Adventures in Storytelling

Overnight at the Library

2011-07-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hoorah for the Carlsbad Public Library in Carlsbad CA for hosting a Sleepover at the Library for over 12 years. Kids AND their parents or grandparent spend the night camped out at the library, listening to stories, watching movies (all night if you want AND your parents will stay up with you.) What could be better than building a fort. AT your local library?

Patti and James totally enjoyed joining them for the first part of the evening for a great trip around the world by stories.

Children's Museum at La Habra

2010-10-16T09:30:00.001-07:00

"Tell Me a Story" is the new hand's on exhibit at the Children's Museum at La Habra. It consists of wall mounted stories aong with appropriate "you can touch them" costumes and props for kids and parents to play with.

The Patchwork Players got to add our own brand of audience participation storytelling at a recent Saturday morning in La Habra. Children and parents loved joining in on Pedro and Coyote, Stone Soup, Anansi, as well as a favorite Caps for Sale. Check out the exhibit...you'll have a fabulous time.

How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl

2010-10-03T22:16:00.001-07:00

Here it is "hot off the press"....How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl. Available for sale on Amazon.com

Every year, coyotes from all over, the mountains, seaside, and cities, gather in the desert for their annual coyote convention. They always have a contest at their gatherings to see who is the best coyote at ... running, eating, dancing? One year they decide to have a howling contest. Coyotes love to howl at the moon. The coyotes, old and young, begin to practice howling, each one having their own style. Everyone thinks they have what it takes to win. Everyone except for the Baby Coyote. He doesn't know how to howl, he can't play with the others. So Baby Coyote just sits, and cries all alone. His friends call Grandma Coyote to help him out. Grandma Coyote sees Baby Coyote is heartbroken that he cannot howl. So she sends him on a quest through the mesas, arroyos, and cacti of the dessert to help him learn how to howl. With her wisdom and guidance, and some determination,Baby Coyote learns how to howl and wins first prize in the howling contest. The proudest moment of Baby Coyote's life. This modern South-Western fable, told by the Patchwork Players, James Nelson-Lucas & Patti Christensen, is an encouraging story for everyone who has felt like, "I don't know how and no one will help me!" Travel with Baby Coyote as he learns that, with a little encouragement, and some hard work; yes, you can! The playful and entertaining illustrations by Jezreel Lopez that bring the story of Baby Coyote to life, delight and engage pre-readers, older children, and adults alike. The Patchwork Players have told this story to thousands of children, and always send them howling into the night.

Watch our Utube video of telling this story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GmJ78d1lz4

Here is what people are saying about Baby Coyote:

Hank Bruce (Rio Rancho, NM USA)

This review is from: How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl (Paperback)

What a delightful and well written book. The story is well developed and explores the roles between elders and children. This is a great story to read to children, again and again because it was written for the spoken word. It is also a great story for children to engage in, both by taking part in the reading and by informally performing it. There is a dynamic diversity of emotions that mirror the feeling of every child, then after the story has been shared there are discussion questions that can be used in a school or home setting, or even in therapy sessions. Classroom conversations can range from bullying, to the value of discovery, practice, participation and the mastering of life skills. This is a story that children will want to visit frequently, and share with family and friends.

D. Benjamin, Minneapolis, Minnesota

This review is from: How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl (Paperback)

My 6 year old daughter loves this book! She brought it in to show her summer school classmates, and she convinced the teacher to read it to the entire class. It's a beautifully illustrated, simple tale that holds up well for repeat readings. It would make a great gift for a special child in your life.

K. Sean Buvala "Storyteller.net" (Avondale, AZ United States) -

This review is from: How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl (Paperback)

A good book for anyone who has little ones! Using a story that the authors created from a tale shared by "an old desert grandfather" after a performance, they have created a book with accessible, child-friendly pictures. Moving along a fresh pace, this book invites the reader to experience both the frustration and surprise of Baby Coyote as he learns a new skill. We especially like the interaction between the Grandmother and the Baby. It presents a very normal way that adults interact with children and makes for believable character development. As a bonus, Patti and James present a series of discussion questions at the end of the book. Use these to help your child think more about the story and how they might apply it to their own life. With this book, you are going to get many requests to "Read this one again!"

Modern Princess Tales for Girl Scouts

2010-06-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today we made a return visit to the Yorba Linda Girl Scout Day Camp, in Yorba Linda, CA. This finely run week has 450 elementary aged girls, Jr and Sr High volunteers, adult leaders, and even activities for the little brothers and sisters.

Nearly a cast of thousands.

We had such a nice time telling some of our favorite princess stories like Rapunzel, The Paperbag Princess, the Invention of The Catapult, and The Frog Princess. Total joy to have kids really listening and "into" the stories. This is James' second time and Patti's third time with them, and we'd be happy to go back every year. Great job, gang!

The campers are spending the week with a "blast from the past" learning all about life in "the old days" like when we were kids. They are going to make pet rocks, learn to do yoga, and wear poddle skirts. How cool is that?

Yo ho ho! Pirate Tales from The Seven Seas

2010-04-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

James and Patti told Pirate Tales at the Rancho Santa Fe Library this week. Everyone had a fabulous time, including the boys who LOVED checking out James' "real" sword.

They told about Pirate Girl, The Pirate Ghost with One Back Eye, as well as The Pirate With the Golden Arm

Southern CA Story Swap

2010-04-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Storytellers from throughout the Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange county gather every year for a family reunion of storytellers. Each storytelling group sent a representative to tell stories. Patti and James were the reps for the South Coast Storytellers Guild. This year it was held on April 17th at the Dudley House in Ventura, CA.

Everyone had a terrific time! Next year it will be hosted by The Griot Workshop in Los Angeles.

Where does Santa go in February?

2010-03-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

So what happens when someone missed out on getting their photo taken with Santa and the Mrs. in December. Well it is storytellers to the rescue. Who says that Santa and Mrs. Claus can't make a Valentine's stop for photos? It's all in a day's work for storytellers and Santa.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

2010-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One of the really satisfying event of this holiday season was playing Santa and Mrs. Claus to a group of children living in a residential program. We got our photos taken with some very happy kids and their families. What a blessing! Take a look at a couple of photos. Hope you holidays were really wonderful. Here's to a great new year.

Happy New Year from James and Patti

2009-12-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tellabration and More

2009-11-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well a lot has happened for the Patchwork Players since last we blogged. The high point was probably International Tellabration Day. That is the day when folks all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica, gather to share stories. In these parts James (JamesStoryMagic), the South Coast Storytellers Guild, and the First Lutheran Church of Vista hosted a concert. The event included local, nationally known, and internationally known tellers, including Harlynne Geislar, Mindy Donner, Panchita Acevedo, David Whiting & Dianna Sprithawk, and The Patchwork Players. There was probably the greatest collection of tandem tellers ever collected on one stage. The show was second in a series of concerts at First Lutheran. The crowd was enthusiastic and plan to return for future concerts.

After the Tellebration, Patti jetted off to perform for an overnight gathering of teen from the Seaside Church. She told them a variety of stories (NOT the kindergarten variety). The highlight, though, was a storytelling game where each had to tell us three "facts, two totally true and one that was a dream that they hope to make true in the future. It gives you a lot of faith that this planet will be okay when you hear the dreams of our young people!

On August 22^nd James produced the first in a series of concerts at First Lutheran. Since it was back to school time, the theme was 'Lessons Learned'. Tellers included Doris Hand, Marilyn McPhee, Dave Chittenden, Sarah Saulter, Laura Beasly, and James. There was an great turnout. At the artists reception after, two young girls had the tellers autograph a 40 year old book of folktales. They were so excited, the tellers and the girls. It looks like we can build North San Diego into a storytelling nexus.

There were two wonderful storytelling festivals in the last few months. There was the first Orange County Storytelling Festival, and the long running Los Angeles Storytelling festival. Patti & James attended both.

The Orange County Festival was produced by internationally known teller Michael McCarty, and featured tellers like Christopher Yates, Antonio Sacre, Sandra Muzimoto Posey and. It featured concerts, a story swap where folks can share their stories, and Patti & James tell some of theirs. There were also workshops on storytelling, and a 'Fringe' concert with tales of a more adult nature. It was a fine first offering for the Orange County Festival.

Then there was the 8^th annual LA Storytelling Festival. Again there were concerts, workshops, swaps, and Fringe. Tellers at the LA festival included local, and national favorite Angela Lloyd, Hawaiian teller of spooky tales Jeff Gere , performance artist Kristina Wong, and storyteller Richard Marsh all the way form Ireland, Ina Buckner-Burnett the 'Sunshine Storyteller, and San Diego favorite Marilyn McPhie as emcee. We're glad this festival continues to draw top notch talent.

Along the we Patti and James busied ourselves with other shows.

James presented as Kvasir, his Norse storytelling alter ego, at a local Viking Festival.

The Patchwork Players old 'Not To Scary' stories at a San Diego library. We have been well received at that library in the past. They have already asked us to do three gigs next year. And then we performed for a Happy Halloween corporate event.

James told at the 'Thrilling and Chilling' concert hosted by the South Coast Storytellers Guild on Halloween night.

Patti and James also served as MC's for the San Diego Jewish Book Festival in La Jolla. This is the 4th year we have been there, and so enjoy seeing the new books for Jewish authors, meeting some of the authors, and sharing some of our favorite Jewish folktales. It is so fun to see friends there year after year.

And, as always, we continue our weekly work at Rady Children's Hospital as Healing Arts Associates on staff. We never get tired to telling stories to the children, family and staff at the hospital. We are even going to play Santa and Mrs. Claus for a special event there mid-December. Ho ho ho!

Now we are running headlong into the new year. Huzzah! remember, the Patchwork Players are already booking for next year, so contact us soon to get us soon to do a concert of workshop for your event, party, or gathering. And for our librarian out there, we are offering two programs for the Summer Reading theme; 'Tales of the Seven Seas: Pirate Stories', and 'Why the Sea is Salty, and Other Stories of the Sea'.

And don't forget the day after Thanksgiving is National Day of Listening. Get someone to tell you are story, or tell one to somebody. It is a great project and a perfect way to enjoy your holiday weekend. http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/

James' Adventure at Anticipation and Montreal

2009-08-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

While Patti is still on her Alaska Adventure (see her blog here www.pattidicksgrandadventures.blogspot.com ), I have returned form my adventure to Montreal. As you may remember, I was there for the 67^th annual World Science Fiction Convention, this year called Anticipation. Although I have been going to science-fiction conventions for over 30 years, I did more than play attendee. I taught a Storytelling workshop, and sat on several panels. What follows is my travelogue.

