Contact: Melanie Ray
604-874-3519
melanieray@telus.net


What We Are: Myths and Memories is a group of storytellers who trade stories with their elders in seniors’ community groups and residences. We work mainly in the Lower Mainland, but we can be enticed to travel. We are pleased to work with you in developing a programme that best suits your situation. This could be a single evening’s entertainment, or an ongoing weekly series, such as the one we have done at Haro Park Seniors’ Centre since 2005.

The Stories: We bring folktales, fairytales, tales from literature, our own lives and history, any story that can serve as both a good yarn and a spark to ignite memories in the minds of our audience members.
Benefits for our audiences: For a single event, audiences never fail to have a great time listening, and some people will speak of their own experiences. This is more likely to occur in the ongoing series, as people get comfortable with us. This leads to a validation of each person's life experience and a growing sense of community through having the storytelling event in common. Sometimes there are tears, but always, there is laughter and good stories.
The Tellers: We are Philomena Jordan, Barbara Karmazyn, Melanie Ray and Linda Stender. We are members of the Vancouver Society of Storytelling, and have each told stories for many years. We all have experience in facilitating storytelling, and adding music to our presentations in some form or another. Linda’s background is in teaching, Melanie’s in theatre, Barbara’s in dance and facilitating creative endeavours of all sorts, and Philomena’s is in folk music. Three of us grew up in the Lower Mainland and Philomena hails from Ireland. We are all of us grateful for the time we spend with our elders.

Fee: $150. If you don’t think you can do that, make us an offer. Who knows, you might catch us on a good day. Try offering us a series, or cry the blues, or make us a lunch. Whatever, we are NEGOTIABLE. The fee is all-inclusive, and provides you with one of us, who will come to your residence and tell stories for 45 to 60 minutes.
Beyond the Lower Mainland, there might also be extra travel expenses.

Comments: (References available on request)
“Our centre is a great fan of Storytelling. [Myths and Memories] has been a regular weekly event for three years. The staff has come to appreciate the therapeutic value of the storytelling. We classify it as interactive art and a therapy, which goes beyond the entertainment value. Elders experience the benefits of reminiscing and shared memories.”
Director of Leisure Programs
Haro Park Centre, 2007

[Diana Buric at Haro Park is happy to give us a reference; feel free to call her at (604) 687-5584 (233)]



“These storytellers educate and entertain, a great combination!”
A Seniors worker
Douglas Park Community Centre, 2008

We thank the BC Gaming Commission for help in the past, the Vancouver Society of Storytelling for ongoing support, Haro Park Centre for their steadfast faith in the stories, Allice Bernards for many things great and small, and Margaret Murphy for getting it started.

Far from her Nova Scotian roots, well known for her repertoire spanning the ordinary to the mythopoetic, Vancouver teller Abegael Fisher-Lang has told world tales at business conferences, Celtic myths to university classes, Hannukah legends in a wintry barn, Jack tales at Word-on-the-Street, and a midlife cycle – Crones are the Midwives of Time Passing -to women’s initiation circles. She has told her myth trilogy based on the Demeter and Persephone in New York and for the World Urban Festival in Vanouver. And tales about those tricksters …Raven, Loki, Monkey King, Anansi… when they’re looking the other way.

As artistic director for World Storytelling Day and Vancouver International Storytelling Festivals, Abegael is known for her gift of bringing people together to celebrate good storytelling. With skill and humour, she inspires others to tell their own stories, and coaches them in crafting memorable stories to celebrate life events. She is passionate about storytelling: It is an exalted place...there is no power greater than our collective imagination, and storytelling strengthens this, tale by tale. That is why I tell!

Abegael is committed to education through imagination, having taught Waldorf education for many years, developed storybased curricula with the national program Learning Through the Arts, and presented workshops at conferences of the Imaginative Education Research Group at Simon Fraser University, BC.
Recognized for her initiatives in community storytelling, such as North Shore Cric?-Crac!, she is profiled in Mentors in our Midst. Abegael directs a community play from the medieval Oberufer Mystery Drama Cycle each January, and presents storytelling workshops regularly.

Having long ago fessed up to her love for the Welsh (wishing she had been born under Cymru, the red Welsh dragon), Abegael focused the 2002 Welsh Mabinogion Epic Weekend, won first place for storytelling at the North American Welsh Eisteddfod Festival 2003. She has participated in all Epic Storytelling weekends in Vancouver, including the Finnish Kalevala, Celtic Wonder Tales, Tibetan and Tuvan Tales, and many more.

The mother of a creative Downs’ Syndrome teen, Abegael is inspired by his joy of language and adventure; both she and her son Aiden tell stories to special communities. While she listens for the healing myth of our time, her mentor and son Aiden, aka King Arthur, searches the nearby forest for swords under stones.

Abegael was recently certified through the Celebrant Foundation and Institute (2006) to create ceremonies for families and communities to celebrate life events. More details will soon be included on her website, as long as it is updated before the end of the decade.

Website www.mythopoetica.ca

Born and raised on the west coast of Ireland, Philomena personifies the Irish gift for telling stories, reciting poetry and spontaneous singing. She draws her listeners into stories about her own childhood and from the rich heritage of her native tradition. Philomena entertains audiences at house concerts, seniors homes, schools, and festivals including television appearances.

HELEN MAY
Dip.Tesol,MA,ECE

Storyteller, Instructor, Tutor
Mentor, Coach, Facilitator

WALKING TREE
Education Consultant

Stories for Adults and Children.

For as long as we have inhabited the world as humans we have sat together and shared our experiences-our stories. We have found consolation and continuity in sharing events and ideas with each other. We have never really wanted to be isolated or excluded from the fabric of humanity. Stories provide a sense of companionship, identity, purpose and meaning to our lives.

