor Speed Way near Fort Worth Texas. I want to thank Scot Lindgren for setting me up and John Parks for accommodating me in this 100th anniversary cellebration of the Boy Scouts. I also want to offer special thanks to Troop 336 and their scoutmaster Steve Grady for sharing their food and camp with me. Though I have not been physically active with the troop over ten years they continue to keep me as a n active member and as the troop storyteller. I try to make a few camp outs a year and I have not missed any of the troops Webloee's that they have every October. I also want to thank the adults who were there this weekend and their kind attentions and friendship. All of you guys and gals are awesome, thank you.
We had WIND. ALLLL WEEKEND!!!!
If there had been no wind or a light wind it would had been a perfect weekend for this celebration. And yet some how it was fitting. The boy scouts continue to maintain a steady path against many difficult struggles and why should they not during there 100th anniversary celebration be faced with a horrendous wind. And yet, the celebration went on.
Father's and mothers and scoutmasters and volunteers hunkered down with their boys and fought their way through the wind and still had a great time. The Marines had parked this huge truck over by where I was set up and it was an absolute blast watching those kids go crazy all over and in that monster. I think they ought to park one in every school and get rid of the playground. It was just awesome. Thanks Marines!!
Fortunately I had brought my sound system and wireless. Without it I would had been pretty much worthless. I was impressed with the kids and adults staying and listening to my stories. It was tough in particularly where I was set up was like a wind tunnel in itself and the wind just howled though there mercilessly. Yet the boys came and stayed and listened. The first group I managed to snag was about a 100 strong but the rest of the day it was 5 or 10 at a time.
Unfortuneately I was unable to do any boy scouts because where I was set up was primarily in the cub scout area so maybe next time I will get a set up for the boy scouts. I met a lot of nice people and had some interesting talks with others. I met one scoutmaster who sat and traded stories with me for a while. I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who beleived in the importance of storytelling.
The wind got colder as the day went, not warmer as I had hoped. I had to slip into the OA tent a couple times to warm up. That wind was wearing me down. Around 3:30pm ( after being out there since 9am) I finally gave it up collected my gear and took a short nap in my warm windless truck before going to eat supper with my troop. I stayed with them till around 7pm and though I really wanted to stay and talk some more because I was having a great time I decided that I better get before the big show started at the camp grounds. I really hated going. But I was exahusted and knew that I needed to go but all the others, the socutmasters, mom and dads, they all stayed even though they knew that when the wind stopped it was going to get really really cold that night.
The reason I am telling you all this is pretty basic. The system still works, it is not broke. There are a lot of great people out there still trying. Despite a bogus economy and other challenges that we face in our personal and daily activities there are folk out there helping, caring and giving and not giving up. I was only one of hundreds of volunteers out there this weekend. Every scoutmaster and adult involved out there this weekend were in truth volunteers. They gave up their weekend, they gave up there money, they gave out concern and love. They took care of their and other people kids and did it with passion. A passion for giving kids a good time. They did it because they knew that it mattered and IT DOES. Thank you all. Thank you for believing.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow - storytelling

2008-11-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I performed (storytelling) for the 3rd year in a row for Elizabeth Ellis at the Denton Scare on the Square Ghost Story Concert. This is an annual event and usually each year different tellers are invited to tell. So to be asked three years in a row by one of greatest tellers of all time is quite an honor for me. I feel quite fortunate to even be on the same slate as her in a program. Any program.
One of the reasons Elizabeth ask me back is because I am generally ruthless when it comes to storytelling ghost stories. I am not a blood, guts and gore teller. I rely mostly on good arrangement of material in presenting the story and intensity of telling. In other words lots of drama, suspense. I use my voice (modulating intensity) and pauses to effect and with a good sound system you can literally get away with murder when telling a good chilling tale.
In this specific program we do a free concert outside that is family oriented (little kids can come) and then starting last year we did a paying concert inside the courthouse. It is presented inside one of the courtrooms and OH!!! what a great place to tell spooky tales. I fell in love with it last year.