Things started a bit bumpy. When Wes, my traveling friend for many years, discovered he had forgotten his passport. So, he caught a later flight, and I went alone. That's OK, it gave me time to review for the convention. After four hours in the air, a few hours at O'Hare, and another two hour flight, I was in Montreal. I found it interesting, that flying into Montreal, I noticed that nearly every home, and apartment building, had pools! I never thought of Montreal as a hot place. I suppose I should be more aware of our neighbors to the north.

Montreal is beautiful, unlike any other city that I have been to in the Americas. Of course, we were smack, dab, in the middle of some of the most interesting places in the city. Our hotel abutted Old Montreal, with is narrow streets. Very old (by new world standards) buildings. Quaint shops, and restaurants, magnificent churches, and museums. China Town was just on the other side of the convention center, maintaining her charm. Then there was St. Catherine's Street just a few blocks away. St. Catherine's is where you will find all the happenin' shops, restaurants, street performers, and such like.

Since Wes was following four hours behind me, I settled in, and set to do what conventioneers of all stripes love to do: Party. There are many parties to choose from, hosted by cities, countries, publishers, fan organizations, etc. Each with it's own theme, and food, and drink combinations. I thing this year it goes to the Texas party. They had both beef, and chicken fajitas. and margaritas.

The next day, it was time for the programs to start. It's hard to describe what kind of programming an SF convention has to offer. I'll tell you about a few that I attended: The Politics of Science, Mad Social Scientists, George Lucas; Film Savior or Destroyer?, Food -Ancient-Modern-Future- Near and Far, and, Cultural Geography in Science Fiction, Re-Boot; Old Shows and Movies That Have Been Remade. As well as all that there was gaming, films, Filking (folk music for SF fans), and more.

Now, as for what I participated in; I did a concert for the kids in the kids play area. Those kids told almost as many stories as I did. There are some great budding tellers out there. I was on a panel called “What Makes A Good Story?” Other panelists included; Robert Silverberg, Scott Edelman, Nancy Kress, and Bill Willingham. It was fun to discuss the basics of Story with those luminaries. There was the panel called “First Contact: Creating History. Myself, and too many panelists to mention, took teens thorough a thought experiment; How would they create the story of our first alien contact. Then I was part of a panel called Playlists, Side Two, where the panelists played their top ten Science Fiction-y songs. And gave a little history behind them. Panelists; Alaya Dawn Johnson, John Kenny, Richard Chwedyk, and myself, brought tunes ranging from 1920's Blues, to 21^st Century Alternative. Great fun was had by all, and we all went away having heard something new. I also taught a Beginning Storytelling workshop. I was scheduled against the Masquerade Show, and a fireworks show. Even still, a few stalwarts showed up. Evidently I was doing a good job, as they stayed over a half an hour after the workshop was to end. One of the attendees was author Walter Hunt. He was looking for some tips to improve his book readings. Walter later told me that he had learned a lot. So much so, I was worthy to grace his blog. Thanks Walter, next time I hope to make it to your reading.

Let's not forget the food! Since we were right on top of Old Montreal, Wes and I stopped at one of their watering holes, The Victoria Pub. Where we sampled some of Canada's beers, had a bit, and started the afternoon. We ate in Chinatown twice. Once at The Hong Kong. It was not the best Chinese I have ever eaten. But there were some wonderful flavors that I can't remember tasting before, with interesting names for the dishes. Like the War Bar, which, it turns out, is a combination of shrimp, scallops, squid, bass, Chinese cabbage, and tomato. All in a rich sauce that tasted like a cross between BBQ and Sweet and Sour. Our second trip to Chinatown was a specific hunt for those 'happy little packages', Dim Sum. We were told that the Maison de Hong Kong was the best in town. We got there the last day of the convention, Monday morning. So the place was pretty quite. But after we tasted those tiny morsels, we could imagine the place packed on the weekends. Wes and I are both shrimp lovers, so we must have had shrimp dim sum at least eight different ways. Everything was delicious. A definite must-return-to, next visit to Montreal.

Even the restaurants at the convention center, and the hotel, Delta Centre-ville, had something memorable to offer. At then convention center we tried Fourquet Fourchette, it bills itself as Bière et cuisine. There was a definite flavor of the native peoples there, canoe over the bar, carvings here and there. They even had a dish that, in English, was the Amerind Mixed Grill. However, on the reverse of the menu in French, it was called the Pow Wow Platter! This place specializes in micro-brews, and game meat. So we ordered the six beir taster. Everything form very dark, to very light. I found the most interesting to be the Cassis bier, just sweet enough. The salad bar was nothing to write home about. And we both had the Cream of Lettuce Soup. Good, but not something I'd cross town for. But the main dishes were very good. I had the mixed game sausages. I tiny bit dry, but better with the mustard. Wes had the Venison Ravioli. I think he got the best end of the deal.

At the hotel we ate on the ground floor restaurant, the name of which I cannot remember. There we had steaks. They were quite good, but nothing we can't get back home. The appetizer, however, was excellent! Bison Carpaccio, with shaved aged Parmesan, and a hazelnut-truffel oil. That was the best bison I've ever tasted.

Most of the time, however, I ate at the parties. And what food and drink there was to be had. There were cheeses, candies, cookies, treats, and all manner of adult beverages, from all around the globe. There was the Nippon party, hosted by the producers of the 2007 Worldcon, in Japan. They served Japanese Pancakes, and all kind of Japanese snacks that are hard to describe. And of course Sake. The Montreal party features something called 'Smoked Meat', which is evidently a local specialty. It is smoked brisket, on a bagel. And ther was the Friendly Scandinavians party, regulars at every Worldcon I have been to. They are a contingent of Fins , Swedes, and Norwegians. The, of course, featured Aquavite. Now if you haven't tried Aquavite yet, be careful. It has a very strong anise flavor, and it packs a punch. There were at least a dozen more parties, to many to review here. But it's not just the food and drink that make the parties. It's the mingling. There are always lots of old friends to meet up with, and new friends to be made. Friendships forged at Worldcons can last for decades. I got to meet David Kyle, likely the oldest SF fan yet living. He is a spry 90 years old, he attended the first Worldcon in 1936, and seems to have never left. And I met some other new friends, whom I will likely be connected with for years to come.

So that is my mini-travelogue. A brief introduction to Montreal, and Science-Fiction fandom. Maybe you will be moved to join our ranks. Either way, hope to see you at a storytelling venue soon.

Speaking of storytelling again...don't forget the concert I am producing on 8/22/09:

Lessons Learned Storytelling Concert

Saturday, August 22, 2009
6:30p-8:00pm

Followed by reception and snacks

Do something fun before school starts!
James Nelson-Lucas brings some of his storytelling
friends from Orange and San Diego Counties to share stories for the whole family. Some true, some not so true, and others just plain fantastic. Laura Beasley, Dave Chittenden, Doris Hand, Marilyn McPhie, Sara Saulter, and James will be telling. Be prepared for a a fun evening.

Admission at the door: $5.00

First Lutheran Church of Vista
1410 Foothill Dr
Vista, CA 92084
(760) 583-9578 for info

I hope to see you there

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

\
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.

Family Fun Festival

2007-03-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday February 25, 2007

Oh, do we love telling stories at museums….and one of our favorites is The San Diego Museum of Art. On a quarterly basis, this museum with a fine permanent collection and a wonderful rotation of nationally and internationally known exhibits, opens up at no cost for their Family Festival. This features tours, music, hands on art for kids as well as….tahdah! The Patchwork Players telling stories in the galleries.

There is always a different focus: Maxfield Parish, Andy Warhol, Mexican Art, Indian Art, and our favorite, that makes great use of the collection—the Asian Festival celebrating Chinese New Year.

So what happens at one of these events? Take a look at our photos….people young and old, families and individuals gather and stream into the museum and the area out front to immerse themselves in art. And what about the stories? Well, museums are filled to the brim with stories! Some of the paintings, photos and sculptures are specifically illustrating stories. Some remind us of stories we already know, while others just beg for new stories to be created.

The Asian gallery has some of the most precious statuary of bodhisattvas, Buddhas, teapots, and clothing like amazing silk robes, weapons, and a small replica of a temple. Here’s the blurb from their literature: “Bringing back popular works, while introducing new and rarely exhibited works, Tastes in Asian Art explores the diverse tastes of different social groups—the imperial ruling class, scholars, warriors, and common people—and features a separate section devoted to religious art, as well as a new section dedicated to Persian art.” Telling stories there is such a privilege. We love it. Come on down the next time and share the fun. Watch their website for the next date http://www.sdmart.org/ (or email us and we’ll let you know.)

For James, the museum in Balboa Park (near downtown San Diego) has a special interest. James’ younger sister, professional artist, Kristina Lucas, designed the gorgeous tile that decorates the fountain right in front of the Museum of Art. Here is a photo of James and the fountain (as opposed to James and the Giant Peach which is a different story).

Stay tuned for more adventures in storytelling!!!!

Happy Holidays from the Patchwork Players!

2006-12-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

Can it really be since September that we last blogged? Oh, we have traveled some miles and told some stories during the last three months! Here are the highlights:

October is always the busiest time of the year for us as storytellers. We get so many calls saying “Do you tell scary stories?” (Of course our answer is YES!) We returned for the third year to
LEGOLAND California’s Brick of Treat event.
Stories and magic fit right in with the wonderful decoration and kid-friendly atmosphere at LEGOLAND. It is old home week when we get a chance to connect up with other entertainers who also return to LEGOLAND from where ever they are for this fine event.
The South Coast Storytellers Guild continues its Adult Storytelling program, in October hosting “Things That Go Bump in the Night” concert. James did a great job as MC, again (as well as in November at the Worldwide TELLBRATION concert.) We also got to be really scary pirates at the Oceanside Public Library REALLY Scary Halloween night.

November brought us up to the LA Storytelling Festival as volunteers, having a chance to see old and new friends and hear some amazing stories. We were also featured at the San Diego Jewish Book Fair. This is a chance to share some of the hot off the press new Jewish books (plus take some home….can you really EVER have too many books?)

Over Thanksgiving weekend we had a true life adventure! During our travels on the coast, we happened on a stranded dolphin in a small cove. Our spouses and we helped protect and move the dolphin until a rescue vehicle arrived. This may just be the stuff of another “Storytellers to the Rescue” story.