Helen May was born in South Africa, was educated there and then fled from the politics of apartheid to live in Brazil. Her degree in early childhood education in which she specialized in the arts for young children, provided
countless opportunities for communicating with people of all ages through the 'language 'of stories, dance and songs as well as drawing and painting. She came to Canada by road, with her husband. The journey from Rio de Janeiro to Vancouver took them 8 months--ample time to reflect on humanity and stories!

Helen May has told and listened to stories in southern Africa, Brazil and Western Canada; in various languages with children, adults,and elders of communities on these continents; in halls, under trees, in kitchens, in schools, community centres, libraries. Her stories for adult listeners illustrate human endeavour, the ability to overcome adversity and to share triumph.These spring from situations she has witnessed in Africa and other places. She draws from Zulu tales heard in childhood when sharing stories with children.

When you'd like a story for your group of children or a story for your festival, or a celebration , a commemoration, a fireside gathering, a meeting of CEO's .......

HELEN MAY can be reached by phone at 604-739.7392
e.mail-helenmay@telus.net

AKA evenSteven, Steven Rathwell is a writer and a storyteller and a fugitive of the public education system who retired from teaching high school to exercise racehorses at Hastings Park. evenSteven has performed everywhere from public schools to the PNE to Word on the Street. In addition to writing and producing radio documentaries for CBC Radio, he’s also been a featured performer at the Vancouver International Storytelling Festival and is currently readying his first young adult novel “The Lost Tree-Fort of Koola-Koola” for publication. As a learning consultant for the pioneering educational movement known as *SelfDesign* (.org), Steven uses stories and storytelling techniques to enhance self-reflection and encourage people to recognize the narrative and symbolic possibilities of their own life. A member of the Healing Story Alliance, evenSteven offers storytelling performances and workshops that use humour and empathy to empower individuals to follow their own unique path. Most days he feels like a cartoon character.

Melanie stumbled across theatre at 18, and jumped into storytelling at 37. She and Nan Gregory were a duo from 1984 to 1989. Since then, Melanie has continued telling for all ages in diverse venues across Canada and elsewhere. Folktales, literature and history fill her extensive repertoire. Two favourites - the long Medieval epic, "Tristan and Iseult," and an hour of Emily Carr's stories knit together as "A Song of Small." Melanie’s carefully crafted programmes are full of people you know, or wish you did, and she sets them down in vivid scenes. A long-time favourite of Vancouver audiences.

Naomi tells stories in order to “walk down a bit of the road together”.

For Naomi Steinberg, connecting with four year olds is as marvellous and unique an experience as connecting with 84 year olds - both are possible through storytelling. In classrooms, rainforests, festivals and conferences, Naomi has over 13 years experience facilitating creative engagement workshops with diverse communities. The past 8 years of her life have been closely focused on storytelling and performance and in her own words “ to be a storyteller, first you have to be a story-listener.” Her work has taken her to places as varied as India, Israel, Palestine and Italy.

Her recent appearances include The Moth in New York, The FOOL in Toronto and the Vancouver Fringe Festival. In her home town of Vancouver, Canada she has produced shows independently as well as with the ‘In the House Festival’ and ‘Sistahood Celebration’ among others. Naomi has also developed workshops for schools in Vancouver, Morocco, Switzerland and India and for the Cortona conference in Italy. In her current role as chair of the Vancouver Society of Storytelling, Naomi intends to foster an appreciation of the art in all of its aspects and applications for audiences of allsorts! (www.naomi-eliana.ca)

Max Tell has over 25 years of experience as a storyteller for children in schools, libraries and at festivals. During the early 90s he had five extensive tours of Asia, in addition to storytelling festivals in Singapore and Australia. He has appeared numerous times at the Vancouver Storytelling Festival and the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. In 2009, he performed at the Kansas Storytelling Festival, and for the Bellingham Storytellers Guild, in Kansas and Washington, respectively.

Before launching his career as a storyteller, Max toured Northern Ontario for 5 years as an actor in children’s theatre. Most recently, he has had 3 highly successful storytelling tours of Ontario in as many years, 3 Summer Reading Club tours of BC Library Systems, and in the fall of 2009 a 3 week tour of Brazil sponsored by Dream On Productions of Argentina.

Max is not only a storyteller, but also strives to inspire new tellers and new listeners to the fascinating world of story. Over the years, he has edited the Vancouver Society of Storytelling Newsletter. He has conducted many storytelling workshops for both children and adults including: Act the Story and Making Stories Come Alive. And his articles on storytelling have appeared in The Vancouver Society of Storytelling Newsletter, the BC Library Association’s Yaacing, and NSN’s Storytelling Magazine.

Max has always been inspired by stories and is honoured to excite children of all ages to the wonders and magic of the spoken word.

Wong Wing-Siu learned to story-tell listening to his grandmother in the kitchen while making Sunday dumplings.  The stories that he tells, like his grandmother’s stories, are about the funny things and the not so funny things that happen to people in real life. They are stories about family and community, and they celebrate the interconnectedness between us and the planet earth.

He has a way of seeing the sacred in the stories of everyday. He will have you at the edge of your seat in laughter one minute and on the verge of tears in the next.

Born in Canada but raised in Hong Kong until he was ten years of age, Wing-Siu was raised in a dual culture - dual language home.  He also has a professional background in elementary school teaching and applied cultural anthropology.

A long-time resident of Vancouver, Wing-Siu has been performing and teaching storytelling in the classroom and in the community for over 20 years.  His greatest joys and triumphs have been teaching storytelling to ESL students who have flourished using this oral tradition.

You will also find him occasionally performing stories and music with his 13 year old son Andy.

Wing-Siu is available for festivals and adult oriented performances.