• It’s Your Story – Tell It!

    © Rona Leventhal, 2018 STF Presenter Thanks to venues like The Moth, Mass Mouth and other “story Slam” series, even our regional and national conferences, personal storytelling has moved like a wave across the storytelling community over the past 10-15 years.  Some think it’s more like a tsunami that needs to now be tempered by […]

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  • STF Presenter, Heather Forest

    Voice as Instrument: Rhythm, Pattern and Music in Storytelling

    © Heather Forest, STF Presenter Since early childhood, I have always enjoyed playing my favorite instrument, the voice. My kindergarten teacher tactfully wrote home that my impromptu and frequent outbursts of song were disruptive to the class but that I had a pleasing sound. I grew up to be a self-taught folk musician who delighted […]

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  • STF 2018 Presenter, Mark Binder

    Getting “Them” To Listen

    © Mark Binder, 2018 STF Presenter   There is a moment in storytelling when the audience leans in and every word and gesture is gold. And then there are the times when you’re telling stories to a cinderblock wall.   These days it’s more important than ever for our stories to make a difference, but simultaneously it’s more challenging to […]

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  • STF presenter, Eshu Bumpus

    Dear Gingerbread Man

    © Eshu Bumpus, 2018 STF Presenter   Eshu loves to reimagine old stories, playing with genre, time, setting, and the identities and motivations of the characters. Want a sample? Here’s a letter he’s written to an old familiar character: the Gingerbread Man.   Dear Gingerbread Man,   I am deeply concerned about your apparent inability […]

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  • STF Presenter - Linda Marchisio

    Authentic Movement while Storytelling

    ©Linda Marchisio, 2018 Sharing the Fire Presenter You don’t have to be a dancer to add movement to your storytelling. Body language is a natural form of communication. We use it every day in our daily lives at home, at work, at social events and while storytelling. Our facial expression, gestures, posture, eye contact, and […]

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  • The Challenge

    © by Jay O’Callahan, 2018 STF Intensive Presenter Suppose someone said to you, “Bethlehem Steel is closing after more than a century.  It built the New York skyline.  It was one of the great steel companies of the country.”  Then, the person went on saying, “I want you to create a story about the steel […]

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  • STF Presenters, Dorothy Cleveland and Barbara Schutzgruber

    Sex, Death, and Violence – a Peek Behind the Curtain

    © By Dorothy Cleveland and Barbara Schutzgruber, 2018 STF Presenters   Many of the workshop proposals we come up with are based on conversations we have with fellow tellers at storytelling conferences. “Sex, Death, and Violence — Telling the Unspeakable Story” came from two different conferences. In 2001 at the Northlands Storytelling Conference Dorothy told […]

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  • Jeff Gere, STF Presenter

    TALK STORY TELEVISION

    © By Jeff Gere, 2018 STF Presenter (Originally Published October 2002 in The Museletter) Like it or not, television is the most pervasive form of storytelling on the planet. Commercial television uses humanity’s love for stories to hook our attention so that we’ll watch commercials and buy products. The explosion in cable channels with various […]

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  • AUTHENTIC INTERACTION

    © By Judith Black, STF Workshop Presenter   Much more than a chant or collective rhythm, authentic interactivity is the magic that elevates storytelling into a unique communal experience. The teller is present, relating completely through the story to the listeners before them. With it, stories told hundreds of times are still vibrant because we […]

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  • Keynote Presenter Announced for Sharing the Fire 2018

    Keynote and Friday Performer – Tim Tingle, award-winning audiencestoryteller and author, will share insights into authenticity –insights gained as an Oklahoma Choctaw whose ancestorswalked the Trail of Tears. Tim tells the tales in the tradition ofhis elders, with respect, truthfulness, and generosity. His first book of many, Walking the Choctaw Road, shares “storieswoven from the […]

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