Chinese New Year

Another busy weekend for The Patchwork Players. Yesterday we told tales at a very special birthday party. It was Kyler’s fifth birthday, and he loves camping. Well, his folks set up a camp out themed party, complete with a faux campfire. We have some experience in the world of camping, we were happy to come and share campfire tales. We came set for bear, with walking sticks, hiking boots, back packs and a passel of stories. We told some true-life stuff, as well as some classic and neo-classic “not too scary stories”. We had a great time. The kids were wonderful, and really enjoyed the show. The folks were very hospitable and were generous with both food and conversation. This was about as good as a private kids party gets. We sometimes hesitate to tell at birthday shows too often as it is not unusual that the Storytellers are treated as second class baby-sitters. If every family was like Kyler’s, we would do a bunch more private birthdays.

Today, we were back at the San Diego Museum of Art for the Asian Empires Family Fun Festival, celebrating the Chinese New Year. We love doing San Diego Museum of Art festivals. There was a great mix of people there, families with a long history with museums, and people who have never been in a museum before. We told four sets. Each show and each audience had a flavor all their own. See http://www.sdmart.org/ for more information.

In our first set our main story was the Chinese story “The Laziest Boy in the World”. A story about the changes that can happen when you challenge pre-conceived notions about yourself.

Next, we told a Northern Indian tale we call “All Is as It Should Be”. A story of wisdom and adventure. At that show there was a young girl who has seen The Patchwork Players before. As a matter of fact, she had seen us tell “All Is as It Should Be” before. Still, she was rapt in a story trance. Afterwards, she gave James two hugs and a kiss on the forehead. Storytellers are the new Rock Stars...well maybe for some. Anyway, that kind of feedback is worth more than any kind of money. (However, our landlord likes cash, so we will still need to charge for our services)

During the break, we met Mona, a docent in the Asian gallery. She had some great stories to share with the visitors, about the art. It was a pleasure to hear her tell her tales. She also recognized our storytelling style is much like the theatre style of Comidia Del Artes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_del_Arte ). Wow, Mona knows a lot about history, art AND theatre. We were glad that she recognized our interpretation of this classic form of storytelling.

In our last two shows we told some classic Japanese stories. The Peach Boy and The Boy Who Drew Cats.

After The Peach Boy, we chatted with a mother from Japan. She was very familiar with this classic tale, and really appreciated The Patchwork Players version. In the next show there were some who knew the story of The Boy Who Drew Cats. They liked our version too. This was the last show of the day and it was probably the largest, and most engaged audience of the day.