Adventures in Storytelling

A Summer for Art

2009-07-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

On July, 11th we performed at The New Children's Museum.: in San Diego:

We have done programs for The J. Paul Getty Museum, in LA, as well as at the San Diego Museum of Art, and the La Habra Children's Museum, always striving to bring art to life for the audience. We have developed some interesting ways of working with art. It's always different everywhere we go, and we always learn something new. Here is what Patti and James have to say about their process and experience at The New Children's Museum.

We were asked to create a storytelling experience using an amazing large mural/interactive piece of art by Mark Mulroney entitled '“Don’t Put That in Your Mouth” and other good advice from my mother'. This piece is often referred to as The Shadow Puppet Theater by most visitors.

The installation is huge, Covering two walls, and a carpet on the floor. It is full of all kinds of strange, funny and wonderful images. Such as giant hands and shadow puppet-like figures, ladders, cats holding umbrellas, twisted tress, and window that could be showing us the contents of a giant’s tummy….our thought was “Okay, there has GOT to be some stories to be found there!” And we went to work, looking for the stories,.

First, as in any art piece, we looked at it, both in person, and in photos. Our brains started churning out ideas. We found, in our research, that the piece was inspired by thinking about strange things kids thought might live under the stairs. Hmmmm, okay. Lots of shadows, including a projection screen and a place that kids could create their own shadow puppets and then try them out in the light. Interesting! What about those cats? And the trees? Maybe the shadows are what is important. Or maybe the theme of being inside either the giant’s tummy or the cat’s tummy. Wow! A lot of different possible directions that we could go.

There are a couple of main ways to go with melding art and stories. One is to see what already written stories the piece reminds you of, and the other is to create something new, either with the audience or beforehand by ourselves. We thought we would try a combination. Definitely, we would spend some time helping the kids be “art detectives” and take a lot closer look at the piece than most children are apt to do. We often see kids look at a roomful of art in 10 seconds and then declare they are bored, and ready to move on. They need to learn how to slow down and really be with the art. We help them to to be 'Art Detectives', and soak the art in.

Then we began our search, and harvesting of already existing folktales or literally stories that might fit in here. The first one we thought of was about a contest between two artists. One artist works hard, and paints fantastic pictures on a wall, while the other naps. At the end, the napping artist, with his blank wall, uses a mirror to “copy” other other artists' work. Thus, fooling the judge. But the lazy artist learned his lesson. Next time, do the work. That story could work well with the great art, but a blank wall as well.

Next we thought of one of our favorite stories, about a princess who asked for all the cats in the kingdom for her birthday. Every kind of cat! She received thousands of cats, which eventually needed to be cleared out of the castle. This was done by inventing the “catapult” and sending the cats on an airborne trip out of the castle. The catapult sent the first batch flying, MEEEOOOW, and landed on their heads, BUMP. But the next ones figured out how to land on their feet. And that is how, even today, if a cat falls out of a tree, they land on all four feet. This fits in with our cat theme, and we would be able to use the shadow puppet project to show the catapult and cats flying through the art. Good!

Alright, what else? Oh, the Japanese folktale called 'The Boy Who Drew Cats', where a boy only loved drawing cats everywhere. He has several adventures , until he is finally sent to stay at a haunted temple with blank, white walls (there is that wall again) on which, he of course draws cats. He goes to sleep and then in the night hears a terrible ruckus, and when he comes out in the morning he is surprised to see blank walls, with no cats, a servant comes in saying he saw and giant rat running out of the temple, and down the road screaming. It had been chased away by hundreds of cats. The boy is a hero, the temple is saved and he is made the resident artist where he got to draw cats all day long.

Great, we have our stories (along with a bunch of appropriate props) and so headed off the the museum to see what we would create together with the children.

Thea art detective portion went very well, with one big surprise: these little nondescript blobby guys, which neither of us could figure out What in the world they were, we got an answer. One little boy looked at them and announced He’s the Hot Dog Boy. And all agreed yes, indeed he was. With him as the main character in place, we created the following group story using the art as our jumping off point and focus.

This is the story we, and the kids, made up:

Once upon a time there was a little Hot Dog Boy who was off walking in the scary woods. AS he walked along, it got scarier, and scarier. Suddenly, he was very surprised to look up and see a giant hand with a flying cat on it. He was so scared that he ran away as fast as he could Then, he saw in front of him, a ladder, and he thought, “Oh good, I can escape by the ladder”, but at the top of the ladder, he saw a giant ready to eat him. So he turned around and ran the other way there. There he was very surprised to see a cat holding an umbrella because it was raining so hard. The Hot Dog Boy asked the cat where he could hide, and the cat told him,”You can hide in my tummy”. After along time, the giant passed on by, and the cat sneezed the Hot Dog Boy out of his tummy and they all lived happily ever after.

In an alternative version, Hot Dog Boy was looking for his mother and found her in the cat’s tummy, where he rescued her by tickling the cat’s nose until he sneezed the mama out. She got flowers from the Hot Dog Boy and they both lived happily every after. (Do you detect a theme here?)

All in all, the folktale stories went well, and creating the Adventures of Hot Dog Boy was a great time for all. Several kids and parents remarked that they had a great time, and one boy told us that he was going to go look for stories in the other art at the museum.
We had a wonderful time, and, as always, are so pleased at what happens when you get an audience to slow down and look and listen, using their imagination, for the stories.

It seems to be a summer of art for us. We are just finishing our library Summer Reading program. Every year, the libraries have a different theme for the program. This year it was 'Be Creative'. So we developed a program we call 'Art to Life'. We traveled to libraries all over Southern California. The 'Art to Life' program is a lot like what we did for the New Children' Museum. Except, we got to bring along a bunch of art of our choosing. Paintings, sculptures, masks, and cloth art. Again, we helped kids create new stories from looking at the art, we tell them to be 'Art Detectives'. One of the pieces was a painting of a beach scene. When we ask the kids about what is going on in the picture, they always say there are sharks in the water. Kids are fascinated by sharks. They came up with some great ideas. Not surprising. Most of children's play is centered around creating stories. And, of course we told some classic tales that we thought of when we saw the art. Rapunzel (thanks Karen Dietz for that piece), The Man Who Lost his Shadow, and, How Maui Caught the Sun. We can hardly wait to hear what the theme for next year will be.

Just because the Library Summer Reading program is almost over, does not mean we are done working. Next month, each of us will be doing some storytelling in Canada. Patti telling tales around the campfire in, Whitehorse Yukon, on the west coast, And James, teaching, and telling in Montreal, near the east coast, for the Anticipation convention. It will be great fun, telling to international audiences.

Remember to keep an eye on our calendar. We are always adding new stuff. For example: The Story Lovers World radio show. Hosted by Storyteller Jackie Baldwin. All SLW programs are on Sundays, 5-6 p.m. Pacific time, KSVY 91.3 FM, Sonoma, CA
After adjusting for your time zone, go to
http://thmm.com/ksvy/
Click on Listen Now! in the upper banner
You should be switched immediately into the program in progress.

Storytelling Tip:
Stories aren't about what happened. But rather, who it happened to.

We've Been Jumpin'

2009-06-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

The Patchwork Players' Summer is officially about to begin. Throughout June and July, we will be taking our 'Art To Life' program to libraries throughout SoCal. In this program, we teach the kids to see the relationship between stories, and art. We will tell them some stories with art, and help them to create new stories from art.

On July the 11^th we will be telling at the http://www.thinkplaycreate.org/, in San Diego. They have a special area where kids can make shadow, hand puppets. We will be telling some interesting stories, with lots of audience participation. Come on down, bring the family. This museum is a beautiful space to explore.

Later, Patti will be taking a much deserved trip to Alaska. She will be gone from the end of July, thru August. She will be traveling by car, so she will get to see a lot of beautiful country. We are sure she will be bringing back some True Tales from her adventures.

