Laura J. Bobrow
storyteller
engaging
Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays,
and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants or dragons:
it holds the sea, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.
--J.R.R. Tolkien
elegant
enthusiatic
scholarly
entertaining
PERFORMANCES
Each storytelling program lasts from 45 minutes to an hour depending upon the age of the audience.Programs are loosely organized around a theme, and may range from ancient tales of Indo-European wisdom to animal stories told with anthropomorphic abandon. Poetry is almost always an element and, in fact, is what distinguishes Laura from other storytellers. A repertoire of almost 600 stories, poems and anecdotes allows for great flexibility.Laura crafts each program, choosing from among folk tales, poems, storysongs, anecdotes and original material to create a performance uniquely suited to the audience. Aside from a chair or stool, no props are required, and no special staging or lighting is needed. A sound system (to be provided by the venue) is advisable for groups of over 200 people, or for any outdoor performance. Three weeks advance notice is required for booking.Touring area: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV.Fee adjustments are available for non-profits.FEES (as of 12/22/09)
$275 for one hour and $125 for each additional hour up to four. (Fee includes transportation and may vary slightly depending upon distance traveled and estimated size of audience.)
Early morning or late evening performances require an additional fee of $75 for overnight accommodations if the venue is more than 80 miles from Leesburg VA.
WORKSHOPS minimum 90 minutesLaura calls upon her expertise to enable each student to find a personal creative niche, revealing “amazingly varied and vivid voices" according to a review in the newsletter of the Storytelling Center of New York. Other comments: "Meaty""Makes you think" "Let's have her again!" WORKSHOP 1: TWISTING THE TALE WORKSHOP 2: RHYME, RHYTHM AND RESONANCE: THE USES OF POETRY IN STORYTELLING
General overview of both workshopsFrom medieval troubadour to modern rap artist, the art of the purveyor of stories lies not in the telling of a tale, but in retelling it in unique ways, changing and adapting it in the process. Homer and Ovid told the same story. Shakespeare, Spenser, and Goethe used folklore extensively in their work. Chaucer drew heavily on Oriental oral fiction co-mingled with romantic fables of the North. Participants learn about story motifs, how to choose a story, how to really get to know the animate and inanimate characters within a story and the importance of calling upon individual experience and attitudes in relating to them. We discuss mental imaging and explore, through exercises, the uses of vocabulary, tone of voice, body language, facial expression, repetition, personalization, dialogue, timing, and rhyme. At the end of the session, without having changed the story’s motifs, we rewrite and tell to each other parts of a well-known folk tale to discover that each person truly has a unique “voice.” This is sometimes hilarious, and always amazing!A SAMPLING OF PAST VENUES:Loudoun Educational Media Association, Ashburn, VANorfolk Storyteller’s League, Norfolk, VAShenandoah University, Leesburg, VAPoetry Society of Virginia, Richmond, VAOsher Lifelong Learning Institute, Loudoun, VANational Storytelling Network Conference, Pittsburgh, PACenter for Teaching Excellence, Northern Virginia Community College, Sterling, VABright Hill Writing Center, Oneonta, NYRESIDENCIESThe above workshops can be expanded into 13 week programs. Please write to request lesson plans.
