My picture appeared on the front page of the Metro section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch on March 15.

It was a very nice event hosted by The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery.   I’ve certainly told stories and sung a song in a graveyard before, but usually I’m wearing a black suit and reading “ashes to ashes etc. from a prayerbook” in my other vocation as a chaplain for  a retirement community

Dr. Nicholas Wolf from the VCU History Department gave a very interesting talk about Irish Immigration to America and then folks went out to look around the cemetery before they came back in to hear me tell some Irish stories and play and sing.  You can see the picture and read more about it here:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/PATR15_20100314-230801/330485/

Tell Tale Hearts Concert in April

I’ll be telling for the “Women in our lives” Tell Tale Hearts  concert on April 24 at 7:30  pm at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen.    You can go to the Tell Tale Hearts website for more details!

http://www.telltalehearts.org/wordpress/

I’ll also be telling, singing and playing the harp at “Feast 2010:  Festival of Word, Table and Image” on April 16 at Northminster Baptist Church.  The event is sponsored by Baptist Women in Ministry and other organizations.

http://www.baptistwomeninministry.org/

Somerset Harp Festival

I’m very excited that I’ll leading workshops at the Somerset Harp Festival this summer.  I’ll be offering “Performance Enhancement Workshops” on basic storytelling and public speaking skills for harpists and on combining harp and story.

The festival runs July 29 – August 1 in Parsippany, New Jersey near New York City and features many of the finest performers in the world; including Grainne Hambly, Kim Roberston, and William Jackson to name only a few.  Check the website for more details

http://somersetharpfest.com/

Tell Tale Hearts Performances

Go to my calendar page for more details!

Somerset Harp Festival

I’m very excited that I’ll leading workshops at the Somerset Harp Festival this summer.  I’ll be offering “Performance Enhancement Workshops” on basic storytelling and public speaking skills for harpists and on combining harp and story.

The festival runs July 29 – August 1 in Parsippany, New Jersey near New York City and features many of the finest performers in the world; including Grainne Hambly, Kim Roberston, and William Jackson to name only a few.  Check the website for more details

http://somersetharpfest.com/

Spring Performances 2009

On April 16, 7:00  p.m. my pianist husband Jim Bennett and I will premiere a new show at the Henrico Theater.  “What is this Thing Called Love?” brings together fairytale romance with classic songs from the American Songbook.  The Henrico Theater is located at 305 E. Nine Mile Rd. Henrico, VA 23075
Call (804) 328-4491 for reservations.

It’s going to be a big weekend of storytelling April 24-April 26…

April 24 at 7:30 p.m. I’ll be presenting “The Heart’s True Scale; An Original Fairytale for Adults” at Shady Grove United Methodist Church on Pouncey Tract Road in Glen Allen as a benefit for the Center for the Arts at Shady Grove.  You can call (804) 360-2687 for tickets.

On April 25, I’ll be doing two performances at 10:00 and 2:00 of “Healing Stories for Kids” (and their families) at the Tuckahoe Library in Henrico County.  These performances are sponsored by the Bereavement Coalition of Virginia in recognition of “The Month of the Grieving Child”.   The library is located on Starling Drive off of Parham Road, near the post office. http://www.co.henrico.va.us/library/Branches/tu.html

And also on April 25, at 7:30 p.m. The Tell Tale Hearts Storytellers Theater will celebrate our 10th year with a Gala Concert at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen.  All of the Hearts will be telling (short) stories for show.  For directions to the Center, click here:  http://www.artsglenallen.com/directions.shtml and here for more information about the Tell Tale Hearts’ other performances.  http://www.telltalehearts.org/wordpress/

On April 26, at 4:00 p.m.  I will be perfoming at St. Matthias Episcopal Church. This will be an afternoon performance stories for family audiences along with harp music.   The church is located at 11300 West Huguenot Road, Midlothian, VA     You can get more information at  http://www.stmatmidlo.com

On April 16, 7:00  p.m. my pianist husband Jim Bennett and I will premiere a new show at the Henrico Theater.  “What is this Thing Called Love?” brings together fairytale romance with classic songs from the American Songbook.  The Henrico Theater is located at 305 E. Nine Mile Rd. Henrico, VA 23075
Call (804) 328-4491 for reservations. 

On April 25, I’ll be doing two performances at 10:00 and 2:00 of “Healing Stories for Kids” (and their families) at the Tuckahoe Library in Henrico County.  These performances are sponsored by the Bereavement Coalition of Virginia in recognition of “The Month of the Grieving Child”.   The library is located on Starling Drive off of Parham Road, near the post office. http://www.co.henrico.va.us/library/Branches/tu.html

And also on April 25, at 7:30 p.m. The Tell Tale Hearts Storytellers Theater will celebrate our 10th year with a Gala Concert at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen.  All of the Hearts will be telling (short) stories for show.  For directions to the Center, click here:  http://www.artsglenallen.com/directions.shtml  and here for more information about the Tell Tale Hearts’ other performances.  http://www.telltalehearts.org/wordpress/

On April 26, at 4:00 p.m.  I will be perfoming at St. Matthias Episcopal Church.  This will be an afternoon performance stories for family audiences along with harp music.   The church is located at 11300 West Huguenot Road, Midlothian, VA     You can get more information at  http://www.stmatmidlo.com/ 

