One great thing that has come out of the past year is the ability to see storytellers who don’t live in (or travel to) our local stages. Some of the tellers in the virtual Women’s Storytelling Festival live just a few hours away, some live a few time zones away, and some have spent time performing at the far ends of the world.
Mary Theresa Archbold is a New Yorker. She’s part of the New York Times bestseller Occasional Magic, and has performed on the Moth MainStage, NPR’s This American Life, and Risk! She has her own storytelling podcast, Funny Parents, and has acted on television and off-Broadway stages, as well as musicals throughout the U.S.
Robin Bady lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she produces a house concert series at her home. She’s also toured nationally, internationally, and virtually, performing at fringe festivals, theaters, schools, museums, and storytelling festivals. In her stories, Robin takes on ghosts, bullies, and even J. Edgar Hoover.
Laura Deal lives in Boulder, Colorado. She tells traditional, original, and personal stories to children and adults. She is also a reader of dreams and a teacher of creative writing.
Rachel Hedman was the first recipient of the J. J. Reneaux Mentorship grant from the National Storytelling Network. She is a family folklore expert and an advocate for youth storytelling. She’s the founder of the Story Crossroads festival in Utah, conducts storytelling workshops, and maintains a blog with tips for telling.
Claire Hennessy was born in Great Britain and now tells funny, true, and often embarrassing stories in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a podcast, The Bonkers Brit, and has written a memoir that she is trying to find an agent for before she is too old to go on a book tour. She is also the co-founder of Six Feet Apart Productions, a virtual storytelling program whose able staff is helping with some of the tech for this festival.
Priscilla Howe comes to us from Kansas, but has traveled far and wide, including collecting Bulgarian folktales on a Fulbright Scholarship. She performs folktales, personal stories, and literary stories for children and adults, often accompanied by her family of puppets. She is also known for her skill at paper cutting and her quest for the best restaurant pie on earth.
M.J. Kang was born in Seoul, Korea. She comes to us now from Los Angeles. She has won a Moth slam, as well as telling stories on the RISK! podcast and on Stories from the Stage on PBS.
Rona Leventhal is based on Massachusetts and has performed for audiences and taught workshops throughout the country. She has a new family CD, “Raps, Rhythms, and Rhymes: Stories to Tap, Rap, Shake and Sing,” due out later this year, joining her adult and teen CD of creepy stories, “Into the Dark: Stories From the Shadows.”
Cindy Rivka Marshall is a Boston-based teller of multicultural and Jewish folktales, as well as personal stories. Her focus is on community building, including diversity awareness and social justice. She also offers workshops for educators, congregations, and organizations, as well as story coaching.
Jenice Matias was born and raised in New York and now lives in New Jersey. She has told stories for the Moth, Monti, Story Collider, and Risk! and has written and performed four solo shows. Her most recent show is “I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it.” She is also a dancer, singer, actor, and comedian.
Misty Mator comes to us from Pittsburgh. She learned about storytelling from her German grandmother and now uses both traditional myth and her experiences as a mother of four to teach history, celebrate culture, and promote moral values for audiences of all ages. The venues she has performed at include Better Said Than Done, the Ellwood City Storytelling Festival, and Pittsburgh’s Alphabest Trails and Tails.
Mo Reynolds is based in northwest Montana and travels throughout the state with her combination of folk tales and personal narrative. She’s been a featured teller at the Florida Storytelling Festival, the Teton Storytelling Festival, as well as performing with Better Said Than Done, Artists Standing Strong Together.
Regina Stoops has led a life that took her from Normal, Illinois to the San Francisco Bay Area. Her stories deal with her life as a Catholic, Democratic, lesbian stay-at-home soccer mom with an Autistic son. In other words, navigating the normal of modern suburbia, complete with minivan and grocery shopping. She is the co-founder (with Claire Hennessy) of Six Feet Apart Productions.
Sage Tyrtle has been described as the Queen of Storytelling in Toronto, Canada. She’s been a Moth StorySLAM and GrandSLAM winner, appeared in Stories From the Stage on PBS, and has been featured on NPR and CBC Radio. She performs her funny and sad personal stories and folktales, and teaches workshops, for both adults and children.