James launched on a new venture this fall by becoming a Mad Scientist with the local Mad Science organization. His favorite part of this work is getting to do assemblies and special events as Yosemite James, and getting to explode things and teach kids about how exciting science is.

Then there have been scores of additional classrooms, school assemblies, library programs, preschools, and retirement communities. We continue as staff storytellers every Friday at the local children’s hospital, and James has hooked up with the Magic Guild of San Diego which holds monthly meetings.

Patti is working again with a counseling agency as well as Center ARTES from Cal State San Marcos. We are both waiting to hear how the Arts Funding in California is going to be spent in the upcoming year.

New Years Eve will bring us back again for the 4th year to First Night Escondido, an alcohol-free family event in Escondido. It has been a good year for s1torytelling….but then again; any year is a good one for storytelling. Happy New Year

One Crazy Summer

2006-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

When we last met we told of Patti’s journey back to Minnesota. As always there is more to the story, both before and after her trip.

Since we were at Legoland’s Pirate Shores, the Patchwork Players have been all over the map. Here’s are quick travelogue:

Huntington Beach Library, Festival of Folk Tales…a fabulous gathering of over a thousand kids and parents, all about the joy of reading.

The Patchwork Players told Patriotic stories at a summer program in Brea for the 4th of July…red white and blue and actors form the audience!

Private 70th Birthday It was a surprise party, and she was delighted, as were friends and family young and old

Mystic Gyfte Street Festival in Vista, California. There were a host of fine musical acts including Highland Way and, one of James’ all time favorite bands; Strange Woods (James has been a fan for 25 years). James went as a patron, to relax after an earlier gig. Then the folks of Strange Woods realized it was taking too long to set up their equipment, so they handed James a mic and asked for a story. The Patchwork Players and Strange Woods shared a stage some five year ago, so they knew our work. So James regaled the crowd with a story called “Middle Woman”. And when he was done the band was ready to go. Once again: storytellers to the rescue

American Cancer Society Camp for kids. We told stories at a day camp for children dealing with cancer age 4-10.

Patti told at two Girl Scout Camps: up in Yorba Linda—around the world in five days, and at Balboa Park—Fairytale Camp. As a long time Girl Scout, Patti always loves the chance to support the scouts.

Patti was at a Family Literacy Night in Escondido at the Public Library there. She was part of their learning about science summer program, where she share the “story answers” to some scientific questions like why do we have tides and how come the sun hurts out eyes when we look directly at it.

We were also back again for the San Diego Museum of Art Family Fun Festival. Always a wonderful event, designed to get families to see the museum as a fun place to go. In the past we had been asked to gear our stories to match the current, featured exhibit. On this day that exhibit was Andy Warhol’s works. There was some question as to how accessible Warhol is to a family audience. So they asked us to spread the stories different galleries. We told in the American Classics, Asian and European Masters Galleries. We managed to tailor our stories to each exhibit. We even came up with good story for the Warhol gallery; Stone Soup, which we told in front of his Campbell’s Soup Cans. We also share some of the story behind why Andy decided to paint Campbell’s cans. A good story to be sure! And everywhere we go our fans are popping up. One mother, with a 11 year old boy in tow, entered the museum and spotted James. She turned to her boy and said reassuringly “See, I told you it would be him”. Further conversation reveled that they had seen us at LEGOLAND and were hoping to see us again. There were also a bunch of other folks who were proud to announce that they had seen us before. Afterward, a kindly pair of septuagenarian ladies said that our show “was wonderful to behold”.

The Patchwork Players were invited back for the fifth time to tell at the San Diego Renaissance Faire. Renaissance Fairs take us back in time. Not just to the renaissance, but to our past as well. The very first time we performed as The Patchwork Players was at a Renaissance Faire. We have tried to make it to at least one a year since then. Going to Faire can be like going home. Those who frequent faires, or Faire Folk, are like a big family. Vendors and performers bring their kids along, and they camp on site. We saw many old friends, their sprouting children. And some great acts: Marlowe’s Shadowe, Sound and Fury, A Fool and His Lady, among others. We also had had very appreciative audiences. You see, at Renaissance Faires, the talent, that’s us, is allowed to pass the hat after each performance. You can tell right away from the tips whether they like you or not.
Then The Patchwork Players traveled from long past Renaissance era all the way to a futuristic Spaceport at...
WorldCon 64 , a gathering of 10,000 Science Fiction Fans from around the world met in Anaheim. If you saw the season closer episode of Psych, or the movie GalaxyQuest, you have seen a loving parody of what a real Science Fiction Convention looks like. Patti has been to a few over the years and James has been to about 100 in the last thirty years. James has wanted some stage time at a major Science Fiction Convention for almost as long. So we were very pleased when we landed a slot on the main entertainment stage in the Spaceport Lounge. During the five days of the convention that stage hosted everything from dramatic readings, singers, harpists, pianists, magicians, TechnoPopFusion bands, The Prancing Pony Players, to The Patchwork Players Story Theatre. We came on right after The Prancing Pony Players. Good news for us, we had been hearing about them from both the Science Fiction and Renaissance Faire communities. This troop of Hobbit costumed, young ladies perform a musical parody of Lord of the Rings. We really enjoyed their show. Another added benefit was the hanging out with stage manager Nick Smith. He is a well known Los Angeles area storyteller, and long time buddy of ours.
At last, Nick gave us a glowing intro and we took the stage. For the next fifty minutes we performed some our favorite tales and capped the show off with the story “Middle Woman” by Orson Scott Card, which we tell with his permission. We ended the show with that piece because Orson Scott Card is much beloved by science fiction fans, so we knew the telling would be appreciated in that crowd. After, Nick let us know that we had done an excellent job.

Poinsettia Kinder Care—a fun time with the little ones. What is more fun than a whole batch of 3-5 year olds pretending to be sneaky monkeys?

And libraries, libraries, libraries! God bless the summer reading programs which take a theme and libraries around the region all use the same theme over the summer. This year’s them focused on animals “Claws, paws, tails and scales”…which gave us a lot to work with. We were able to do performances from as far south as Point Loma Library, to up in Los Angeles and over in Riverside County. The animal tales were a great hit. We especially appreciate a young 10 year old fan who yelled to us in the parking lot “You guys rock!”

Things calm down now for a bit as schools get rolling back into their rhythms, and we start to get ready for Halloween and “Do you know any SCARY stories?” Yes we do. Stay tuned for a report on the scary and not too scary stories in store for October.

Patti & Kids

2006-09-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Last month I got to spend a week in Minnesota and Wisconsin being Aunt Patti, the storytelling aunt. I brought with me my new toy: a small digital recorder where you can record and then upload to your computer and burn a cd from that. I thought it might be fun to try recording some stories with my nieces and nephews (6 of them ages 1 year to 8 years old.) I was confident that the school-agers would like this: especially my sister's kids get to tell and read ad LOT of books and stories. What I was surprised was that the 3 year old (and a half!) boy was among the best storytellers there. He loved helping me tell the Gingerbread Man ("first you take a knife and you cut it, then you put on sprinkles for the cheeks. Then red sprinkles for the hat. No, green sprinkles!" ) On story after familiar story, we was so happy to say his parts "And I'll huff and I'll Puff" Somebody's been eating my porridge" "Run, run as fast and you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man".) He has been read to and told these stories, mostly by his grandpa, since he was a baby. He was very happy to "correct" if I said it wrong. "No not the little old woman and the little old man. The BIG woman and the BIG man." At the end of each story he delighted in saying "Now play it" and we listened back to the story to his (as well as all the kid's delight.)

The other amazing recording experience I had was when the 7 year old suggested we should make up a story about a Elephant with the hiccoughs, I started in and then made a loud hiccough sounds. My 13 month old niece immediately copied the sound. I thought oh that was just a coincidence, so I said it again with the same results. We told this story 3 times. It finally occurred to me I should try to record her doing it and she did it on cue for the recorder. This little tike was sooooo there for the telling of this story and doing her part. After every one had a chance to record over several days (classic stories, literary tales, and a bunch we made up ourselves) I told them that I would go home and burn a cd with these stories on them. The 6 year old asked "Then will you sell us a copy, Aunt Patti?" Yes, I think I will. I would sooooo recommend this process. It was gold, and will make such a great keepsake for them all to have of their sweet little voices telling stories.

Ahoy Mateys!

2006-06-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Ahoy Matey! One of our favorite venues and amusement parks LEGOLAND CA ( http://www.legoland.com/California.htm ) had a sneak preview of a new attraction mid-June. Pirate Shores, a series of fun, water rides and activities is now open to the public. The Patchwork Players joined a number of our favorite entertainers, plus some new friends in introducing this new attraction. We donned our pirate garb and headed out for two rollicking days of telling pirate tales, getting our photos taken, getting squirted by riders on pirate ships and telling and hearing some hilarious pirate jokes. Where did the peg legged pirate go for breakfast? …..I-hop! Why can’t kids go see the scariest pirate movies? Because they are rated AARRRRRR. We especially enjoyed meeting members of a local pirate guild The HMS Stranglehold crew ( http://stranglehold.kagusa.org/pirates/ ). They, in addition to being “real pirates” also have members who dress up as Klingons. Oh, we love the world of entertainers. We hope you get a chance to get over to LEGOLAND sometime soon and play with the pirates. It was a great time.

Patti then joined the Girl Scouts of Yorba Linda in Orange County CA for Around the World in Five Days at their day camp. Nearly 450 girls from Kindergarten through grade 6 were there making crafts, earning badges, and hearing Patti tell stories from Asian. Each day the camp featured guest artists and performers from around the region. They were enthusiastic volunteers and pretty good actors, too. They especially enjoyed helping to bring to life Lon Po Po, the Chinese Little Red Riddinghood story. Patti was a Girl Scout in Minnesota all throughout her school years, and so has a special warm spot in her heart for this terrific young development program.

Over the next five weeks, summer reading programs in the public libraries start with a vengeance. Start tuned for news on Animal Tales: Let’s Act It Out.

Summertime!