This year I decided to take a crack at telling one of the all time great ghost stories. Something that all of us has grown up with but I have never heard a professional teller tell. I had tried to tackle the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving once before for a program in west Texas and I hated the final product. That was about two years ago when I had done that program. I had come a long way even since then and took the proverbial bull by the horns and started working on it again.
My problem was that one of the reasons Elizabeth keeps asking me back is because I usually do really scary material and I just didn't know if I could pull this off the way I saw it. And of course I would be doing this in the courthouse where the really good material is told. This story is treated as a children's classic and so that was my concern. How it would be recieved. I don't normally do new material in a paying concert. I like to work it out and play with it a while in non paying situations. So that I can develop the material.
So that was my situation.
Until the day before the concert I still wasn't convinced that I had the right approach to telling Irving's classic tale. I had learned a while back that some stories had to be reinvented in presentation of material. Especially older stories that are some what archiac in there writing and presentation (though Hollow is probably one of the best written stories of its time). One reason for this approach is that by restructuring the story it gave the teller more freedom in how to present it. The other reason is when storytelling a classic tale such as this one it gives the teller an advantage with his audience. They may know the story but are not quite sure where your going or how you plan to get there.
Then I went back to how I had structured my Beowulf material for Beowulf Retold. In my retelling of this great classic I had seized upon a dramatic event that was near the beginning of the story that had little detail and turned it into a detailed dramatic opening to draw my audience into the drama of the story.
So after beating myself over the head for nearly two weeks playing with the material I started over. I reviewed the story and picked a turning point. The part of the story where Icabod is about to enter the Hollow. It is a turning point in the story for Icabod. It is high drama in itself. Does he enter the Hollow ( the most haunted place in all of New York) or go back to the Van Tassels after being embarrassed by Katrina. Then as Icabod sits at the entrance of the Hollow I had him reviewed some of the details of the events that had happened earlier that night. Using that material to exploit the character of Icabod, Katrina and Brombones.
I intentional made the most of my characters and their extreems (could do more with more time) just as Iriving had. I tried to include all of the important facts relating to the area and his situation. How Icabod would had been viewed by the locals and espeically the girls. After Icabod reconsiders his issues he decides that he can not go back.
With this approach in mind I went to the concert. Outside on the courthouse lawn, for the non paying concert, I was last to tell. After listening to Tim Couch do a great story that had come from a youth tale about a wolf, I decided to do my version of the wolf woman legend. Lots of fun and it worked great.
Inside I was last to perform again and I was having quite an inner battle with sticking to doing the Hollow. I am basically a chicken at heart. I hate to do bad material or good material badly. I always want to come off as good as I can. This is very important to me. Finally my time came. I still hadn't made up my mind. I walked up to the mic with my mind saying ' do the tried and true you will make a mess of Hollow ' and then the other part of me was going, "Chicken!!"
In my heart I knew I could do this and really wanted to. I just don't get many opportunities to do material like this in a situation like this. It was perfect. So I did the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and it was great. I had a blast and the audience laughed in the right places and were terrified in the others. It was fun and the presentation felt like it worked the way I had intended it to. In fact I was so happy with it I have decided to make it into a special program on my website.
My point of all this is pretty simple. I need to listen to my inner voice more often. I think that we all need to.
I love to storytell.
It has been a huge part of who I am for the last ten years. It has expanded my horizons and given me opportunities that I would had never dreamed of ten years ago. I have been called by many a Master Storyteller and maybe I am. But Master or not I still have qualms, battles, within myself about how and what kind of material to do and how to do it. I know that every time I do program I am creating inside of someone's mind. I am instilling idea's and images. To me this is an important responsibillity.
In the courthouse at Denton a few weeks ago I won a battle. I crossed a line that previously had been restricted to me. The last time I did that was in 1993, when at my son's Boy Scout camp out at Worth Ranch. I told the tale of Hugo's Crack. That night I had a battle within myself as well. Whether I should tell the tale or not. I had never done anything like that before. I did not consider myself a speaker or a storyteller. But a voice inside me said do it and I did. It changed my life forever.