July 15^th & 29^th James will be at the South Coast Storytellers Guild's 'Yarning and Yakking' concerts. He will be MC & Teller at beautiful Heritage Hill Historical Park, 25151 Serrano, Lake Forest, CA 6:30 to 8:30. Admission is $5 per person. For directions log on www.ocparks.com/heritagehill . There will be some great tellers from around Orange County, and one or two of us from San Diego.

James will be taking a trip as well. From August 5-10, James will be in Montreal for the annual World Science
Convention Convention: World Con; Anticipation. Longtime readers will remember that The Patchwork Players performed at the World Con when it was in Anaheim a few years ago. Then James was a Storyteller panelist at last years' World Con in Denver. This year he will be performing a concert, teaching a beginning storytelling workshop, and will appear on a few panels. Montreal, James is going international!

On Saturday, August 22^nd James will be producing a storytelling concert: 'Lessons Learned; It's never too late'. 6:30p-8:00pm James brings some of his storytelling friends from San Diego and Orange Counties.including some nationally known tellers; Laura Beasley, Dave Chittenden, Doris Hand, Marilyn McPhie, and Sarah Saulter. Be prepared for a a fun evening. Just a few days before school starts, they will be telling tales about lessons learned. Admission at the door will be $7 for Adults, and $5 for Kids. Such a deal!
firstlutheranvista.org
First Lutheran Church of Vista
1410 Foothill Dr
Vista, CA 92084
(760) 724-5440

Patti & James will be back together as The Patchwork Players again in September. We will also be looking forward to October. Always a busy month for us, what with spooky, and Not Too Scary Stories and all. Book us now and beat the rush.

So what have we been up to since we last blogged? A lot, that's what!

Everyone knows April 1^st is April Fools Day. But not everyone knows of The Fools Of Chem. Chelm is a town that is a part of the Eastern European Jewish storytelling tradition. Everyone in town is a fool. Their a multitude of Chelm stories. On April Fools day James shared some tales of these fools in one man concert, at the First Lutheran Church, in Vista, California.

The folks at Emeritus Senior heard James tell Mexican stories for Cinco de Mayo.

The annual Sam Hinton Folk Festival in Poway was on May the 9^th this year. There was lots of great music, and storytelling. James & Patti were there, along with Sam Diego tellers; Linda Whiteside, Fred Laskowski, Steve Gregory, Charles Johnson, Cynthia Griffin, Lynn Manning Ross, and Marilyn McPhie. We hope to see you there next year.

On the 25^th Patti was off with her partner, Panchita
Acevedo. They told bi-lingual stories, for the Fallbrook Library. Patti tells in English, and Panchita tells the same story in Spanish. They put on a great show. Try to catch them sometime.

Meanwhile, James was at the 26^th annual Southern
California Story Swapping Festival, In Culver City. As one would imagine there were tellers, beginners as young
as 8 years old, and old pro's alike, from all over. There
were tellers to represent LA, Riverside, Orange Counuty, the Inland Empire, the High Dessert, San Diego, and st about anywhere else in SoCal you can think of. There are workshops, concerts, and fun. James told tales from
Norse Mythology to the crowd of his peers.

Sunday the 26^th, we entertained friends,and families of walkers at the Carlsbad Multiple Sclerosis Walk. It's important to set aside time, to give back to the community.

Wide, hooped, and ruffled skirts, soldiers from the North, and the South, Mountain Men, and even Abe Lincoln. It was Roosevelt Middle School's annual 1800's Day on May the 29th. Kids and staff alike came in some incredible costumes. There was a cotillion, other events, and James telling classic Tall Tales; Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and John Henry.

The Quail Botanical Gardens is one of the most beautiful places in North San Diego County. On June the 13^th they had the grand opening of their new Children's ' Garden. The Patchwork Players were there to tell stories about plants and nature, for the eager crowds. We also had the chance to peruse the gardens. They were wonderful. A creek for the kids to splash in, a tree house to climb. And of course, lots of cool plants And they had food, musicians; like Martin Espino of Mexica, and lots of great stuff for the opening.

Jontsok is a traditional Norwegian Summer celebration. The Vista Son's of Norway Norge Lodge, and the Fish Club Odin (James is a member, and resident storyteller) threw a joint celebration on Saturday, the 20th. There were more than 150 people gathered to throw axes, toss spears, watch live fight demonstrations, and to eat. There was also some fine music from Highland Way, among others, and pageantry. James was on hand to tell how how the Norse God Odin gained his wisdom.

We love the Girl Scouts, and we love telling stories for them. So on the 24^th the Patchwork Players did some heavy lifting for them. We went to a Girl Scout Day Camp in Anaheim, were the theme of the week was Pirates. We told pirate stories for more than 500 scouts, plus volunteers, and a few brothers who got dragged along. Since this was the Girl Scouts, we talked about true life women pirates, and told a great story called 'The Pirate Girl', surprise, she has a pirate mom as well. The girls (and boys) loved the show.

At the end of the month, James went to the San Diego Highland games to celebrate his Scottish roots, and listen to two of his favorite bands, The Wicked Tinkers, and Highland Way. Well, it happens that their storyteller, Steve Gregory, had a dickens of a time finding a parking spot. The event is huge. So, until the teller arrived, James jumped in, and told Tale of a Tail, Rory the Fox, The Man with no Story, and the Legend of Red O'Halloran. At last Steve was able to situate himself, and took the stage. No rest for the weary.

Along with all that, we continue our regular gig at Rady Childeren's Hospital. We are there every week to tell stories, and do a magic trick or two. We are also lucky to do a little show with musician Sundiata Kata, also on staff in the Healing Arts department. We have drumming, a plethora of other musical instruments, and storytelling. It is a very healing time.

See our Facebook pages under facebook.com/james.nelsonlucas & Patti Christensen.

As always; check out our calendar for our schedule.

Don't forget this regular event:

Story Swap; The Fourth Wednesday of every month at the Barnes & Noble. 10775 Westview Parkway, San Diego, California 92129. Storytellers of all levels share stories. If you are new to storytelling, this is a great place to be. Hosted bu Marilyn McPhie; 858-484-1325, mcphie@cts.com

Storytelling Tip: Folk Tales, Fairy Tales & Legends;

Everyone knows a Folk Tale, Fairy Tale, or Legend. As we mentioned last time; these are stories that you know, not that you memorized. This time we will talk about how to really put your own stamp on a story. James follows a process that works quite well for, and may work for you as well: Most every story you know, or about to learn, has many versions. Variations from different regions. Spins by individual tellers, and writers. We suggest that you get your hands on several versions of the story you want to tell. Go to the library, search the net. Here are some great sites; courtesy of Vicky Reed, She teaches storytelling at USD. Then read, and digest them all. Think about the elements that speak to you, run through the story in your mind. Then write your own version, one that incorporates all your favorite elements. Practice that version. Now, you still don't have to memorize. But now you have a deeper understanding of the story. And have personal ownership of your version. That will stick in your mind, and come from your heart, more than someone else's version. Now go wow your audience.

Spring '09 is here

2009-03-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Top of the Morning...and Happy Spring to You

March is always a favorite time for telling Irish Tales....as well as Patti having her birthday on St. Patrick's Day. We had a marvelous show at one of our favorite venues: The Dove Library in Carlsbad CA. We got some great press coverage including a couple of news articles. Take a look at one of them here. We brought out a new (for us) story about the dangers in building a house in a “fairy circle” of stones. As an audience participation piece, we had children standing and stomping and clapping chanting “We will, we will rock you” a la Queen. Got some smiles from the parents on that one.

Here's a place to find some great Irish stories if you want to read some for yourself. http://oaks.nv g.org/irish-tales.html

James also had a couple of fun solo shows, including stories and magic for the Order of the Eastern Star women. He traveled from table, to table, astounding attendees with his feats of legerdemain (a fancy way of saying; doing magic tricks). He went on to entertain the audience with folk tales from around the world.