2006-06-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

The Patchwork Players blew out the barn doors this first weekend of June ‘06

Patti is a part of a team of creative folks that bring arts to the schools under the SUAVE program. Now we come to the end of the school year, and so on Thursday, Patti bid a fond farewell to two of the primary school classes she has been working with all spring. James was able to go along and help to tell a tale or two. It was very touching to see how much the kids had connected with Patti. She spoke to their creative, intuitive and analytical brains. This was very evident in the ‘thank you’ and ‘farewell’ notes they wrote for her. They also loved having James come in to add a bit of his own special energy point of view. After the presentations, kids lined up to get James’ autograph. Storytellers are like Rock Stars to these kids.

Friday was a GO-Go day. We started at our regular Friday gig telling stories and doing magic for kids in the hospital. Well, not just the kids, we are there for family members and care-givers too. It is so rewarding to be able to make a difference in the lives of folks who are in crisis situations. You may have noticed we do stories and magic. Both have their place. Especially for some of the older kids; When they hear “do you want to hear a story?” they think Little Kid Stuff. But if we say “want to see a magic trick?” their ears perk up. That gives us entrée. Or as our storytelling friend, Harlynne Geisler, puts it “establishing your street cred”. Once they have seen a trick or two, they know we are cool, and may be ready for a story or two.

Straight after that we jetted up to Hacienda Heights, some 120 miles from our morning gig and 85 miles from home. We were invited to tell Renaissance Style Tales at “A Knight Of Reading”… A kind of a school ‘camp out’ in the multi-purpose room at the school. We followed a pair demonstrating the gentlemanly art of swordsmanship. They were so cool with all their great rapiers, epees and sabers. All we had was a foam LEGOLAND sword. However, we soldiered on. We told Too Much Noise set in a castle, The Jesters Challenge, Rapunzel and The Three Wishes. The kids loved it. After we did a Q & A and those 4^th & 5^th grade kids had some great questions.

Saturday, Patti taught a workshop at the 16^th annual READ/San Diego Tutor Conference. She had the chance to encourage and offer some “Tried and True” methods for using storytelling and audience participation with children, families and adult literacy learners. Much of the material also works well with ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages) students.

Then in the evening it was back up to Orange County for The Wild, Wild West; A story concert presented by the South Coast Storytellers Guild. The evening was superbly put together by Mary Ann Newtion. James was the Emcee for the evening and was pleased to introduce the first tale called “The Moisture Accelerator” by none other than The Patchwork Players! This story is based on a real life rainmaker named Charles Hatfield who brought rain to San Diego. We weren’t the only ones to tell stories from history that evening. Adrienne told the tale of a ‘different’ kind of pioneer woman, Ah Toy, an entrepreneur who lived in the gold rush days. Doris Hand told a moving tale called Follow the Bugle. She crafted her story from the diary of army wives stationed in the Wild West, where their husbands had been sent to protect the railroad. And Mary Ann Newton told The Best Whip in the West.

Now as Mary Ann will tell you, a Whip is what Stagecoach drivers were called, and she told the tale off the most famous Whip of them all; Charlie Pankhurst; A tale of adventure, intrigue and a surprise or two. Keep a look out, you never know when history will be made right before your eyes.

Dave Whiting and Diana Spirithawk both shared wonderful Native American stories. David and Diana are some-time storytelling partners, and full time life partners. They both have a deep respect for, and connection with the Native American world, and they brought stories they have told at Pow-Wow’s. Diana told a moving tale called La Loba, and David told a funny and powerful story called Coyote and Spiderwoman. Thanks to you two for helping us stay in touch with that part of our heritage.

When it comes to not so true tales, we can always count on “Uncle Larry”, Larry Goldberg. As usual, Uncle Larry set the audience up with a bit of poetry, just to sucker us in we suspect, then he hit us with Once Upon A Swine In The West. A disturbingly funny tall tale of rugged frontiersmen and their quest for romance.

We were also treated to the wry and witty telling of Dave Chittenden. His story was not about the Gold Rush, but about the Black Gold Rush…Oil that is, Texas Tea. Dave told Hydrocarbon Man Makes An Offer…get it? Oil. Hydrocarbon…well Dave is an engineer by training. Now, we would like to categorize Dave’s story. Was it True Tale, Myth or Legend? As with most of his stories, it’s hard to figure. What we do know for sure is that Dave is always a pleasure to hear tell.

Now James modestly didn’t mention much about his highly skilled MC work. He spent a huge amount of time gathering some short stories, jokes, songs and other connectors that assisted the audience in smooth sailing transitions between these often VERY different types of stories and moods. One person remarked “You are the best MC in the whole world.” Perhaps a slight stretch, but he did a darned good job!

Sunday was soirée day! Patti and James joined other artists, school personnel, and supporters of the arts at a reception for Center ARTES at the Museum of Music Making in Carlsbad CA…just down the road from our house. Did you know that CA is current 50^th in terms of spending per student on the arts in the schools? Scandalous…and the folks gathered are part of a groundswell movement working to change this. Stay tuned to hear about new initiatives, plus, we are all crossing our fingers that the state budget will put back some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been lost on the arts in schools.

So were we tired? You bet….and getting ready to head up to Utah for a much needed vacation. Then, it’s back for SUMMER READING PROGRAMS in the libraries…oh the fun never stops!

2006-05-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome aboard faithful readers and story listeners. We have checked the Patchwork Players Ships Log and found it has been three weeks since our last entry. Oh where the story telling winds have taken us…

Come aboard for a story journey with us.

Patti has sailed on with her SUAVE Arts in the Schools programs in Carlsbad every Thursday. On occasion, James comes aboard to lend a hand.

A Saturday or two ago The Patchwork Players brought Pirate Tales to a very special, private party. Aye, and there be the guest of honor, shanghaied by storytelling pirates, Patti and James.

The next day Patti told Bi-Lingual Mexican tales in Old Town, with Panchita Acevedo. What a dynamic duo! Patti tells in English, and Panchita tells in Spanish. They do not translate for each other. They tell the same tale along parallel lingual and cultural lines. This you have to see.

On the 20^th of May, The Patchwork Players were part of the Orange County, Imagination Celebration. This is a county wide, month long program, dedicated to getting families interested in the arts. James and Patti were invited to participate in an event hosted by ‘The Orange Curtain Theater’ in San Juan Capistrano, California. We weighed anchor for the day. Our first set was a program and mini-workshop on ‘True (and not so true) Tales of California’. How do you bring local history to life with stories? Ask The Patchwork Players! Among the tales we told was the story of Charles M. Hatfield III, Rainmaker (a real guy). Later in the afternoon, we performed in story concert with two of our good pals; Linda King Pruitt and Adrienne McMillan. Linda King-Pruitt told a knock out version of ‘Lazy Jack” While The Patchwork Players and Adrienne McMillan both told some enthralling “what if I had a wish” type stories. Do you know what YOU would do if you if you had a wish, or two, or three? Remember what Willy Wonka said...”Be careful what you wish for, it may come true”

From there we sailed on to the San Diego Museum of Art. One of our favorite places to tell! The Museum was having one of their quarterly Family Festivals. Now we have told at a bunch of their Family Festivals. But this one was to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of the Museum. What does that mean to The Patchwork Players? Well, instead of developing a program for…the Asian Gallery… the Modern Gallery….the European Gallery…or the American Gallery…we had to prepare a show for each gallery! In storytelling, that is what we call heavy lifting. You had to be there to get it.

Extra Ego Strokes! We had several families come and tell us that they had seen us tell before, and that they had come to hear us tell again!

Be still our hearts. That is the kind of feedback that gets us out of bed in the morning.

What a journey!

Along the way we picked a few future gigs:

June 2^nd, we will be at a special event called “A Knight of Reading”. We are invited to meld twin passions; Renaissance Tales and Literacy at an overnight event at an Elementary school. What a Joy

Then there comes the Wild West show Sponsored by the South Coast Storytellers Guild. http://storyguild.com/

The Patchwork Players and a passel of fine tellers will be corralled for your enjoyment. Come on down and see James lasso (M/C.) a herd of tellers into a rodeo into an evening of storytelling adventure!

As for June! Oi! June we have a lot going on. We will be on tour from san Diego to Salt Lake City. Then, from Libraries to LEGOLAND.

Not only that, we will be at the Sneak Preview Event for LEGOLAND California’s “Pirate Shores”. Avast, we’ll have a Pirate tale or two to tell. And bring an umbrella!!! http://www.legoland.com/California.htm

June 23^rd we will be hanging’, and maybe telling a story or two at the free concert for the San Diego Highland Games http://www.sdhighlandgames.org
Our Friend Harlynne Geisler, http://www.swiftsite.com/storyteller , is a regular teller there, and we can’t resist the opportunity to stop by and tell a Celtic Story or two. Come on down, there are stories, food, fun and athletics for all.

Is there more stuff coming in June, July August and beyond? YES! Stay tuned to this station and visit www.patchworkplayers.com for more info!

After Tax Time

2006-04-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday found The Patchwork Players working very locally. The Cole Branch of the Carlsbad Library. We here in San Diego County pay more for gas then just about anywhere in the country, we are glad to get gigs close to home whenever we can. It was like old home day for James who has been going to this library for more than twenty years. We had a few dozen kids and their parents, and the Children’s Librarian in attendance. We told some classic Library stories like Caps for Sale, and some of our all time favorites for just about anywhere; Too Much Noise and Baby Coyote. The kids were engaged and had a good time. The Parents told us they liked the show, and the Librarian told us she will tell her colleagues how pleased she is with the Patchwork Players.

On Friday, Patti was joined by our storytelling buddy, Panchita Acevedo, to tell stories to celebrate the Mexican holiday Dia de los Niños, the day of the children. They were at an area school, San Pasqual-a little one school district out by the Wild Animal Park in Escondido CA. The two told a variety of traditional Mexican folktales bilingually in English and Spanish. This elementary school has 140 children who are Spanish speaking out of a school body of 600 children. Panchita is so fun to work with because she doesn’t just “translate” the story into Spanish; she is a master storyteller in her own right and tells the story as she thinks it should be told in Spanish. This includes using lots of famous sayings, slang, and referring to things that Spanish speaking people would recognize. Because we kept the language chunks quite brief, and because Panchita is so brilliantly expressive, even though most of the audience does not speak Spanish, they were able to follow the story in both languages. As one teacher said, this is a good experience for our English only students to see what it is like to hear something that you don’t understand the words and have to listen and watch carefully to try to see what is going on. All in all it was an excellent day. Well worth the effort of coordinating telling in two languages.

