Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild supports and celebrates World Laughter Day. This live event is free and open to the public and will be broadcast virtually.
Registration is required. You may select a free ticket, or you can make a donation. The choice is yours! Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-laughter-day-storytelling-extravaganza-tickets-150389770853
According to Denise McCormack, president of Patchwork,
“We are very excited to 'go bananas' for World Laughter Day with lots of fun and humorous tales. World Laughter Day celebrates laughter yoga, but it shares so many of the tenets and practices of storytelling, especially as a tool for human connection and spiritual health, that we couldn't let the opportunity to participate pass us by.
Laughter yoga by its very nature suggests fun and well-being, and a big part of the process involves play scenarios in which participants act out tiny stories to invoke physical laughter whether or not the guffaws are authentic or not. The idea is to fake it until you make it. But there is more to it than that. The entire concept is rooted in sharing a communal experience which often leads to a profound intimacy with others that emanates through the body. It's really an incredible feeling.
Of course, we plan to generate some real laughter with some truly great stories and storytelling.
Storytellers traditionally tell to live and intimate audiences, and we’re delighted to be able to bring our stories, with all of their integrity and charm, right into people’s homes as we tell them.
This really promises to be a great show, and the audience can sit back and relax and just enjoy the experience of imagining those once-upon-a-times that capture our fancies and our hearts, right from their own living rooms.”
Featured in this amazing lineup are, in alphabetical order, Ingrid Bohn, Barbara Cohen-Kligerman, Judith Heineman, Karen Maurer, Denise McCormack, Les Schaffer, and Ed Stivender.
This program is sure to delight story-lovers everywhere, and we encourage everyone to spread the word! We want to put a smile on everyone's faces.
ABOUT THE TELLERS
DENISE MCCORMACK
Denise McCormack, M.Ed., is deeply committed to sharing the history, benefits, and practices of storytelling in a broad spectrum of applications for education and community to business, health, and well-being.
Among her many roles, McCormack is president of the Patchwork Storytelling Guild, and an active member of various local and national organizations wherein storytelling and the arts play an integral role. She is also a storytelling/speaking coach and creative designer and producer for video/audio and print projects.
For more information, go to: www.denisemccormack.live or www.dmcorporatecoaching.com
KAREN MAURER
Karen Maurer is one of the best-loved storytellers in the Lehigh Valley and enjoys a remarkably storied background as a library youth services coordinator, writer, and blogger of children’s literature. She tells tales to all ages, coaches and runs Storytelling Workshops for children and teens, and writes songs for Chiles’ Play, a children’s musical duo with her brother, Dan. Maurer has engaged audiences with her storytelling for more than two decades, is a member of the LVSG board, an advisor to the Patchwork community, and a presenter and reviewer of books for middle grades and teens for area literature conferences and on her blog, booksnstories.blogspot.com.
JUDITH HEINEMAN
Judith Heineman is a storyteller, producer and teacher, who has been selected as an Illinois Humanities Council “Road Scholar” and an Illinois Arts Tour and Residency Artist. Judith’s tales travel the world: offer up Mesopotamian myths, revisit the richness of Judean lands and lore, tell of battles with cunning Greek deities, toss doses of Grimm’s grimmest into the mix, take root in wild gardens, bloom and burst into memories that compel us to retell.
BARBARA COHEN-KLIGERMAN
Barbara Cohen-Kligerman studied storytelling with Brooklyn-based author and scholar Yitzhak Buxbaum. She has told stories in several locations in New York and the Delaware Valley, including the internally televised Story Time at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
LES SCHAFFER
"I’ve always told stories –believing that a good story will get you out of just about anything, feeling that storytelling can save the world. Now that I’m solidly an octogenarian, these values are even more critical for me.
Most of my stories are biographical, even the folk and fairy tales. And, I want to encourage each of my listeners, to create, cherish and pass their own stories along to the generations that follow us.
I tell, teach and listen to stories in a variety of settings. Here in Richmond VA, I lead and coach the Story Warriors, a youth storytelling group. I‘ve been teaching storytelling and related topics to Senior Citizens at our local LifeLong Learning Center for 20 years. Judith Onesty and I teach Basic and Family Storytelling Classes.
I tell at regional Story Slams and co-host a slam for Older Tellers A co-founder of Richmond’s Tell Tale Hearts Storyteller’s Theater, TwoTellersTelling Tandem Storytellers, I’m a current Board member of the Virginia Storyteller's Association (VASA). I’ve presented workshops, one-man and tandem-telling shows at Storytelling Conferences around the country.
A story-listener recently said that my telling is “…like scenes from a Christopher Walken movie."" I think that was a compliment. "
ED STIVENDER
Ed Stivender, a self-described 'Daydreamer moonlighting as a Storyteller' has been entertaining audiences around the globe since his Jonesborough debut in 1980. Dubbed "The Robin Williams of Storytelling" by The Miami Herald, and "The Clown Prince of Storytelling" by Festival Founder Jimmy Neil Smith, he is well known for the mixture of wit and whimsy that earned him the NAPPS Circle of Excellence Award in 1996. Author of "Raised Catholic - (Can You Tell?)" he is available for custom Zoom parties and coaching. This season he will be found on the line-ups for the Timpanogos, Jonesborough, Weber State (Utah), and Azalea (Georgia) Festivals.
INGRID BOHN
Ingrid entertains people in story and song and has been active in theater productions for over 30 years.
She is an Interactive Theater and Storytelling artist who shares traditional folktales, fairy tales, and literary stories from all over the world and brings to life multifaceted characters whose unique personalities aid in the cultural understanding.
Ingrid encourages role playing and audience participation and is a proud member of the Lehigh Valley and Patchwork Storytelling Guilds.
Registration is required. You may select a free ticket, or you can make a donation. The choice is yours! Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-laughter-day-storytelling-extravaganza-tickets-150389770853