James also told a tale of Norse mythology for the Fish Club Odin. A lively group where James is the resident storyteller. Everyone comes dressed as Vikings, eats cod, and does Scandinavian stuff. What can be more fun than that? Join the Viking Blade Yahoo group to learn more.

We also just were part of the 8^th Annual

Multicultural Festival in Irvine CA, filled with fun,

food, stories, music, dancers, and entertainment from cultures from around the world. We love dipping into stories that have traveled the world round, and enjoy sharing them. It was so much

fun to see different families in that school community cooking and sharing some of their VERY delicious specialties with the rest of us. There was food from Korea, Africa, India, Iran, England, the USA, Armenia, Spain, Italy, Japan,Viet Nam, and Belgium. And it was fun to tell stories and see nod's of recognition when we told a story that someone recognized from their heritage. Celebrating eating and telling stories together, goes a long ways towards creating a world where people get along.

And we still very much enjoy our weekly days at Rady Children's Hospital. The kids, families, and staff there are a joy to work with. Good news; the administration has decided to fund the Healing Arts department , for another three years. Our department consists of four storytellers, two harpists, a musician and his signing language using wife, and a visual artist. This is a great way to bring arts, and entertainment to kids in need.

Storytelling Tip:

Are you afraid to tell stories because you're not able to remember the whole thing? Not to worry! Forgetting a bit here is no big deal. The audience does not know the story, so they won't know what is missing. If you remember a bit later in the story you can always bring it back in: 'But what you don't know is...”. And whatever you do, Do Not Apologize. That just alerts the listeners to your mistake, when they otherwise would not have known. So, pluck up you're courage, go out there, and tell someone a tale.

As always, remember to check out our calendar at http://www.my.calendars.net/patchworkplayers , for more Patchwork Players, and other, storytelling events.

Into the New Year!

2009-01-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year....who would have thought we would so soon be in 2000? It seems as though we just had 1984 and "The Millennium".

For the sixth year, we ended the old year at First Night Escondido. A family friend, alcohol-free event in North San Diego County. For a reasonable entrance fee there is truly fun for little kids, teens and adults and everything form hat making, to Tex-Mex, classical, country music...and don't forget storytelling.

We were so happy to see so many old friends and make some new ones. We enjoyed having our own dressing room (a perk that storytellers don't often get) and also had a fun experience. We were scheduled to tell stories until 9:10. At 9:00, a mother stood up and said, "You guys were really great storytellers. We so enjoyed your show, but we have to leave to go see the fireworks!" And then a few of the audience got up and left. Our sound tech told us, though, that when one dad leaned over to ask his kids if they wanted to go see the fireworks, they replied, "No, we want to hear the last story!" So, it's official, The Patchwork Players are better than fireworks!

We hope this year is one filled with lots of fireworks, fun, and great stories for all!

Patti and James

Happy Holidays 2008

2008-12-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Patchwork Players in the News

2008-11-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

One of our Fall activities has been going through our file of press clippings. Here are some of our favorite print articles from the past couple of years.

One of our all time favorite performances was when we were commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Museum. We were the second storytellers in an on-going project where storytellers created a performance piece based on a work of art in the Getty collection. We chose a 19th century French chandelier in the shape of a hot air balloon. Our story was a heroes journey, with a girl facing her fears and rescuing her uncle the eccentric inventor. The entire process was very exciting, and the story was very well-received. We got to perform it multiple times a Sunday for several months in a row. And then we were brought back for an additional encore performance. We LOVE bringing art to life.

Scary stories are an October favorite all over. We always are telling stories like crazy around Halloween time. Here is a nice review of our work on VERY scary urban legends at the Oceanside Public Library, Oceanside CA. We also do a lot of Not TOO Scary Stories programs, but this one was no holding back scary.

Street Buskers are a long time tradition all around the world. Seaport Village in San Diego decided to orchestrate local performers in a buskers festival. Buskers is an old-fashioned phrase for street performers who pass the hat for their pay. James and Patti enjoyed performing along with jugglers, musicians, dancers, and performers who defied category. Storytelling isn't as flashy as some of these, but the chance to personalize stories to passers by was a delight for all.

Patti did a lot of work with Literacy for several years. Here is an article that focuses on one of the concepts she teaches.

Every year in Orange County California, there is a wonderful festival entitled The Imagination Celebration....a great festival celebrating all of the arts. Patti and James joined storytelling friends Linda King-Pruitt and Adrienne McMillian in a even sponsored by Th Orange Curtain. Fun was had by all.

So, thanks for looking through our scrap back with us. And watch for us at a venue near you.

August 2008

2008-08-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

August has been quite an interesting month thus far. On a personal level, it has been a sad time as we have both lost close family members: Patti, her father-in-law, and James, a cousin- in-law. There has been much mourning. But the services were beautiful.

Professionally James has had an eventful time. He wrote an article for the International Brotherhood of Magicians; the worlds largest organization for the magical arts. It was an article aimed at teaching magicians more about the art of storytelling and how to use it. This month, the first half of the article was published in The Linking Ring. This is the official magazine of the Brotherhood. We will post the article in its entirety next month, after both halves have been published.

James also traveled to Denver to be a part of the annual World Science Fiction Convention: Denvention 3. It was a gathering of about 5000 lovers and readers of science fiction fans from all over the world. James was there, not only as a fan, but also in the official capacity as a professional storyteller. As such he participated in two panels. The first panel was titled “Classic Movies We'd Like to See Remade”. All the panelists agreed that “The Day the Earth Stood Still” should not be remade and are not looking forward to Keanu Reeves upcoming release of same. James chose for remake the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”. James loves this story and has written a script based on the original “To Serve Man” story called “The Translator” that he and Patti tell as a tandem tale. His other choice was the classic, schlock film, “The Monolith Monsters”. If you thought a slow-shambling Mummy was scary...just try a giant growing rock. He would love to see action director Michael Bay tackle that one. The second panel was “Storytelling: The Oral Tradition”. The panelists were James, Uncle River, Patrick Rothfuss, Washington DC area Master Storyteller Bill Mayhew, and Rev. Randy Smith. The first question from the audience was if we would each tell a tale. Bill and Rev. Randy both told story length jokes, James told his classic “The Story of Sally”. Uncle River and Patrick are not storytellers per se, so they related personal stories about storytellers they knew. The discussion was lively. It ranged from the use of stories as a tool of cultural inculcation; to how stories help children in the areas of language acquisition, math, music and the sciences; and to where tellers find their tales. After the panel, James was approached by another producer and asked to bring his storytelling to a San Diego convention. More on that later.

Meanwhile Patti has been on a cross-country odyssey. She flew to Ohio to be together with her husband’s family around her father-in-law’s surgery. It was very powerful experience to be together with friends and family of this extraordinary man. He decided to go through with a surgery at age 95 saying that either he would get well and go back to work or else it had been a great 95 years. We lost him several days post-surgery, but it was all very beautiful as he lived strongly and in service to the very end.

After all the things that needed to happen following the death, Patti and her husband Dick were ready for some travels back across the country heading for home. They decided to take ten days to drive, visiting friends along the way as well as having the chance to see some amazing sites. They visited many ancient Native American sites including The Coronado State Monument in Albuquerque with ancient kivas and murals; The Taos Pueblo where Indian people have lived continuously for over a thousand years; Mesa Verde National Park, and site that the Ancestral Puebleans (the new preferred name for the Anansasi people); Aztec Ruins National Monument, incorrectly named, but an ancient site in NM where they have rebuilt a great kiva so the public might experience this amazing spiritual space; The Navajo National Monument, AZ more astounding ancient pueblos from 900 years ago; and then had a quick stop at

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon. AND, Patti got to achieve a lifetime dream of standing at Four Corners, where four states come together....how cool is that? And during their travels, all the time, looking for and listening to stories. Stories were very important to the Pueblo people. They also saw many different version of the Pueblo Storyteller pottery sculptures; relatively modern versions of human figures, that have been created since 1964 in honor of the traditions of storytelling. All in all, a very full time, and rich with food for thought that will grow into stories down the road

James has one more trip in the works up to Washington State, and then fall will be upon us. But it was a special and interesting summer.