I’ve had a busy summer!  In June I performed twice at Our Lady of Hope Assisted Living Home.  I played my first ever harp/singing program there, though I did tell one story about our trip to Ireland in April.  I also drove to Roanoke during June to speak for the Christian Educators Luncheon during Annual Conference for the Virginia United Methodist Conference.  On the way there I worried that some of the folks had already heard “Everything I need to know I learned in Sunday School” and be bored hearing it again, but I had brought along one of my favorite storytellers Elizabeth Ellis’ CD to listen to on the way there.  I had listened to it a number of times before, but loved hearing it every bit as much this time…and then suddenly the light bulb went on.  I like to hear stories more than once, maybe other people do as well…

During the first week of July, I was the guest “proclaimer” for Unidiversity’s annual summer camp near Asheville, NC.  This camp brings together youth from “progressive” and moderate” Baptist Churches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for a week of Bible study, worship and fun.  I told a short story each morning as part of the opening worship and a longer one in the evening.  Plus I played my new harp (more on that in a minute) for the first time in public.  I had a great time seeing my friends Greg and Helms Jarrel and their new baby John Tyson who were there with a group of kids from their ministry Hyaets in Charlotte, NC.  The kids and the staff were great.  I got the biggest kick out the kids who decided to call me “Mom” for the week. 

I made a flying trip to home on Thursday night after camp so that I could be in Hampton the following morning to tell stories at Bluebird Gap Farm a part of their annual Wynne Ford Storytelling series.  It was a great crowd of mostly young kids and their families.  I am happy to say that I will be telling for it again next summer on July 17, 2009.  

I had a little time to rest up before performances and workshops for Hanover County Parks and Recreation summer camps.  I did 13 locations over a ten day span of time plus a performance at Trinity United Methodist on a Sunday during that time.  Whew! The Parks and Rec shows were mostly for elementary school kids, though I also did three middle school mini performances and workshops.  I learned a lot about keeping stories fresh even when telling them repeatedly.  For me “seeing” the story unfold in my mind every single time I tell it is the key.  If I ever stray into just repeating words, I lose focus and risk losing the audience as well.  While the performances for the middle schoolers went well, if I have a chance to do the workshops again I will change a few things.  Some kids were very engaged with straight storytelling games, but in the last workshop I presented I did more drama improv games and these were better received.  

But maybe the most exciting thing that happened this summer is I bought a new (to me) harp.  I had been playing this beautiful instrument at my harp lessons for almost a year, and wishing it was mine.  I’d been checking out different harps and was planning on a trip to the DC area to visit a luthier there when my harp teacher, the amazing Cynthy Johnson www.crystalharp.com  said that she was ready to sell my dream harp to me. “She” is a 34 string Shannon model Eireanne harp made by Canadian luthier Larry Fisher.  Larry’s harps are in big demand with many of the leading Celtic players in Ireland and Scotland.  The harp is light weight enough for a small person like me to carry but with great resonance and a beautiful bright tone.  Though I had not intended to name the harp, one it just came to me that “her” name was Brigid, after the Goddess/Saint whose shrine and sacred well Jim and I visited in Kildare in April.  I look forward to many happy years of music with this lovely instrument. 

    Coming up in the September 

I’ll be back the Henrico Theater on September 20 for “With the Pluck of a String; Stories from the Harp”  I have a new story for this show based on an Irish myth about the origins of the harp that I am very excited about, plus I’ll be telling some other favorite “harp” stories from past performances.   See my calendar page for details. 

Earlier in the month I’ll be teaching again for the Teacher’s Toolbox at the Resource Center here in Richmond.  See the calendar page for further details.  I’ll also be flying to Nashville to tell stories one evening for a conference sponsored by Wesley Seminary on Women Clergy in leadership of Large Churches.  

The first thing is my new web site, designed by Joshua Bennett, my older son and freshman in the Art Foundations Program at Virginia Commonwealth University. I love the new look and the fact that I’ll be able to update things on the site myself. Thanks, Josh!

There are a lot of things happening in February, here are a few highlights: The Tell Tale Hearts Storyteller’s Theater will again be presenting their annual Valentine’s Day “Fools for Love” Concert on February 9 at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center. There will be a delightful variety of love stories both humorous and touching, personal and traditional, with decadent desserts served at intermission. I’ll be performing my version of “Cap O’Rushes”, a Cinderella tale variant with a plucky heroine and some unexpected twists.

And speaking of love, I’m so pleased to be performing my one woman show again, “The Heart’s True Scale” on February 13 (the night before Valentines Day) at the newly renovated Henrico Theatre in Highland Springs, VA at 7:30 p.m. (See the calendar page and “The Heart’s True Scale” page for more details)

I’ll be leading two women’s retreats, one at Reveille United Methodist Church on February 2 and the other on February 23 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church. Using the story of Ruth and Naomi in the Bible, both retreats will focus on the power and importance of women’s friendships and how they nurture our spiritual growth.

My husband Jim Bennett will be playing a concert to benefit the Center for Creative Arts at Shady Grove on Friday, February 29, at 7:30 p.m.
The concert will be held in the sanctuary of Shady Grove United Methodist Church, 4825 Pouncey Tract Road, Glen Allen, VA. Call (804) 360-2687 for more details. Be sure to check out Jim’s new CD, The Lone Wild Bird, when you go to his web site. I love all the tracks, but my favorite is Jerusalem.

Jim and his brother Stephen will be playing a benefit concert at the American Theater in Hampton, VA on March 1. Go to their site for more details. Their first CD together, Brothers, came out in January and was recorded at the American Theater with Jim on that fabulous Steinway grand and Stephen on all his fabulous guitars. Their original music is an eclectic mixture, with folk, jazz, blues, classical and gospel influences but not defined by any of those genres. As many times as I have heard them play over the last 26 years or so, I never get tired of their music.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.