Judith Black

Judith bursts the boundaries of safe and humorous yarns. She is fast-paced, feisty, and “awesomely confident” according to one reviewer. Her stories are made of “strong material, full of stark imagery and powerful themes.” They touch many genres, topics, and age groups; she handles authentic issues with laughter and poignancy. Judith’s stories of aging and death have been hailed in medical journals as important contributions to the medical community. They arouse questions of ethical and moral issues in medical practices. Her stories exploring Jewish identity are listed among the important tales of Jewish culture. Judith’s historical stories offer new perspectives of our national history. Judith has delighted audiences from the Montreal Comedy Festival to The Smithsonian Institution, to the Art Museum of Cape Town; she has appeared 10 times at the National Storytelling Festival, and is the winner of the Oracle Award, storytelling’s most coveted laurel.

Judith teaches classes on Telling to Children and Creating Stories From Your Life. Her popular original stories are commissioned to further the missions of government, institutions, and historic sites. These stories strive to offer non-traditional vantage points on people, places, and events, in the hopes of creating a broader understanding of our national past. In 2010 she won the MassMouth Big Mouthoff with a 4-minute story about her son’s return home from combat duty in Iraq.

During this last decade she headlined the Comedy Showcase at the largest conference for Jewish educators in the world, was commissioned to create an original tale for an Emergency Pediatric Room Nurses Conference and developed a diversity training for high school educators. She opened a new one-woman show “Retiring the Champ” which explores issues of aging and dying in America.

“Black is a warm and dynamic storyteller with a wry sense of humor… Smart and undeniably funny”

Michael Parent

Michael Parent gives audiences a vivid window into the rich world of French-Canadian culture – a heritage which is rich with songs and stories. Michael grew up surrounded by family that spoke both French and English; he has been drawn to their stories all his life. His award winning stories, “Sundays at Grandma’s,” and one-man show, “Grandpa’s Birthday” grew out of oral history interviews of family and friends. Michael co-authored a book of translated and retold stories from the Franco-American tradition. His one-man show “One More Thing,” addresses aging, grief and loss, class consciousness, generational conflict, the connection between work and self-worth, and Franco-American culture and identity.

Michael has performed stories and songs in English and French since 1977 at events including the National Storytelling Festival, and several international festivals. He received the National Storytelling Network’s “Circle of Excellence” Award in 1999, and was a keynote speaker at the 2001 National Storytelling Conference.

Michael also leads storytelling, story writing, and performance workshops. He has been called “the storyteller of the underdog.”

Jim May

When Jim tells a story, he not only entertains and delights, but also to captures direct soul-to-soul communication. He leaves a sparkling trail of enthusiastic audiences who have been enlivened by his storytelling. For him, stories are a timeless way for people to enjoy and cherish one another’s company. Jim was raised in Spring Grove, Illinois, the small German-Catholic farming community of his ancestors. His stories resonate with the rural voices of the Illinois prairie. His relatives spent time visiting and telling stories as an integral part of daily life–a means of weaving the social fabric of the community. Jim is an Emmy award-winning storyteller and author who values live storytelling as an art form for entertainment, education, and for the grounding and healing that is needed in complex, modern times.

 

Jim May has told stories have taken him across the United States and Europe. He has told at schools, corporations, professional groups, and festivals across the land. Chicagoans know him from his appearances on WGN’s Roy Leonard Show and from the Studs Terkel radio show on WFMT-FM. He received a 1989 Chicago Emmy award for a WTTW-Channel 11 production of his original story, “A Bell For Shorty.”

“A master storyteller.” — Studs Terkel

“You could call Jim May a modern-day Homer if the Greek had told stories about farm life.” — The Chicago Sun-Times

“Jim May tells stories in the fine tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rogers.” — Jim Ritchie, Farm Journal Magazine

Ingrid Nixon

Ingrid is a world-traveling storyteller who brings stories home for audiences of all ages. The value of a youth misspent imitating voices and people is finally realized as she embodies her characters and guides audiences through imagined worlds. She offers folktales a new twist, touches our hearts with her personal stories, and can tell a ghostly tale that might cause you to sleep with the lights on. Ingrid’s work in expedition tourism has taken her on a magic carpet ride around the planet: from Antarctica to Greenland, Madagascar to Easter Island. From her travels, she gleans and shares stories including those of inspiring explorers, like John Muir and Sir Ernest Shackleton.

For over 15 years, she worked for the National Park Service, leading teams of naturalists and educators in Alaska’s Denali and Glacier Bay national parks, as well as Mount Rainier in Washington State. She has written, hosted and/or narrated numerous films about national parks and won several national awards for her work. She is also an award-winning reporter and former public radio program host.

Anne Penfound

Anne inspires multi-age audiences with her unique presentation of original and multicultural tales. Her storytelling sparks the imagination and develops cultural awareness while fanning the embers of our experiences to give them life, depth and meaning. She is a roster artist with the Young Audiences Arts for Learning in Oregon and SW Washington, narrator for Mythobolus Mask Theater and a founding member of the storytelling troop – “Storytellers III.” Anne is a native of the United Kingdom, and professional storyteller since 2002.