Summers End

2008-08-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Comi-Con 2008

So after and between all of the storytelling, what do Stortellers do? Well last week, James and Patti joined 125,000 other people at Comi-Con, the world's largest Science Fiction Convention, held every year in San Diego. (James in his favorite kilt)

What is Comi-Con? It is everything from teenagers to grandparents, people dressed up like Storm Troopers and fans of Hello Kitty. It is intellectuals and nerds and librarians and scientists and movie buffs. Throw in some movie stars and directors and comic book artists and you are starting to get the picture. Across the street this year form the convention center, there was a display of the Terra Cotta soldiers from China which are featured in the next Mummy movie.

James has been attending regularly since about 1978, while Patti is a recent convert. We both enjoy hearing what's coming next in the movies and on TV, the latests thoughts on using comics for literacy and helping kids to become lifelong readers, and chances to hear such great thinkers as Deepak Chopra. Not to mention just the people watching. You've never seen anything quite like it.

We also love the free giveaways and came home with bags filled with t-shirts, posters, strange offers for things we don't know about on-line. We also got the chance to get our photos taken in front of a green screen and printed with Family Guy and the cast from Bones. How cool is that?

Wanna go? Better buy your tickets early. This year they were sold out in advanced and had no tickets available at the door. Go to www.comic-con.org/ to learn more. See you next year at Comi-Con 2009

Now for your storytelling tip:

That is the BME: Beginning, Middle and End. It sounds so simple, but it can be difficult to execute. Especially when relating personal stories. The end is often forgotten. The beginning sets up the conflict or lesson to be learned. The middle is 'what happens next. The end is the resolution of the conflict and/or the lesson to be learned. Take for example Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Initial conflicts; the Bears are not ready to eat their breakfasts. Goldilocks seeks food and shelter. The middle; Goldilocks breaks into the Bears house, avails herself of food and rest. End; the Bears return and chase Goldilocks away. The lesson learned for Goldilocks is not to commit larceny. Beginning, Middle and End. Look to those tools in your storytelling and you will move a step forward.

Summer Reading

2008-08-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

July 2008….Summer Reading and Stories to Travel With

For storytellers, Library Summer Reading time is often one of our busiest times of the year. Every year, state libraries have the chance to choose theme for libraries to use for the summer. This year the state of California chose "Catch the Reading Bug". Performers then pitch what they would do within that theme.

This summer we decided NOT to tell stories about bugs, but rather find stories about people who BUG US. We called this program "Don't Bug Me: Brothers, Sisters and Other Annoying Creatures." We have had this show on the road at libraries over the past five weeks going as far south as San Ysidro (from which we could see Mexico) and as far north as Palmdale (about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.) We also ran all around Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego Counties.

We have been in teeny tiny old libraries where they had to close down the computers and push the tables and shelves out of the way in order to create a performing space, to brand spanking new libraries with amazing beautiful community rooms and professional theatres inside. One of the most interesting places we visited was in Palmdale where they have a separate Youth library, one of only two in the state of California. The main library is a couple of blocks away, so this is a whole building and library devoted just to children. Very cool, and you can be really loud inside with no one complaining!

We also had the chance to tell some scary urban legends, and engage in some really interesting discussion with teenagers about the process by which urban legends get formed. Will Bill Gates really send you $100 for passing along this email? Can a cell phone really cause popcorn to pop? Find out the answer to these and more at www.snopes.com.

We especially want to give a shout out and thanks to all of the Friends of the Library groups who make so many of the special shows even possible in such difficult times. We always stop by their bookstores and the libraries. We sure HATE to have to haul more books home, but, sometimes you have to.

Besides all of the library shows, we also had the chance to be in support of some other activities and groups that we love. One is the American Cancer Society's Camp Reach fro the Sky, which is a day camp for kids with cancer. This was started over 20 years ago by a doctor who felt that these kids needed to have the chance to go to camp, too. We love being in support with all of the fabulous staff and volunteers that make this camp happen, and were happy to add in our stories to friends old and new.

We also spent an afternoon at the Ocean Festival in San Clemente. www.oceanfestival.org The San Clemente Ocean Festival is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to the promotion and support of ocean safety, the environment and the community by providing a quality athletic, cultural and enjoyable family event. They raise money for lots of cool local groups. We enjoyed telling stories to an enthusiastic audience. The kids really enjoyed the chance to be sneaky monkeys in the classic tale "Caps for Sale."

And we also got a chance to see and tell stories with some of our favorite local storytellers form The South Coast Storytellers Guild at Heritage Hill in Lake Forest California. What fun to hang out, listen and tell tales with Guild members. We especially always love the way that Linda King-Pruitt and Bob Pruitt combine music with storytelling fun! A great time was had by all, even WITH the order of horses wafting through the performance space. James also had fun playing MC-a role he always enjoys! Hey, come and join the Guild at a meeting in Costa Mesa some month on the Third Thursday. The meetings are open to the public and FREE. www.storyguild.com

All of the places that we have been have included one thing: children and adults who enjoy stories! We are always glad to hear the laughter and applause, but even happier when someone stays after a performance to tell us one of THEIR own stories that they go reminded of during the show. THAT is enough to help our summer move into "happily ever after."

Voices of the Future & A HOT TIME Telling Stories

2008-05-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

On May 9^th, The Patchwork Players had the privilege of performing as part of a wonderful event The Imagination Celebration presents Voices of the Future. This happened at Bowers Kidseum in San at Ana CA. Several youth storytelling groups run by South Coast Storytellers Guild members performed before parents, friends and story enthusiasts. Storytellers from Kindergartners through fifth graders wowed and dazzled the audience. Some of them, just with their courage to face their fears and stand in front of a group of people looking right at them (we know how many adults would rather die than speak in front of a large group)…..and some of the kids by their great poise and ability to work a crowd. The children had been telling anywhere from 3 weeks to several years. There were even a number of tandem tellers, two performers/one story. Some of these kids were simply amazing. We will look to see some of them up on large stages later on.

Two of the clubs were from pretty affluent suburban schools, while one had city kids many of whom have parents how speak no English. It is good to have a mix of students form different backgrounds, and we especially applaud the group leaders who have tackled the difficult job of dealing with kids who are not always able to make an on-going commitment to a program such as storytelling. All of the kids did well and were inspired.

In addition to the kids, we were invited along with a couple of other professionals to tell a story. We picked one of our all time favorites: Caps for Sale: a Story of a Peddler and His Hats. This allowed a number of students storytellers to join with us as curious monkeys. Always fun, although, you always take a chance that some kids want to steal the stage even if their part has no spoken words.

Storytelling in 99+ degree weather? Why not? Saturday May 17^th was a record breaking hot day in our region of southern CA. So, a great day for two outdoor gigs!

We started off with Folktales of Norway in celebration of the holiday “Syttende Mai" or the 17th

of May is a celebration of the day in 1814 when Norway’s constitution was signed in the town of Eidsvoll, Norway. We had our audience members use their im

agination to think of a really cold and snowy day to go along with our traditional Norwegian clothes or “bunad”s. James has an especially nice one with a beautiful wool

vest…perfect for one hundred degree heat!

We told a number of favorite traditional tales such as The Troll Bride, The White Cat of Dovre, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the Man Who Was to Mind the House. The aduience of nearly one hundred kids and parents, mostly hung in their with us, much to our amazement. The City of Irvine staff were a attentive and amazing with their support. They have taken their commitment to culture diversity very seriously. Thanks Irvine staff!!