Before I sign off on the blog I want to thank my dear freind Elizabeth Beamon who I have known now for over ten years and was a member of the Tarrant Area guild of Storytellers. She came out to Denton just to see me tell. She could not stay for the Courthouse gig because she needed to drive home. A better and deary freind a storyteller could not ask for. Thanks Elizabeth, God Bless.

Why Storytelling is Important

2008-11-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

This is not meant to be a preaching blog about storytelling because I let my stories speak my heart for me.
I have created this blog so that others might understand how a performer like me operates and thinks when it comes to putting together programs. It will not be a daily blog but I will most likely post a weekly blog.
It will also serve to let others know of my new programs that I have created and also what I hope to achieve with these programs. Some of this will just be me as a performer and my ideas and some of this will be about storytelling and some of this will be about events that I have participated in.
I have been performing for over ten years now and I am considered by many other tellers in the field to be a master storyteller today. Yet I am not a regular at Storytelling Festivals (except at the TSA festival in Denton for the Ghost Story Concerts -thanks to Doc and Elizabeth Ellis) and that is okay.
There was a time when that was important to me but as I have grown as a performer and teller I have come realize that the most important thing about being a storyteller is to share the stories in such a way that is effective and inspiring. Of course not all stories are not meant to be inspiring but are meant to share ideas and morals. So it is important to succeed in this as well. For almost all folk tales impart some kind of moral idea or concept. So this brings me to the point of this specific blog.
WHY IS STORYTELLING IMPORTANT?
Our world, our history, our lives are all tied together by stories. Many stories are lost but somehow some stories survive and that is what we pass on from decade to century.
The reason some of the stories survive is because within them there is a truth that can not be denied. But what are those truths and why are they so important?
Let us consider that today we are surrounded by super hero tales and movies.
Why? because we need them.
We live in a time when our world is unstable and explosive and we would like to believe in a superhero who will go beyond our normal expectations and save us from ourselves.
Where does the idea of the super hero comes from. It comes from Mythology and the gods of the ancients; who were human and also gods. The superhero's of today are just new versions of the superhero's of ancient times (Greeks, Romans..etc.). So whether we realize it or not we are surrounded by the ties of storytelling. Through stories we find ties that bind us together.
There is a power in storytelling when a story is properly presented. The storyteller will propel you into their world of words and imagination. Like an author of a book the storyteller will allow your imagination to create pictures and scenes and actions. The storyteller will put you into the path of the main character's story and help you live their experience. The storyteller will help you past your disbelief and suspend reality. The storyteller will make their story live, breath, walk and talk. The listener becomes a part of the story.
Why is Storytelling important?
Because it enacts your imagination, it broadens your vision and challenges you views of life. It makes you think. It will make your laugh and cry. It might even make your reconsider some of your moral concepts. Yes, some stories are old fairy tales that we have all grown up with but modern day storytellers take the themes of many of these older stories (folk tales etc) and envision them in different ways. They create new stories out of the old or use old themes with a story about a person's life or struggles. In other words we update these old stories just like the superhero tales.
The stories of a storyteller whether they be folk tales or legends are all based on concepts that have survived throughout the ages. Basic themes and characterizations that have manifest themselves throughout history. Stories connect us with ourselves, past and present. They also help us to see ourselves and look at our actions from a different perspective.
This is why we need storytelling in schools whether it be elementary, middle or high and even college. This is why we need storytelling at churches (not just biblical storytelling) and in public events. This is why adults need storytelling. We need to recognize the value of storytelling. But the world is run by adults who believe that storytelling is just for kindergartner's and librarians.
I used to say that my goal was to convince adults that storytelling isn't just for kids!
I know that there are many adults out there that believe in storytelling and its value. I see them at storytelling festivals and a few other public events. But remember that our kids only find value in what their parents acknowledge as valuable. So if adults don't show value in storytelling neither will their kids. And one day we will loose site of who we were and are.
Storytelling is a bond. It is the stitch, it is the glue.
Why is Storytelling Important! Because it is what makes us Human.