Then on Saturday, Patti joined Panchita gain to tell one of the most famous scary Mexican tales, La Llorona, the Waling/crying woman. This was at a Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) special event at a local park. This audience was largely Spanish speaking folks from a nearby neighborhood. Here Panchita took the lead, but again, it was joy to work together bringing this traditional story alive. (Many tell us that it isn’t a legend, but rather truly happened.) James was able to come along both to hear how Patti and Panchita worked together and to also take some photos. We hope in the future to work out some programming where the three of us can tell stories together.

In the meantime, happy May, happy Cinco de Mayo, happy spring, and happy storytelling!

Southern CA Story Swap

2006-04-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday April 22, 2006 Patti & James joined with 45 other storytellers and story enthusiasts’ from throughout the region for a day of story sharing and networking. This was the 23rd annual event, this one hosted by the southern Coast Storytellers guild. People drove down from areas north of Los Angeles, as far up as San Diego and over from the desert communities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert. We met at the Santa Ana Zoo (a story in itself…what do 45 storytellers do at a zoo? Tell a lot of tails…or tales?)

One of the teller’s likened this to a family reunion with the old uncles and aunts and new cousins’ alls getting together. Patti has been to 7 of these, with James attending 4. We were also glad to see a number of folks not only attending their first swap, but their first storytelling event ever. What a joy to join together with storytelling friends, gathering in small groups to share stories-in our group, people got telling stories of being a child and caught in a lie, as well as adventures and misadventures with brothers and sisters.

Then there was a concert with one representative form each of the storytelling guilds, groups or clubs in the area. This number is always a bit fluid, with some groups such as the Southern Coast Guild having a Guild house and non-profit status, to groups that may or may not be regularly meeting. All were welcome and filled with joy of stories. After lunch there was time for a “Got a Minute, Hear a Story” concerts, filled with heart-warming tales and real groaners to jokes. There was even a wee teller, a girl no more than eight who had a minute story of her own to share. James broke out a classic Ole and Lena Norwegian story, while Patti managed a version of a frog trying to get a bank loan from an employee Ms. Patricia Wack, using a statuette for collateral. The punch line “It’s a knickknack Pattywack, give the frog a loan. Ha ha.

Later, there was time to hear “the news” about what was happening in each group, what concerts and festivals are coming up and how to get more involved in storytelling. Many people encouraged the website for the National Storytellers Network www.storynet.org Anyway, next year’s family reunion will be hosted by Community Storytellers up in LA. You are invited. Watch this space for information on upcoming events. Or drop us and email and ask to be put on our email list for our periodic updates

Renaissance Players

2006-04-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy and a bit funny storytelling week for Patti and James. The Children's Hospital storytelling on Fridays continues to be a HUGE blessing to us and to the children, families and staff. We can't believe how lucky we are that we get paid to hang out and listen and tell stories to these people during this very difficult time in their lives. WOW! And this week we realized that we are not getting lost as much. The hospital is like a labyrinth, and at last we are finding our way around

On Friday evening we were part of a gala event at a world class health spa, listed as one of the top-ten. The owner of the spa was celebrating his 50th birthday by flying in 45 of his best friends from around the country. James and Patti became the greeters, hosts and emcees for a French Renaissance dinner in a recently moved and reconstructed 17th century French chapel now located at the spa. We had to purchase upper class Renaissance costume (we're trying to get photos) and then greet and mingle with the crowd. Our characters were that of a noble Lord and Lady, hosting the event. A makeup artist on staff, who studied under the likes of Rick Baker, did our makeup and then a stylist put Patti in a below the shoulder blond wig. The evening was a great example of Interactive, Improvisational Story Theatre. What a wild trip!

We were so successful that they invited James to come back the next evening too, in a rented tiger costume, play the Louisiana Sate University Tiger mascot, Mike, and lead ten members of a high school band in playing the LSU fight song, as well as other marching band songs after LSU lost their semifinal game in the NCAA basketball tournament. (Most of the guest had graduated form LSU). They lost, so James directed the band to play a riff of Taps. He was wildly, and well received, and we hope that there will be other, less theatrical, storytelling jobs there in the future. Just another day or two, in the lives of professional storytellers.

St. Patrick's Day

2006-03-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

This past week we have been celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day…we have also been celebrating Patti’s birthday. How do you think she got the name Patti?! So this is the time of the year we love to do our Celtic and Irish tales; Rory the Fox, The Pipers Revenge, Red O’Halloren, The Man Without a Story and the like, as well as a plethora of Celtic versions of some stories that appear in many cultures like The Theft of Smell and The Three Wishes.

Last Thursday, we told for the Diamond Gateway Women's Organization. These ladies a fine lot… They get together fellowship, cultural enrichment and community service. They invited The Patchwork Players to tell Irish stories at their meeting at the Double Tree Resort. When we arrived, we heard the group was ‘all a-buzz’ about having storytellers come to their meeting. It was yet another reminder that storytelling in NOT just for kids. We had a great time; there were even a couple of young folk in the audience to help us with The Theft of Smell story. These kids were great, a brother and sister team who had some ‘stage’ experience. They were great as ‘starving’ kids. They dropped to the ground, and dragged themselves to (the story cue) smell of food! Thanks your young folk for the help in that story. It was a great evening, telling tales to these fine ladies from all over the San Diego area.

Wednesday, the 15th, we were invited to “The Center for Positive Living’ to tell at their annual ‘St Paddy’s Day’ dinner. Wow…we had Corned beef & Cabbage, red potatoes, and a whole bunch of other good food. Good eats!!! This is one he most popular and profitable of annual events for The Center. So we were very happy to be invited to be the ‘centerpiece’ for the event. We told a bunch of stories, as mentioned above, and James sang a bit of “Oh Danny Boy” too. All in all, the evening was a great success.

The next night we were at Chaparral Elementary School. Not the Chaparral we were at last week…that was in Orange County. This was a school of the same name in San Diego County. This was again, one of our favorite gigs; a Family Reading Night. As per usual, our program helped to support the book sale going on elsewhere on the campus. We had about 150 folk at that show, who were all very pleased with the presentation. James was quite pleased as there was a father in the audience who has seen James tell several times before, in corporate settings as a storyteller and motivational speaker. The Patchwork Player has a wide range of styles and settings. We are glad that some folks get to see several of our storytelling faces.

All in all, it has been a fine Saint Patrick’s week

Love is in the Air

2006-03-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

It looks like we are settling into Blogging once every week or so. Hey, we even got some live, and in person feedback on our blog this week. Good to know that your folks are out there, thank you for stopping by. Well on to this weeks’ news…

The Patchwork Players storytelling week, well our performance storytelling week began Wednesday night at Chaparral School in Orange County (not to be confused with the Chaparral School in San Diego County where we will be on the 16th). There was a lot going on at this show. The night was called “The Magical Power of Reading”, a fine gathering of kids and their parents. In addition to our performance, there was a book sale going on as well. They had some great books. It is always a danger to tell at book sales. We might just spend more on books than we are earning. But we were strong, and avoided spending all our money. It’s so hard though, we love books so much. As for the show, we had a very nice crowd of kids of all ages there in the Multi-Purpose Room. We told some of our favorites, like Too Much Noise and The Baby Coyote. We also tossed in some newer pieces like The Sneeches. Afterwards, we knew it went off well. There were some of the tell tale signs; kids wanted to talk to us and grown-ups asked for our cards. That is what we call success!

The next morning, we were off to an elementary school in Carlsbad. We were there under the auspices of the SUAVE Program. The SUAVE Program is all about bringing the arts to the schools and tying the arts into the curriculum. This is a regular gig for Patti, and he hopes, soon to be a regular gig for James as well. Anyway, we were working with a class that is learning to create their own stories about their experiences of ‘nature’. We were able to tell a couple of tales, and take the kids through how we developed those tales. We talked about the 5w’s and the 5 senses, and using your imagination. The kids were very clever and engaged. It does our hearts good to think that we are there to support emerging, creative minds. GO KIDS!

From there we jetted (drove really) on to the Pacific Palisades, home to the J. Paul Getty Villa. As faithful readers may know, The Patchwork Players has done a good deal of work at the J. Paul Getty Center, so we were anxious to see the newly remodeled Villa. Here’s the story: J. Paul had a fabulous collection of art at his home in the Pacific Palisades that he loved to share with the world. Soon his collection outgrew his home, so he had a new place built in his front yard: The Villa. Eventually the Villa was overrun by artwork as well, so they built the impressive Getty Center in Bel Aire. As massive, and impressive as it was, they decided to move the statuary and antiquities back to the Villa. As part of the processes of re-imagining the Villa, the Getty Folks decided to redo the entire place in the fashion of an archeological dig. A daring move. All in all, we loved the place. The gardens, the ocean view, the statuary…all beautiful. We were especially pleased by the family room. Now, the family room at the Getty Center always rocks. The Family room at the Getty Villa rocks too. As part of the Villa collection there is a great deal of pottery and crockery that sports some fine artwork. The folks at the Getty came up with the idea of Dry-Erase pottery! That means kids (and James) can come in, grab a pot, vase or vessel, and draw their own art right on the piece. Now that is cool. And there was more to the family room too, costumes, shadow theater. WOW. We also got to see the beautiful outdoor theater there. We have plans to someday tell in that space. But don’t wait for that, go and check out the Getty Villa soon.

Now, we went directly from the Getty Villa to our next gig at the Malibu Library, some seven miles up the coast. If you have been paying attention to your calendars, you may have noticed that this day is the birthday of Dr. Seuss! Would that he were still with us, he would be 102. The Malibu Library remembered, and they invited us to be there for the birthday celebration. One of the first things we noticed was the early arrivals. First in the door was a mother and her, maybe five-year-old daughter. They were a half-hour early! Mom said she had brought her daughter to every library program there was since she was one-year –old. That’s dedication. Now, at venues like this we are used to most of the audience showing up 5-10 minutes after the show was supposed to start, so folks showing up early, what a treat! We did an afternoon of Seuss and Seuss-like tales. All of the stories were highly interactive, and we are able to have every kid who wanted to, participate. That is always fun when everyone who wants to, is able to get in on the show.

Friday was a dark day for us. We were supposed to be working our weekly hospital job. But we awoke with a bad cold, especially Patti, that we were not willing to share with the folks at the hospital. We love working at the hospital, but we sure don’t want to make sick folks sicker. Never fear, more work is near.