James had several family members who earned some great “family points” for coming and and listening to stories in the heat. His mom even wore her own really hot bunad. Yah mom!

Next we hopped into the lovely air conditioned car and headed up the road to the Children’s Museum of La Habra. There we were part of their Family Art Festival in celebration of Local Heroes. (Outside, of course!!!!) The place was crawling with very friendly fire fighters, police officers and paramedics, plus some pretty neat vehicles and weapons.

A couple of the main acts had to perform out in the open under the increasingly hot sun. As storytellers, we were blessed with some shade (thank heavens!) Everyone was pretty sluggish and hesitant to “rush right over to sit down and hear some stories” so we brought the stories to them. One place that had a very long line was the line for face painting. They had some awesome face painters, but the line was moving veeerrrrrryy slowly. So “how bout a story while you wait?” YAH!!!! And so, storytellers to the rescue yet again. Nothing like a scary (or funny) story or two while you are waiting in a long line. Especially if everyone can stay in the shade.

We were then very glad to get into the car, drink a bunch of cool water and head off to see James’ nephew Dustin in a Karate competition, just a couple of miles down the road. He did well, including winning a large first place trophy.

By the time we got home, we were HOT but tired and really glad to be living the glamorous life of traveling storytellers.

Flat Stanley and The Patchwork Players

2008-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Do you know about FLAT STANLEY?

Flat Stanley is a character in a book (one that has been around for a long time!) who among other things, after he gets squashed flat by a bulletin board, goes on a trip to California in an envelope. It's just too expensive to take a plane.....A creative teacher decided to give their class the chance to send Stanley on a trip and asked the family member or friend to take Stanley on an adventure, take photos and mail them back to the class. This has resulted in the Flat Stanley Project. Take a look at some of his adventures: He has been to Paris, to the Great Wall of China, to the Oscars..... www.flatstanleyproject.com

Patti's niece, Amanda, in Dallas sent Flat Stanley to visit us a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to take him on some California storytelling adventures. Here is the note that went back to her class:

Dear Amanda and Cass,

We sure had a good time with Flat Stanley when he visited us in San Diego, California. He went along on many adventures.

You know that your Aunt Patti works as a professional storyteller, so Flat Stanley got to go along with me on several storytelling days.

The first was at the Vista Public Library. There he helped to do a storytime for preschool children celebrating Earth Day. You see the photos of him on the Earth ball and outside the library.

Next, he went along with Aunt Patti and her storytelling partner, James to another city and
library, almost on the Mexican border: The Chula
Vista Public Library. There is a photo of Flat Stanley and Aunt Patti and James outside of the
library, and then on stage with a group of kids
who helped act out stories. They sent their
greetings to the kids in Dallas.

On our way back home, we stopped off in Downtown San
Diego so Stanley could visit the Maritime Museum. There he saw the Star of India (a great old fashioned ocean ship) as well s one of the ships that was used in filming The Pirates of the Caribbean. He liked going into the museum and getting on one of the model ships himself (more his size).

The next day, Aunt Patti took him along to downtown Oceanside, where I live, to see the Oceanside Pier. The Pacific Oceans is about 5 miles form our house. He liked watching the surfers as well as seeing a whole bunch of cheerleaders who were getting ready for a competition.

His next great adventure was to go along to a special event at LEGOLAND California. James and I were telling stories there for a fundraising event to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. This is a disease that makes a lot of people sick. LEGOLAND lets this event happen there in order to help out. We told stories to the children who were at the event. The children either were also walking to raise money to help the people with MS, or were volunteering themselves, or had a family member who was sick. They all loved to hear the stories. Flat Stanley also liked to help out a good cause.

LEGOLAND is one of my favorite places. James
and I tell stories there every Halloween for the Brick or Treat event. You can see some fun photos of Stanley as we brought him around the outside of LEGOLAND and the area where the MS Walk was taking place. He especially liked to have his photo taken with one of the Giant LEGO guys as well as the Chixfilet cow.

On our way home, we stopped at the Carlsbad Flower Fields, a place where they grow beautiful flowers every spring. You can see Stanley with the flowers in the background.

We hope that your class really enjoys hearing all about Stanley's adventures and learns something, too about how big of a country and world we live in.

Thanks for giving us a chance to help out!

Hope to see you this summer,

Love, Aunt Patti

Spring is Here!

2008-04-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

We dodged a bullet last month. On our trip to Hawaii ,we flew Aloha Airlines. We returned home safe and sound, and on time! Which is more than we can say for 9,000 other travelers who were stranded in Hawaii when Aloha closed it's doors this week. We missed it by that much. Luckily we were able to get back to our regular adventures here on the mainland. Good thing too as we have been busy since we got back.

James has been expanding his skill set of late. He is looking to enter the exciting world of Voice Over work. To that end, he attended a two day seminar on how to be a successful voice over artist. During that time, he was able to do a short demo tape. You can hear some of James' bits, including his original story, the Looky Loos, and the short Tale of a Tail, at: http://voice123.com/jamesnelsonlucas and keep your ears out. Someday soon, you may hear James on a commercial near you. James has also taking to tutoring kids part-time. He has two fifth graders that he is helping with math and reading. He is bringing his JamesaStoryMagic skills to bear in this new venture. On math days, he performs a bit of prodigious prestidigitation, that is he does a couple of magic tricks. On reading days, he tells a tale or two. He uses these bits to engage the kids, and to help illustrate concepts being discussed. He also took some leisure time to participate in one of his favorite social events, The Fish Club Odin. That is a gathering of those of Norwegian descent, and friends. Periodically they gather in Viking costumes to dine on cod, sing songs, tell stories, read Norse poetry, drink Aquavit, and generally have raucous good time.

Spring is here and in Southern California that means wildflowers! Patti took time out to go to ou

t to the dessert, in Indio, to take in the colorful sights. Despite the idea that the desert is just tan and sand, during these spring months following some hard rains, there is now a carpet of amazing flowers. Wow, wow and wow! Takes your breath
away with all of the beauty.

Patti also did some Bi-lingual storytelling with her Spanish speaking partner, Panchita. And more of this to come...including helping to open a new Border's Bookstore down near the border in National City CA.

Along the way, we had time for some Patchwork Player gigs. We were off to a school on Camp Pendelton Marine Base to three assemblies of “Bring Stories To Life”. We told some of our favorite stories, such as, the Queen and Jester, and of course Baby Coyote. With so many parents in Afganistan or Iraq, these kids can use all the time away from stress that they can get. This is the same school where Patti does some social work.

We had a chance to tell stories up in Pasadena in celebration of Lights Out Night on March the 29th, a night around the world where people turned out their lights at home and gathered with others in public settings. We were the storytellers, telling “Not Too Scary Stories” at one of the libraries in Pasadena, close to the Rose Bowl. We told The Roosters Claw, The Golden Arm and other spooky tales. It was a lovely event, and we came home with some new energy efficient light bulbs, too. Can’t beat that.

We also made a couple of trips to The Center for Children (www.centerforchildren.org/). This is a residential facility that helps troubled kids and teens. We were invited there by Sundiata Kata (http://sundiatadrums.com) the drummer we have been working with at Children's Hospital for the last two years. Our first trip was for a drumming circle. Over two hundred people, residents and visitors, gathered to play drums in a big circle. This was to kick off a new study aimed at codifying the connection of recreational drumming and reducing stress. Sundiata and his associates led the crowd in a variety of rhythms and dances. It was a morning full of amazing energy. We had a great time playing a couple of Djembe drums.

Our second trip was to tell stories to the residents there. We spent time spinning some yarns and having the kids help us to bring the stories to life. We told “Caps for Sale”, “How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl,” “The Queen and the Jester” and “All Is As It Should Be.” As one staff person said, they were really engaged and interested....if they weren't you,d have known it. And that is the truth. What a joy to share the support of these kids along with the dedicated staff who are there for them each and every day.

