Telling Stories » Tucson Meet Yourself

Tucson Meet Yourself has stories and more stories

Penelope Starr — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:40:15 +0000

The Story Stage schedule* is jam packed. For three days you can be a story-glutton at Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival. African stories, Irish stories, Tucson stories, Sonoran stories, Icelandic stories, Animal stories, Celebrity stories and the list goes on. It will be hard to pull yourself away long enough to go get some of the incredible food that Tucson “Eat” Yourself is so well known for.

And the Story Stage is just one of seven stages! The Festival, whos mission is to “research document interpret and present the living traditional arts and expressions of everyday life of the folk and ethnic communities of the multi-national Arizona-Sonora region,” stretches from above Alameda Street down to the Tucson Convention Center. It’s huge. The theme is year is “Traditions of Health and Wellness” and you certainly will get your exercise walking from place to place because you won’t want to miss a thing. Good thing it’s three days, from October 14 through the 16th. Here’s a link to a Map.

See you at the story stage!

*Note: double click on the schedule and it will appear full screen for easy viewing.

Tucson Meet Yourself wants stories

Penelope Starr — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:04:31 +0000

Jordan Hill just put out a call for all storytellers, tall tale turners, jokesters and accomplished liars!

Are you considered “the storyteller” in your family or community? Do you know and tell traditional tales or jokes from your culture? Do you have stories from your life in Tucson that you love to tell and your friends love to hear? Then we want you!

Tucson Meet Yourself is expanding the presence of storytelling at the festival, and there are a variety of ways for traditional and/or Tucson focused storytellers to be involved. Applications are now OPEN: http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org/2011-tmy-performer-application/

Calling all Puppeteers too!

TMY will be giving puppetry the place it deserves amongst the other traditional and contemporary folk arts being showcased at this year’s festival. If you or someone you know is a puppeteer, applications are now OPEN: http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org/2011-tmy-performer-application/

Questions? Contact Jordan Hill at 520-468-9693 or jordanhillstoryteller@gmail.com

Storytelling at Tucson Meet Yourself Festival

Penelope Starr — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:40:16 +0000

This year the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival is expanding dramatically, and for the first time the festival will include a whole area in the TCC Plaza, outside the Tucson Music Hall, dedicated to storytelling and the narrative traditions of Tucson’s living cultures. There will be a stage set up like a Southwestern living room for a wide range of performances. Adjacent to this area festival attendees can participate in a version of the sobremesa tradition by gathering around tables to share stories of their own on particular themes. (Sobremesa, according to Google Translate, is after dinner table-talk.)

Come out to hear the tales:

Tellers include Big Jim Griffith (founder of the festival and Tucson legend), Jordan Hill (Jewish stories and Tucson ghost lore), Sheila Patteson (Irish tales), Marc Severson (stories of life in Tucson), Anne Lee (Slavic stories), Jean Baxter (stories from Tucson’s early days), Tucson teens from VOICES and Tucson Hebrew Academy (tales of living young in Tucson), and youth from the Singing Bird Sangha (Buddhist stories).

Come out to tell tales of your own:

Facilitators of the sobremesas include Odyssey Storytelling, the UA Creative Writing Club, Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, and more. Topics range from food, love, injuries, and holidays to immigration, religious experiences, and encounters with Tucson ghosts and wildlife (of all kinds).

Come out and be a part of an exciting and profound new way for Tucson to truly meet itself! The Festival will be in downtown Tucson this coming Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thanks to Jordan Hill for this information.