Saturday. Love is in the Air, and how! We spent the afternoon at the wedding of James’ cousin at the Montage Hotel and Resort in Laguna Beach. The ceremony was beautiful, performed on a promontory overlooking the pacific Pacific. The ceremony was very sweet, replete with storytelling. We were very touched; it was obvious that the minister had a personal connection to the bride and groom. It was so special. Afterwards, there was hosted bar, bountiful appetizers and a full, gourmet meal. Top notch and full flight all the way! However, The Patchwork Players had other places to be.

The South Storytellers Guild, Love is in the Air concert. This was an adult-oriented concert. No, not that kind of adult…just stories with themes and perspectives that are geared for grown-ups. This was the first South Coast Storytellers Guild concert produced by The Patchwork Players, so we were a bit nervous. In addition to producing, we had other duties as well: Patti told an original story about her parents, and James Emceed the event. We were there with a host of great tellers: Betsy Mosier, Laura Beasley, Doris Hand, Linda King-Pruitt & Bob Pruitt, Debbie Weller, Nancy Dawson, Larry Goldberg and David Whiting. Dave Chittenden, a fine teller, was scheduled to appear, but was not able to make it for health reasons. Our thoughts are with you Dave. Those tellers who were there, and all the folks at the Guild joined to create a very special evening of storytelling. Of course there was support from other members of the Guild as well. Thanks everyone!!! We had a fine turn-out and we expect to see many of those new-faces at storytelling events in the future.

Whirlwind Week

2006-02-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Whirlwind Week

The Patchwork Players have been jumping like Cats in a roomful of rocking chairs this last week.

Thursday, February 9th.  We performed for Grapevine Elementary School in Vista California.  We told for their Family Reading night.  This was our second year at that event.  What fun we had there.  They had free books enough for 250 families.  They ran out long before the auditorium was full.  As a mater of fact it was full to the brim, standing room only.  There were at least 300 kids sitting on the floor in front of the stage, and hundreds more parents and siblings filling the chairs and lined up on the walls.  By the end of the evening that room was mighty warm!  Interesting thing, Family Reading Night at Grapevine is also Pajama night.  You know how they say that to keep from getting nervous, to imagine the audience in their underwear?  Well, this was not too far off as a good number of both kids and parents came in their sleepy-time best.  We told some of our favorite tales, old and new; The Boy Who Drew Cats,  The Catapult,  Mortimer, and of course we closed with the crowd favorite The Baby Coyote.  It warmed our hearts when several kids came up after to proudly proclaim that they had seen us there last year too, and were glad that we came back.

The next day, Friday, we were back down at San Diego Children’s Hospital.  As part of the process of getting hired there we were subjected to extensive background checks.  This day, however, was reserved for extensive, pre-employment, physical examinations.  And we mean extensive!  You would think we were being inducted into some super-secret military intelligence unit.  Yikes!  We just want to tell stories to the children!!!!  Even though they are perusing medical and personal records, and we had to make a special second trip the following Monday to have our TB test confirmed as negative… we understand they are doing their best to protect both the kids and their employees.  We can hardly wait until we have jumped through all the bureaucratic hoops and get to start working with the children, their families and caregivers.

Saturday, we were at the Storytelling Institute, sponsored by the South Coast Storytellers Guild.  Patti taught a three-hour workshop entitled ‘Storytelling and Literacy’.  There were about a dozen folks there who learned form Patti’s experience in interfacing storytelling and literacy curriculum to the benefit of both children and teachers.  She had a good deal of information and ideas on how to use storytelling to support state education standards.

James taught a one hour workshop, also with about 12 attendees on ‘True (and Not So True) Tales of California’.  Participants heard James relate his experience in making history both fun and educational, using storytelling.  They were also able to share some of their own experiences and creative approaches to the subject.

Both James and Patti got some very nice feedback for their workshops from their respective attendees.
Then, at the lunchtime storytelling concert we told ‘The Catapult’.  One of our fun stories where James literally throws himself to the ground!  You really have to see this story being told to know what we mean.

We always love the Storytelling Institute.  It draws a fine crowd of educators, librarians, storytellers and others, for a day of learning and storytelling.  Also, there is Guild sponsored used (or previously loved) book sale at the Institute.  Always a good excuse for us to clear extra books from our collection to donate to the Storytelling cause.

In the midst of all that we confirmed eight new bookings…and then there was Valentines Day, so James & Patti celebrated James wife’s birthday. James and his wife then celebrated their wedding anniversary and mourned the loss of their beloved cat.

Who knows what adventures the next week will bring…more adventures, of that we are sure!

Chinese New Year

2006-01-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

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.

History & Healing

2006-01-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, January 15th, 2006, we told our “Hero’s Journey” tale at the J. Paul Getty Museum. This is one of our favorite, original stories. As much fun as we had during our four tellings, it was a melancholy day. This was our last day for our current Getty booking. At the end of the day we had told the story to 32 different audiences in the gallery, over the course of two years. To our delight another of our biggest, little fans, Samantha (in the front row), and her family, came to see us. We had some very special connections with the audiences that day. One little girl came back to us to tell us she found stories in other galleries too! An important part of our mission when working in museums is to get folks engaged with the art. So her appreciation really warmed our hearts.

We were also pleased that among our audiences were a reporter and photographer from the Los Angeles Daily News. The reporter; Valerie.Kuklenski, was working on a piece about storytelling throughout the southland. Her article was the front page feature of the “U” section of the LA Daily News this week. The “U” section is that weekly, magazine section that features entertainment and cultural events. The Patchwork Players were not the only folks interviewed for the article. But our picture dominated the first page of the story. See a smaller version of that photo here in the Blog. (John McCoy / Staff Photographer)
That’s us telling stories at the Getty. For the next week, you can see the web-version of the article at: http://www2.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_3414758 .

So Sunday at the Getty, Thursday we awoke to find our picture in the paper. Then on Friday, we were off to San Diego Children’s Hospital. Intrepid readers of our blog, may remember that the Children’s Hospital called us to interview for a storytelling job. We were recommended by our storytelling friend Linda Sue Whiteside. We were and are, very honored. Linda has been telling at the Children’s Hospital for about three years. Well the program is expanding and they need more tellers! So off we were to see Bob Davis, head of the Healing Arts Department. We had a wonderful interview. We were only half way through when Bob offered us the job. We will come on as part time employees, with real employee badges, going through new employee orientation; they take out taxes and Social Security, the whole ball of wax! We will start within the month, after the background checks, etc. We expect to be on site for eight hours, just about every Friday as long ad the funds hold out. Since a good portion of the funds are coming from , Audrey Giessel, Mrs. Doctor Seuss, we hope to be there for a long while. Both Patti and James need to do some juggling to make this happen. But it will be worth it! Remember, even though there is Seuss money involved, they are always in need of support. See http://www.chsd.org/ for more information. We feel like there is a whole new world of storytelling in the healing arts ahead of us.

Welcome to Dreamshapers

2006-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

http://www.dreamshapers.org/ . They are an organization of Storytellers, Musicians, Magicians, Animal Acts and goodness knows what else. Late last year we were asked to be a part of Dreamshapers, joining some very fine performers here in the southland. So this is a picture of us at our first Dreamshapers event, a Los Angeles County Library Showcase. What is a Showcase, you ask? Well, a bunch of us performers (see above performer types) gather the ‘strut our stuff’ before a bunch of library folks. You see, these library folks are always looking for some live talent programming to bring to their libraries. Especially, for their Summer Reading Program. This year’s theme is all about Animals. So these folks are exposed to a good number of acts that they can book for their libraries.

So there we were, with such wonderful folks as Ina Buckner-Barnett, Barbara Wong, Flights of Fancy (another Story Theatre Duo), Linda King & Bob Pruitt, Wendy Hersh, Michael McCarty, and oh so many special performers. It was great to see them, walk around and look at people’s promotional materials, and catch up on what friends have been up to. The hard part of being independent artists is we don’t that often get a chance to see one another. Often we hear, “Oh Linda was just here last week.” We love being part of this vibrant community of southern Californian artists.

As we had only seven minutes to present ourselves to the throng, we had to cut it close. We teased “Caps For Sale”, then told a quick version of one of our favorite, and most popular tales, “The Baby Coyote”. In that story we open with James wearing a coyote tail and running on all fours through the audience. We think that set us apart from the other acts for sure! Then we ended the story with the whole audience howling!

We got a couple of immediate “bites” for bookings, and hope to hear form some other the other librarians as they put together their year’s schedules. Both of us love libraries and the free access it gives people to books and learning. It was a good day.

Then, on the way home, we got a call from the good people at The San Diego Children’s Hospital. It looks like we are in line for an interview for telling stories to the kids in hospital. So we ask ourselves…why just Children’s Hospital? Storytellers should be in every hospital everywhere! If you know someone in the hospital game, tell them they need storytellers.

Warning: January 15th may be our last telling of “A Hero’s Journey” at the J Paul Getty Museum. Well, at least the last telling we are scheduled to tell…
Check out their website at http://www.getty.edu/ and come on in to see this tale. It is one of our favorites.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. We hope you all had a safe, sane and fun night last night. The Patchwork Players spent the evening at one of our favorite events: First Night Escondido. Much of the event, and indeed, the Storytelling Stage, was outdoors. Last night it rained. Last year we had a few scattered showers. But this year it RAINED. Luckily our stage was nicely covered with a canopy, and had plenty of dry seats for the audience. We were glad to see many hearty folks brave the elements to be a part of the First Night Celebration. We did two shows, to packed audiences! That’s a lot of folks to show up in the pouring rain. We even saw that about a half-a-dozen kids caught both shows! Thanks kids, for not spoiling “The Baby Coyote” story in the second show.

Also on The Storytelling stage were our friends Mindy Donner and Eduardo Garcia, AKA, The Spinning Wheel Players. It was great to catch an Eduardo and Mindy’s show as they mix music and story to create a wonderful show. They are both so talented and had they audience in the palms of their hands.

While not on stage as The Patchwork Players, Patti & James wandered around and took in some of the other great acts there. We saw Brad French, a fine juggler and friend of ours from our LEGOLAND stints. And look what got us on the front page of the 2nd largest newspaper in San Diego, the North County Times, this morning...