We're now in the countdown time as we work in school based programs. Right around two months before school's out for summer and we get ready to roll out Library Summer Reading programs. Let's hear it for fun with stories!

Storytellers in Paradise

2008-03-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Mid-February took James and his wife Sia, and Patti and her husband, Dick to Maui for a week. We had an amazing and FABULOUS trip. This was mostly a vacation for fun, as well as a celebration of James and Sia's twentieth wedding anniversary.

Of course, everything is grist for the mill for storytelling. We had many adventures that may bring stories to bear in the long run. Among the most exciting her snorkeling at a place called The Aquarium, and a fine luau called The Feat at Lele with coordinated food and dance for four different Polynesian cultures. We also went to the top of the extinct volcano Haleakela to watch the sunrise, and then going on a twenty-eight mile all downhill bike ride, all the way to the beach. Glorious, and a little dangerous, but we all felt great once we reached to bottom.

We really enjoyed visiting some historic sites, including the Ioa Valley where there was a bloody battle the ended in the uniting the the Hawaiian islands. Breathtaking views, and some culture villages. We took advantage of the chance to tell a traditional story about how the god Maui was able to capture the sun in his fishing net on Haleakela, and talk the sun into taking a longer time going across the sky so that we would have time to do all the things that we want to fit into our busy lives. As we were telling stories and mugging for photos a cute young couple came up and asked if we would take their photos. We said “Of course, but only if you well us a story.” The man immediately agreed and told us the true story of them coming to Maui for a college football bowl, but getting engaged that week. They were adorable, and we took their photos.

We also found a Hawaiian version of one of our favorite stories “Too Much Noise”. In this version, the granmother “Tutu” was the wise woman who advised the many about how to deal with his crowded, noisey house. We LOVE to find different cultural versions of the same stories. Just as people travel, so do stories.

And so “Aloha from the Patchwork Players”. And see you in paradise.

Seniors love Stories,too!

2008-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

As storytellers, people often assume that our main focus of work is with children. Certainly we tell a lot in libraries, schools, daycares, places where there are a lot of children.

But one of our favorite venues is places where Seniors gather…Sr. Centers, retirement homes, nursing homes. Last week The Patchwork Players had the chance to tell stories to a group at the Senior Center in Escondido, CA. We were brought in by one of our favorite programs, The Adult Literacy Department from the Public Library in town. These folks are charged with providing opportunities for adults to learn to read as well as enrich their reading skills. The core of our audience was the weekly Sr. book discussion group, pictured with us here.

The audience was enthusiastic and really enjoyed the tales of Trouble, Trials and Tribulations that we told for them, mostly traditional folktales form around the world. As one woman told us, “Seniors love stories, too!” Don’t we know it.

We also appreciate that storytelling is a field where no one tells you you’re getting too old, and better think about retiring. Heck, the more grey hair you have, the better as a storyteller. We’re both working on getting as much grey hair as possible. And we are looking forward to telling stories for many, many years to come.

Patti is especially inspired by her father-in-law who turned 95 this week and is still going strong sharing stories in sermons, and also on the bus form the retirement center going to the grocery store. As soon as he gets on, the bus riders clamor “Have you got any stories for us?” And, he always does! May you always have a story to tell, and one to hear.

Happy New Year

2008-01-05T09:41:00.001-08:00

Well what a year 2007 was! If you saw our Year In Review slide show (next blog entry down, click to open) you got an idea how busy we were. Since we posted last we closed the year out with some really fun stuff.

We did several school assemblies where the audiences had a great time. One fifth grade boy even remarked that we “Rock Hard!!”, while others very much wanted to know when we would be back again. We always love assemblies, we enjoy ourselves and we regularly get feedback from the teachers that the kids are mesmerized.

We also celebrated the holidays with our friends and colleagues at the South Coast Storytellers Guild . It was an evening of fellowship, good food and great stories.

The end of the year was not all work for us, however. Patti took some time off to spend the holidays with family in Minnesota, while James was off to Santa Rosa, California and Park City, Utah to do likewise. So both of us got to celebrate a White Christmas. For Patti this was a return to her days growing up and living in Minnesota while it was a new experience for James. However we both agree that it is fun to visit the snow...we prefer San Diego Winters, which reminds us of a poem about San Diego:

San Diego.

Where Spring comes in the Summer,

and Summer in the Fall.

Fall it comes in Winter time,

and Winter not at all.

When the Patchwork Players reunited, we finished off the year at First Night Escondido . First Night is a wonderful, family-friendly New Years Eve celebration. There were ten stages and craft locations, as well as tons of roving entertainment. They had everything from rock bands, to a circus, to a fourteen foot walking tree-man. We were glad to share our stage with the magician Dick Dale , and ventriloquist Joe Gandelman .We did two shows and still had some time to enjoy the sights and sounds all around us.

So on to 2008, the year we will see our first Children's book; How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl. Our illustrator is nearly done with the art, so it will not be long now before we have books to share with the world. We also anticipate another busy Summer at the Libraries with our programs: Stop Bugging Me: Brothers, Sisters and Other Annoying Creatures, and Urban Legends: Rumors to Reality. The year will also be chock-a-block full with a host of other fine events and programs as well. Watch this space and your e-mail alerts for what is exiting and new in the adventures of The Patchwork Players Story Theatre.

Patchwork Players 2007 in Review

2007-12-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

Make a slideshow!

Holiday Wishes

2007-11-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Thanksgiving Week

2007-11-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

The Golden Compass

So what do storytellers do as we are driving around the countryside on
our way between gigs? For one thing, we listen to stories and books
on CD (we used to listen to books on tape, before finally being able
to update to a new car!)

The latest things we have been listening to is "The Dark Materials "
series by Philip Pullman, the first book of which is coming out in a
week as the movie "The Golden Compass". Take a look at the website at
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/ We first had the chance to run
across this series at last summer's ComiCon convention in San Diego
where many of the pop culture hits and trends for the next year are
rolled out. We had the chance to get our photos taken in front of a
blue screen before we ever really heard of the books or the movie.
Now, having nearly completed the third book in the series, we have a
lot more respect for the photo of us along with the armored bear. As
it turned out, this is the movie poster for this fun movie. Take a
look at the real one at Cinemablend

This is one of those movies that although the heroes are children, is
really much more of an adult/young adult romp through fantasy,
theology and metaphysics. We enjoyed it, hope you do, too.

As for some of the gigs we drove to in the last week were to the Downey Library, Hope Elementary School and to the Bowers Museum.

We were invited to the Downey Library to tell Spooky Ghost Stories. It looks like the Halloween season can stretch into the Thanksgiving season these days. We had a blast there with a terrific audience. On the way out James noticed a couple of gold records in a display case. We stopped to take a closer look to find that they were actual gold records form the Carpenters! We had never seen real gold albums in person before. It turns out that the Carpenters went to High School in Downey. Who knew? So Richard Carpenter donated the records and a bunch of memorabilia to the library for display. Oh they interesting we see and learn on the road.

The next day we performed two assemblies at Hope, a local Elementary School. We told some our tried and true World folk
and Fairy Tales, and a few new ones too

Saturday night we were at Tellebration, an international storytelling event. We told Middle Woman by Orson Scott Card, as well as being joined by a bunch of other great area teller. This was an adult oriented show, but there was a bunch of engaged young folks there too. Once again James emceed the event.

Today James returned from a successful private for a special eight year girl, her friends and attendant parents. The parents had glowing comments and were amazed that he was able to hold the rambunctious kids attention.