We danced to the gospel rhythms of Theophonic and the Christian Rock of The Ridgeview Church band. For a bit of time, we were “the crowd”. And why let a little rain keep you from dancing? I guess that’s why we ended up on the front page. Later we enjoyed The Moon Dawgs and their great mix of 50’s 60’s and Surf hits. At that show, there was this little girl, maybe four years old at most. She loved The Moon Dawgs and danced, danced, and danced. She was too cute. Everywhere you turn at First Night there is music, food, fun and entertainment. Bouncin’ Dan, The Dragon Knights, drummers, dancers and magicians and more. We Love First Night! There should be a First Night event every weekend! (Okay, it would be hard for every weekend to really be the first night of the new year, but today is the first day of the rest of your life….)

In keeping with our New Year’s tradition, we got some great pizza at Fillippi’s Pizza Grotto. James has been eating Fillippi’s Pizza nearly all his life. They are a San Diego area institution. The last few years The Patchwork Players have enjoyed their New Years Eve feast at Fillippi’s. Last year it was Lasagne, this year, The Works Pizza. YUM!!!

And speaking of food…today we will continue our New Year’s tradition with a fine morning meal of Dim Sum. Okay, you have heard of eating black-eyed peas and greens on New Year’s day (haven’t you?). Well, having Dim Sum on New Year’s day is a long those same lines. Dim Sum? Delicious Chinese finger food. If you have not had Dim Sum, find some soon. Dim Sum rocks!

Speaking of the New Year…Patti and James are very excited about this year. There are so many great projects and events in the works. 2006 is going to be a great year for The Patchwork Players. Watch this space and http://www.patchworkplayers.com/ for more information.

The Holidays are Here

2005-12-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

The Holidays are here. The happiest time of the year!

There is Patti as Mrs. Santa Claus. She has just finished a round of 12 shows at the Hotel L’Auberge in Del Mar and elsewhere throughout the southland. Just look at that beautiful sky, those lovely flowers. Ah, winter in California, a far cry from the likes of the weather right now in her homeland in Minnesota.

Mrs. Santa tells holiday tales and has a special magical trick or two up her furry sleeve too. At The Teddy Bear Teas at L’Auberge children and their parents and grandparents have a very grand time of beautiful treats and then come over to the fireplace to hear Mrs. Santa share stories. Some of the kids are definite “true believers” while a couple of the kids met her at the door shouting “you’re fake, you’re fake! You are wearing a wig.” Oh life is hard to be so jaded at age six or seven. All in all, it was a wonderful way to share holiday cheer this year.

This week James received some fine commendations. As part of his James Story Magic work, James teaches customer service workshops. Tri-City Medical Center awarded James for receiving outstanding evaluations. They also gave James a Passionate Presenter award for his teaching in their Service Excellence Program. These awards are quite special to James as has great respect for the Service Excellence Program. He received the awards at a wonderful holiday dinner attended by other workshop leaders and their significant others.

This Saturday, The Patchwork Players performed at the birthday of one of their biggest, little, fans, Lili, on her seventh birthday. We told as series Cat & Dog stories. Lili loves Cats & Dogs. Also, Lili loves magic almost as much as she loves stories, so James brought along some of his favorite illusions. In this picture, James is working with his magic imagination box. James has been working this particular illusion since he was six years old. Parents and kids alike were fully engaged, and enjoyed this special birthday program. Again, we are so lucky to live in California, where on December 16th we can tell stories at an outdoor pizza party. Happy birthday, Lili!

Once Upon a Holiday Season

2005-12-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

Hello storytelling fans. We are still working out getting a blog out more than once a month.

We last saw our intrepid storytellers finishing off a day of telling at a funtastic fandango.
We now return to our program, already in progress...

On the 17th, Patti told Thanksgiving stories at Scripps Ranch Library. A gathering of about a hundred children and their adults listened to a variety of different stories celebrating gratitude and turkeys.
November 19th was World Wide Tellabration day. Tellers and listeners gathered 'round the globe to share tales. The Patchwork Players were proud to tell at the South Coast Storyteller's Guild's program at Soka University. We had a great crowd come out for an evening of stories.

The next day we were off to the San Diego Museum of Art. It was Family Day and James and Patti told stories in the new 'Domains of Wonder' exhibit. A fine collection of East Indian art. We told one of James' favorite North Indian stories “All is as it Should Be”. We also told a the tale of 'The Blue Jackal”, that Patti developed from 'The Parrot Tales', kind of an Indian “Arabian Nights'. We were especially pleased when the curator's family came to enjoy the program. We always love to be at the Family Fun Fest where families from around the area to get a fresh look, and for many, a first look at a fine art museum.
On the 23rd we told Thanksgiving stories to an adult audience at the Center of Positive Living, in Carlsbad California. They are a wonderful bunch of folks there. In addition to telling, we were also treated to a fine supper and even finer musical entertainment.

Also, since we last blogged, Patti began a round of nearly a dozen “Mrs Santa tells stories” programs, mainly at The Hotel L'Auberge Resort in Del Mar CA. She also attended an intensive 'Storytelling and Literacy” training. Sbe part of a team that will be providing experiences for children and parents to discuss literature together in a safe, interactive setting. Patti will join a University professor and literacy staff from National city Public Library in bringing Prime Time Family Reading Night to San Diego county.

December 3rd was a blustery day at the J. Paul Getty. We have been to the Getty many times now. The art is fantastic, but so is the view. The Getty sits on a hill in LA, overlooking Santa Monica, Bel Aire, Westwood, Century City, and on a clear day, Long Beach, Burbank and beyond. On a day such as this, the wind blows all the smog away revealing all this and a great view of Catalina Island too. As for working in the gallery, we were lucky to work again with Security Officer Marcus. He was guarding the gallery where we told, and he is a great guy. We appreciate how he deals with us packing the gallery full of folks who tend to get 'too close' to the artwork. Thanks Marcus. We were also glad to visit again with Hank, at the baggage check area. He is always glad to see us and the Griffin puppet we use in our story, “A Hero's Journey”. As a matter of fact, Hank named our Griffin back in 2003 ...that's right, Hank named him “Merv”! If you are interested in visiting the Getty, and hearing our tale, come on up January 15th .

Fall Festivities

2005-11-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

We can't believe a couple of weeks have gone by since we last blogged. So much has happened. So here goes a quick rundown:
Halloween weekend The Patchwork Players told stories for the last days of Brick or Treat at LEGOLAND California. As always, the audiences, other performers and LEGOLAND staff were great to be with.
Last Wednesday through Friday, James was at the Health Care Service Excellence Conference in Santa Barbara. In the past this conference has hosted many world class motivational and inspirational speakers, and this year was no exception. Attendees came from more than 47 hospitals and health care organizations from all over the U.S and Canada. There, James facilitated two workshops on "Crafting Personal Stories: The Power of Storytelling/Listening in Organizations”. He was well received and has been invited back to bring storytelling to next year's conference in San Diego.
Sunday the sixth, we were back at the J .Paul Getty Museum telling our original tale “A Hero's Journey”. We have only two more days for this round of telling at the Getty; December 4th and January 15th.
Thursday, we were at the San Diego Museum of art for a special Curator tour of a new Indian Art exhibit, Domains of Wonder. We were surprised to learn that they have the world's largest exhibit of miniature prints from India, some thousands of years old. It turns out that most of the art was designed to tell historical and religious stories in a visual medium. A fine collection. We will be telling tales from India at their Family Festival on November the 20th. It is always fun to get a behind-the-scenes look to help us prepare for a show.
The Fourth Annual L.A. Storytelling Festival was Saturday November 12th. The Patchwork Players, volunteered at the event. Both on duty and off, we heard some fantastic tellers: Milbre Birch, Dave Chittenden, Antonio Sacre, Zoot and many more. If you enjoy storytelling, you should put next year's Festival on your calendar.
The next day we divided our forces to better serve storytelling. Patti and Panchita Acevedo did a knockout job telling bi lingual Spanish/English tales such as “La Llarona”, at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. Word is, Patti and Panchita will be telling there again in the future.
Meanwhile; James was at the San Diego Jewish Book Fair in La Jolla. James told a tale called “The Only One Club”. The story of the only Jewish girl in her first grade class. Since James was the only professional magician in his first grade class, he shared a few magic tricks with the crowd. After the show, James and a six-year-old boy swapped some of their favorite tricks. The staff proclaimed James' presentation “A Hit” .
At the end of the day...Fandango time with a gathering of musicians and dancers. Patti and James met up for music, friends and fun. Artists sharing together. What a good life.

Halloween Season

2005-11-02T02:49:00.000-08:00

Well this last weekend was a busy couple of days to cap off a busy month. The Halloween season tends to be a popular time for storytellers. Something about ghosts, ghouls and goblins stirs the story listening spirit.

On both Saturday and Sunday we told Not-Too-Scary stories for 5, half-hour sets at LEGOLAND California, for their Brick or Treat celebration. Telling there is always a blast. The staff and the other entertainers there are a great bunch of folks. Unlike other amusement parks, LEGOLAND treats their performers very well. And, the audiences are great too. We told for hundreds of families gathered to have a safe, sane and fun Halloween adventure.

Saturday night we were pleased to be a part of a fine storytelling concert featuring some of The Story Tellers of San Diego; Leo Baggerly, Fred Laskowski, Marylin McPhie, Sara Saulter, and us. An audience of more than a hundred, were treated to tales creepy, spooky and strangely funny. Thanks to San Diego Folk Heritage for putting it all together.

Sunday evening. We ended the weekend telling to a private party in La Jolla. As soon as we came in the door, we could see that the host family appreciates the arts. Books, musical instruments, original art and photos everywhere. For 45 minutes we told to parents an kids alike. We had some great feedback from young and (not so) old alike, who are very interested in the art of storytelling.

Whew, what a month!

Talking and Shopping

2005-10-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today we attended an informative workshop with Professional Speaker (and storyteller) Arvee Robinson (http://www.instantprospeaker.com/). We spent the morning working on our personal introduction. You know, when someone says "what do you do?" and we say "storytellers", folks don't really know what that means. The picture that conjures is a librarian, sitting in a chair, reading to a group of four-year-olds. That does not really speak to all that we do. So today we got some great ideas on how to tell people who we are and what we do in a 10 second greeting. Thanks Arvee, you gave us a lot to think about.

Then we went shopping. Trolling the thrift shops, one of our favorite pastimes. Places like Goodwill and AmVets have some of the best costume stuff anywhere. We found some wonderful peices, some we will weare tomorrow at LEGOLAND, some outfits will be seen at future shows.

Wow! What an Exciting Blog! Hey, some days are more adventurous than others. Fear not, this weekend we tell at LEGOLAND. There will be more stories to come.