Big Patchwork Players News! We are in the process

of putting together a children's picture book. We are having a wonderful creative process with our artist Jezreel Lopez. The book is based on our favorite show closer; Baby Coyote. Expect to hear more about this project. We hope to have our published book ready next Spring

Busy Fall

2007-11-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

Welcome true believers to this episode of Adventures in Storytelling. Well the fires are dying down. But the damage will live on for years. Again, we were safe, however we know too many who were directly affected. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

In the meantime we finished this year's Brick or Treat at LEGOLAND As always we had a great time telling to families and hanging out with old friends. Brick or Treat is a great event where kids get to come and trick or treat in a fun and safe place. We do our hit and run storytelling style we call “Gotta Minute? Here a Story”. We are also “ATMO”, which is theme park speak for atmosphere. That means that we are a part of the show just by walking around in our costumes. Kids love to have their pictures taken with us. We look forward to going back again next year.

The next day we told Urban Legends ant the Oceanside Library. They had a very nice stage set up for us that looked like a street in Big City USA. We set the show up as we were two people sitting at a bus stop swapping “true” tales. We told some classic and some lesser known legends. We all know some. Some are so well known all you need is the end line. Who knows...”The call is coming from INSIDE the house!!!? That gig got us a nice write up in the local newspaper

We then went on to do Not Too Scary Stories from San Diego to Palm Springs. We love this program. Fun for old and young alike, we offer a jolt here and there. Some spooky tales, but nothing to scare the little ones too much. We tell a bunch of the same tales we tell at San Diego Children's Hospital. So these are tried and tested tales.

We had a great honor a few weeks ago. We were guest lecturers for a class on storytelling at the University of San Diego. This is a class comprised mostly of school teachers and librarians who are working on their CEU's. We talked about our process and how to tell stories tandem style. We included some snazzy class participation bits that were well received. It was gratifying to get some very positive feedback from the participants. We know that some of what we taught will make it back to the classrooms to the edification of an unknown number of youths.

We rounded out the last two weeks with a set of

Ocean Stories, a Jewish book festival and a Hanukkah show.

The Patchwork Players were on hand at the San Diego Jewish Book Festival to tell stories to the young ones. We always love doing that show...and, as always, we left with an armload of books. To brush up on his Yiddish, James got a book titled 'From Shmere to Eternity'. A very fun read.

We went to the Children's Museumat La Habra to help promote their Ocean Adventures exhibit. We told some of our favorite ocean themed stories with an eye to conservation of our natural resources.

The next day we told (early) Hanukkah stories. We were called in by our local synagogue Congregation, B'nai Shalom, to share a few of our favorite Hanukkah stories. Some of our favorite come from the “mythical” town of Chelm, where all the citizens are fools. Also, many of the stories feature a favorite: potato ladkes! Yummy! We were followed by a troupe of talented young folks performing traditional Jewish folk dances. What a great show!

Lastly, we took a great step in Patchwork Players history! We have been working on a children's book called 'Baby Coyote' for a while now. For those of you who have not heard us tell this tale, it is the story of a baby coyote who does not know how to howl. This week we hired an artist, Jezreel Lopez, to work on the book. We are very excited to take this next step and are looking forward to having a finished product this next spring. Watch this space for further updates.

Telling stories takes us to interesting places all the time....some we visit in the stories, while other times we get to actually travel in person. All of the places are part of our magical story gathering journey.

2007-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Fires burn through the southland of CA….the impact on two
storytellers—thoughts from Patti and James

This past week has been a heart-wrenching one for all who live in San
Diego County CA…..a nightmare of wildfires have raged throughout our
region, brining terror, confusion and heartbreak. But also have
brought the community together in powerful ways.

First we should say that our home wasn't directly threatened, nor were
we among the approximately half million people who were ordered to
evacuate.

However, an event of such a magnitude leaves no one untouched, even if
we are so thankfully still in our homes, with all of our belongings
(precious and clutter alike) intact.

What ways did these fires impact two local storytellers? Here are a few things:

We worried. Worried about friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues,
people form work. The phone lines were abuzz (although we tired to go
along with keeping the cell phone lines available for those who were
evacuated as well as for emergency service workers. We shared news
gratefully of who has heard from whom, who were should call or try to
get a hold of, who we just had to wonder about and pray for.

We were glued to the TV set. As work was canceled for many over the
week, the TV and the Internet became a lifeline for news. We watched
with horror, hope and fascination.
What are they saying now? Anything new?

Canceled work…ah yes. There were phone calls and emails with all of
the customers and contacts for scheduled gigs. This was the full week
before Halloween. Usually one of the busiest of the year for
storytellers. We had a school program schedule for a school in a town
that was on evacuation, another two assemblies at a school which was
now on the week off…. actually all 422 public school districts in the
county canceled school for at least the week. No school, no
storytelling assemblies. Patti got a call from her contact saying that
she had been evacuated! Patti set off down the road to go to an Orange
County women's group gig, but only got two blocks down the street when
she got the phone call that this event was also canceled. The area
surrounding it was now going into evacuation. And later that night,
the highway leading there and back was closed due to fires. Patti
could have gotten stuck with no way to return home.

Also, we were schedule to be guest speakers at a university course….
also no university classes….This one was rescheduled for net week. A
couple of the others will also be scheduled again once ''the dust
settles"….this time literally. Other library programs for this
weekend and early next week called to say they were defiantly on, and
were we okay?

"Are you okay? Did you have to evacuate?" These were the opening
words of very conversation this week. And so many of those in our
lives had stories to tell of evacuation, or getting the call to be
ready. Of spending nights at church, or at the university or a
shelter. Of heading up north to LA or Orange County to be with family
or friends.

We thought through, if we had to go, where would we go. And were so
grateful that there is family and friends who we know we could have
called.

And what would we take if we only had a few minutes? What are the
most important things? Our file of important documents, bills,
computers are "no brainers" as are medical records…. but then the wall
of photos? And how about the thousands of books that we have in every
room of our house? Oh my, to lose our books. THAT would be the
irreplaceable loss. And how about the family heirloom antiques: the
Hoosier cabinet from my husband's grandparent's farm, or the captain
ship's wheel from James's grandparents? How about all of the
treasures brought back form travels overseas, especially China? The
DVD's, the CD's ,The quilts? And the costumes and props that fill
half of the garage? What a nightmare to even contemplate. But it was
all staring us in the face.

We also spent the day at one of our regular jobs at a children's
hospital on Friday. And besides telling stories tour regular kids,
spend a chunk of times telling stories to children of medical and
support staff form the hospital who came to work with mom or dad
because no school and no other options for their safe care.

Patti is now preparing for going back to her other regular job with a
family counseling agency who will be responding to the needs of
communities, clients and students throughout the county…lots of crisis
response in the planning, and thing unfolding in a strange and
uncertain manner. Who will need help, where and when?

How did we spend out newly found "free time" this week? There was
some manic cleaning…our DVDs and CDs are now newly organized, props
and costumes have been put into order.

We also spend some time planning and getting ready for next summer's
Summer Library Reading program. We wrote copy, started fliers, filled
out applications and even spent time at Sears getting publicity photos
taken. Theme for next summer: "Catch the Reading Bug @ Your Library,"
for teens "Metamorphosis @ your Library." Work that has to happen at
some time. Why not spend some of this time getting it done?

So on Sunday we head back to LEGOLAND CA, for the last day of their
annual Brick of Treat festival…..the park was closed for several days
and reopened to not very large crowds as parents continue to worry
about the air quality and are warned to keep kids inside. The park is
open though and so we don't lose that money, too. But as we head off
for that gig, the smoke is thick in the air….how do you tell stories
for most of the hour for five hours when you can hardly breathe? The
services all say that our city has air that is unhealthy for sensitive
populations. And so, great day to bring your kids outside to a park!

When they talk about he cost of the fires, at this point estimating
over a billion dollars, do they include the amount of money that
people lost form not being able to work? We don't know.

We do know that we are thankful for the firefighters, the volunteers,
the police, and everyone who pitched in to do their parts. It takes a
village to deal with a fire, and this large village will be dealing
with this one for years to come.

Fall Has Fell...

2007-10-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

This year we celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day at Sea Shanty Festival aboard the historic Star of India What with upcoming Pirate gigs, (this Thursday at the Torrence Public Library in Los Angeles) we need to stay in Pirate ship shape. Heck, we were even invited on stage to help sing It's Fun Being a Pirate. A ditty that we look to incorporate into our shows. Notice Patti's lovely new pegleg. She will start a fashion trend.

We also told some of our favorite Love and Romance tales for a very special wedding reception up in the dessert. The weather and the food was very good. The couple, parents and guests reported that they were delighted. What better way to celebrate and start out married life than by listening to the wisdom of the ages through storytelling

We rounded out the month by flying to Lodi
California to tell at an extravagant fund raising
party for the Lodi Public Library . We love libraries. Black ties, suits and lovely dresses (plus some cool casual looks) everywhere. There were also other tellers there to tell for the
crowd; Olga Loya and a popular local Sacramento duo, Mary and Robin Aurelius. The event

featured great gourmet food, wine form local vineyards, and storytelling between the courses. The patrons stayed at their tables set up throughout the library, while the
storytellers rotated around. This is their seventh annual event featuring storytellings. . In between courses, the storytellers had our own table to chat and swap storytelling experiences. The only problem with this was stopping chatting enough to go do the next storytelling set. Hooray for The Lodi Library Foundation for creating a wonderful storytelling venue, and for the audience being so enthusiastic.

And now....we move into October with all of the scary and not so scary story programs. Happy Halloween, and don't forget to look under the bed before you turn out the light.

Summer fun, Super Fall

2007-09-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

Whew boy did we have another busy summer! We went to twenty different libraries with our “You Be The Detective” program all over Southern California. The librarians were pleased to see us engage the audiences; entertaining them and calling them to engage in some critical thinking too. The Patchwork Players also made their sixth return engagement at the San Diego Renaissance Faire. We always have a blast there. We also ran through six weeks of the Prime Time Family Reading p rogram. This is a remarkable program where we tell a story from a book that will be provided to the families. We then lead the kids and parents in a discussion on their thoughts and feelings about the story, with a special focus on Humanities “values-laden”
questions and opinions..

The Patchwork Players were also seen at the Yarning and Yakking, Tales and Snacking evening program hosted by the South Coast Storytellers Guild.. Storytellers and musicians from around the

southland came to perform for a multi-generational audience. James again expanded his speaking experience by emceeing the event. Some of our best teller friends; Dave Chittenden, Jim Lewis, Laura Beasly, Doris Hand, Linda King Pruitt and Adrianne McMillan were there. Tellers, musicians and MC were all well received.

There was also the time we told True and Not so True Tales of California program we told for an Elementary school. And James told Wild West tales to a Girl Scout day camp. Plus the Patchwork Players brought tale from the seven seas to a summer day camp and also told ocean stories to a group of kinder care kids. Later, James traveled to Reno Nevada to tell tales at a very special six year old's birthday party.

In the middle of all that Patti took two weeks in Mexico for an immersion Spanish language course. Can bilingual telling be far behind? (Patti says, it's still a long ways away, but she is improving!)

For those looking to future Patchwork Player events, here we go. Next week James and Patti will be telling Love and Marriage stories for a wedding reception. Again James will handle the emcee duties. We will be telling Pirate tales at a library in Torrance. . In October we will again be back at LEGOLAND for several weekends celebrating Brick or Treat for Halloween. Also, for the season; we will be telling scary and Not too Scary Stories and Scary Urban Legends programs throughout the area. In November The Patchwork Players will be at the San Diego Jewish Book Fair and a Hanukkah celebration at Barnes and Nobel as part of a fund raiser for a local temple. We will be bringing Ocean Tales to the La Habra Children's Museum. Add to all that the International Tellabration event And tNovember brings the L.A. Storytelling Festival. And in the pipeline for December: The fun, fantastic and family friendly New Years Eve event; First Night Escondido.

Summer Reading

2007-06-28T11:46:00.001-07:00

Summer Reading is now in full swing. What is Summer Reading? Every summer the state libraries have a themed summer reading program to encourage youth to...well...read during the summer. This summer the theme is “Get A Clue @ your library”...a detective type thing. So we developed a program called “You Be The Detective”; stories and riddles to get the kids thinking and excited about reading. We tell stories with a question and a clever twist. Along with stories, we pose some smart riddles to the kids. Those kids are really on top of things. They are great at solving mysteries and puzzles. We have nearly twenty “You Be the Detective” shows booked over the summer. So far it has been a blast.

Our favorite riddles? Here goes.....

What gets wetter the more it dries? (a towel)

What goes up a chimney when it's down, but can't go down a chimney when it's up? (an umbrella)

What sits in the corner and travels around the world? (A postage stamp....or maybe a suitcase.)

One of the delightful discoveries that we have been making is that if you ask kids to put on their detective hats, eyes and ears, they are able to make some really interesting deductive answers.

AND we have also been delighted to know that although the kids know some things about detectives and mysteries from TV and the movies.....reading mysteries is alive and well with some of the most popular being Encyclopedia Brown, Nate the Great Detective, Cam Jensen (girl detective with the photographic memory...just like a “camera”....) and (surprise!) Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.

Are you reading this before the middle of August 2007? If so, there still is a chance to catch us at a southern CA library near you. Take a look at our on-line calendar at http://www.my.calendars.net/patchworkplayers

Patchwork Players Alert!

2007-04-26T09:57:00.001-07:00

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Join The Patchwork Players at the Seaport Village Busker Festival; that means that there will be a bunch of great acts; jugglers, musicians, magicians etc., vying for a summer long contract. We will put on a great show, but are not above asking our fans to come down an fill the ballot box with our name. When we win you can bring you and yours down to Seaport Village all summer long to see our shows. Hurrah! Shows are ongoing all day May 12^th & 13^th, from 11:00 to 4:00. On Saturday we will be on the Boardwalk by the Scandinavian and Trails West shops. On Sunday we will be by the carousel. Look for us to tailor our shows to reflect the telling area. We know a fun time will be had by all. And remember The Patchwork Players when casting your vote!

2007-04-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Spring has Sprung!

Patchwork Players audiences continue to grow and we are jumping like rabbits to keep up with the demand for our tales.

Since our last blog we have been planting storytelling seed throughout the southland. The Patchwork Players have been seen at a Diversity Dinner in Encinitas and birthday parties

We have also performed at Festivals in Murrieta and Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside on the same day (both of which received press in the local papers) WHEW!

Along the way we squeezed a bunch of Library shows from Temecula to Carlsbad.
We also started a couple of very fine educational programs. The first is the Reading is Fundamental program. Patti and James each have told to half-a-dozen assemblies for elementary and middle school kids in Escondido thanks to a project sponsored by the Escondido Library Literacy Program.

Next we kicked off a Prime Time Reading program in National City. There we perform tales and engage students and parents in critical thinking discussions about the tales told. Oh yeah, they get to take home the books that we shared so they can read them at home, too. This program is presented bilingually in English and Spanish so that everyone can participate. Very cool!

On top of that Patti has continued to perform at Family Literacy Nights, and will be performing with our storytelling friend Panchita Acevedo at the California Center for the Arts for classes from area schools.

And James’ Mad Science presentations march on with kids thrilling them with the fun of science that comes to life, in a very NOT BORING way. So, we guess you could say, we’re pretty busy.

Keep an eye on this page as May flowers and Summer starts to simmer…We are especially excited as we continue to book our summer library reading program show “You be the Detective” at libraries from Ventura down to south San Diego County.

Look for us at a library near you! Keep us in mind for summer picnics, family events, birthday parties and other places that could just use some stories.