Once Upon A Story

2005-10-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

The 15th annual storytelling festival in San Juan Capistrano happened this last weekend. Just like the Swallows, it felt like old home week for us. This storytelling festival,held within a stone's throw of the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano, was the very first storytelling event that Patti attended after moving to California in Labor Day 1997. She has attended every year since, with James and his wife Sia joining Patti and her husband Dick now the past 6 years. What is so nice about this festival?

First: top level storytellers from around the country are brought in to tell in this intimate setting. The quality of storytelling is always very high. They also showcase some regional tellers. This year San Diego teller, Sarah Saulter, and Orange County's Dave Chittenden were on the bill. We were proud to see them shine, sharing the stage with tellers who travel the country sharing their tales.

Patti and James are proud to help staff the resource booth sharing information about the South Coast Storyteller's guild (http://www.storyguild.com/), of which we are both members. Many people stopped by to get information about where to hear more stories, or tools to work on their own storytelling skills. Opportunities abound, wherever you are. If you are in Orange County or San Diego County, one of the places to go is the South Coast guild. One of the only storytelling guild's in the country with its own Guild house, the South Coast folks are talented, welcoming and provide so much goo to the community and to storytellers. It is great to have the Guild working in support of the Festival.

Workshops, storytelling concerts, and good ol' fashioned gabbing with folks rounded out this festival. After a great workshop with Antonio Rocha, we are now percolating on how to expand the mime that we use in our storytelling, After listening to Baba Jamal Koran, we are thinking about how to keep the audience engaged, and how to get more still and quiet ourselves so that we might be clearer vessels for the stories to come through. Tellers Jim Cogan and Laura Pershin Raynor were very entertaining, and were great examples of what top-notch storytelling is all about.

We are so grateful for the people who spend so much time working to plan and promote storytelling events. Come join us next year in beautiful San Juan Capistrano for this great storytelling festival ( http://www.storyfestival.com ). You'll be glad to did.

The Getty Rocks

2005-10-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

The Patchwork Players returned to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles today to reprise “A Hero's Journey”, a story we wrote and performed for the Getty nearly 2 years ago. The Getty is one of the worlds finest museums, and it was a treat to be asked back. A few years ago the Getty undertook an ambitious project; to hire professional storytellers to create an original story, based on a work in their collection. Then, to have the tellers tell their tale in the gallery with the piece there. They began their process by hiring teller Debra Olsen-Toller who did two stories based on paintings for them. They next got us to come and create our story, which we based on a beautiful French chandelier in the dec-art gallery. Then they brought in Angela Lloyd, who told a story about the painting 'Chance and Fortune'. The Getty then chose energetic teller Michael McCarty who told a powerful story about a bust of an African Man in the statuary gallery. We are so proud to be in that talented company, and to be asked back to tell our tale again and meet up with friends old and new.
We told our story four times today, and we had some wonderful audiences. As part of our show, we explain that we searched the galleries, closely observing many pieces, to find stories. After one of our shows, a couple of young girls came up to Patti to say that they believed one of the pieces in the gallery, 'Self Portrait, Yawning', may be one of the characters in our story! They had a couple of more theories about different stories for that painting. Well, part of our mission in telling stories at museums is to get folks to engage with the art. For these two girls at least, we have done that job.
Some of the highlights of our day: As we wandered through the plaza, we heard a little girl exclaim “Look, it's the storytellers”. Patti thought that maybe she had seen us last time we told at the Getty. But James was not so sure. She did not look old enough to remember us from almost two years ago. Later she and her mother came to hear our performance. Afterwards, this sweet little thing came up and asked us if we ever told stories at the San Diego Museum of Art. We had! Recently we told at their Pirates and Princesses Festival in their Maxfield Parrish Gallery. “See mom, I told you it was them”.
That show was a hundred and fifty miles away. And, we were in Renaissance costumes at that event. Wow, the feeling of celebrity! And what a lucky kid, to have folks who take her to storytelling events at some of the worlds best museums. Good job parents!
After another telling, we were approached by Amber, who had come with her husband to hear our tale. “Where can I by the book that tells that story?” she asked. Sadly, there is no book...yet! But what a great idea. We also learned that she is an illustrator, recently moves to California from the South West. We told her we are looking for an illustrator for our forthcoming 'Baby Coyote' book. Maybe something will develop there.
Then there was another adult listener, Marge. She is working on her teaching credential. As part of that process, she will be writing a paper on what she learned from our performance and how it will impact her teaching. Good luck Marge.
The Getty Center staff is wonderful. We were glad to see our buddy Hank at the Coat check area. He is the one who gave our Griffin puppet his first name, Merv as in, Merv Griffin;-) The security officers are terrific. Today we had Marcus. It is no small job to keep everyone from touching all of the fine furniture in the gallery where we are telling. And to keep the kids from sticking the “Getty” stickers on places that should not be stuck.
There is so much more to tell about friends, food (by the way, the Getty cafeteria is top notch!) and fine art. But we will be back at the Getty again in November, December and January, so we will save some for later.

October first. A Day of Treasures!

2005-10-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

October first. A Day of Treasures!

We started our day at The First Congregational of Long Beach, CA. What a beautiful place. We were told that this is the oldest church in Long Beach, originally built in 1912! Hey, in Southern California that counts as old. The Patchwork Players had been invited to help kick off a four weekend event designed to get young folks interested in the treasures of their lives and in their family histories. So we came to represent our cultural heritage. Patti wore a Viking Era costume and James wore one of his Kilts, to represent our Scandinavian and Celtic lineage. We told some of our favorite folktales from those treaditions, as well as shared some personal stories about our family histories. After our tales were told out, the audience was invited to create their own treasure chests out of shoe boxes, construction paper, magic markers and more. We watched as everyone created their own special story and memory box. Over the next three weekends, Kara, the event coordinator, has invited storytellers who will bring stories from the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and the African-American experience. Kara shared with the group her personal treasure box which she started when she was 14. It was indeed filled with treasures, the most interesting a little mimeographed book that he mother was part of creating when her family lived in Alaska. This was entitled “The Eskimo Cookbook”, a recipe book that native kids used to collect family recipes. Our favorite was Blubber Ice Cream. We hope to get a copy. Amazing and fun! Thanks Kara, for putting together a wonderful event. We look forward to coming back some day.

We ended the day in San Diego's Normal Heights neighborhood, at a very special Fandango! There is Patti playing the Jarana, jamming with friends old and new. This was a special fund raising event in support of a wonderful program in Veracruz, Mexico. Patti had the privilege three years ago to travel on a group Fulbright grant for a month with twenty artists and teachers in Veracruz (a state way south on the Gulf Coast of Mexico.). There were studied Mexican art, music, dance, and storytelling. One of the most amazing results of this trip was that we learned how to play and dance the music of the local region. Throughout the area, people would regularly gather for fandangos-community gatherings where people come together and play and dance, often all night. Being part of this was a life changing experience. A number of our group have now traveled back to Veracruz on several occasions, with a couple of folks assisting in creating a dvd of local musicians playing and singing, as well as publishing a book of the stories of the region. And back home in southern CA, we now gather at least once a month to play and share this music. Community in the making. It is truly a joy to gather with friends and play dance and sing (even if you aren't the best at any of these...it doesn't matter, because it is about joy and community.) Let us know if you are in the area and would like to be invited to come to a fandango. You are most welcome!

ArtSplash!

2005-09-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

What a day at ArtSplash! In Carlsbad, California!
We started the day celebrating the birthday of Pete Amend. Possibly our biggest fan. Lucky for us, Pete had his gathering a mere mile from the ArtSplash!, allowing us to attend his auspicious event. Avid Patchwork Players fans may remember Pete from way back in 2001, when he celebrated his birthday at a Patchwork Players performance at the San Diego Renaissance Faire. Happy Birthday Pete!
After the cake, it was on to ArtSplash! A wonderful event held just above the historic and beautiful flower fields in Carlsbad. The focus of the event was to encourage the arts in homes and schools, by hosting a fabulous sidewalk chalk-art contest. Whats more, they brought lots of live entertainment, including Magicians, musicians; a balloon artist who goes by the name of Flash; storyteller Abel Silvis; and of course, The Patchwork Players Story Theatre. We told some of our Renaissance Faire tales; like the Fractured Frog Prince, and a story or two from our all time favorites like Baby Coyote. We really loved this chance to be in support of the arts.

A Night of Mystrery

2005-09-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Last night The Patchwork Players were a part of “A Night of Mystery”, an adult storytelling concert in Orange, California, presented by the South Coast Storytellers Guild. This show was an Olio. That is, a series of tellers in one show. On the bill were: Doris Hand, Adrienne McMillian, Dave Chittendon, Diana Spririthawk & Dave Whiting, Mary Ann Newton, Betsy Mosier, Laura Beasley and The Patchwork Players. But last night,we did not perform as 'The Patchwork Players', rather, we told individual tales. Patti told her version of “The Rooster's Claw”, a spooky tale form Colombia. James told a ghostly, bedtime story called “Sally”. Listen to a short version of “Sally” @
mms://wms1.streamhoster.com/storyteller/sally_nelsonlucas.wma

All the stories and the tellers were great!

A shout out to the guy who video taped the whole event: All material is copyrighted and reproduction, sales and distribution thereof is prohibited!

The Patchwork Players will be producing an adult story concert on Mar 4, 2006. The Theme: “Love is in the Air.”

On a personal note. We have just moved into our new office. Computers, files and more books than a small town library! The Patchwork Players now have a new base of operations. Kind of like the Bat-Cave, only with a better view. Soon we will be announcing storytelling workshops and retreats to be held at our new location.

We have to go now. We are off to tell at “ArtSplash”, a community arts festival in Carlsbad, California. We'll be back with pictures later.

2005-09-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Patchwork Players Story Theatre. Bringing Stories to Life!

Julian Bluegrass Festival

2005-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

September 17, 2005

Today we joined throngs of music lovers inthe mountain town of Julian CA for the 35th Julian Bluegrass Festival. We were the only nonmusical act. Out job was to perform True Tales of California. We shared with children and adults many of our favorite true tales: Charlie Parkhurst, Bum the Dog, Charles M. Hatfield: The Moisture Accelerator; and some sort-of-true tales like; the Man with the Golden Arm and the Woman in Grey.

We had such a wonderful time. Here is a photo of us having a great time weaving the magic web of story. And the music was great. We really look forward to going again next year.