What's this all about, anyway?

Once upon a time, a few storytellers–-Liz Warren, Olga Loya and Priscilla Howe–-were sitting around talking (as we do) about stories. Not just any stories, but long traditional stories. We were hungry for a rich feast of stories. Most storytelling festivals require short stories, only occasionally stretching beyond the 20-minute mark.

We began imagining a festival where each evening we listened to a long traditional story, then we had wine and cheese or tea and cake, then we dreamed about the story, and then in the morning we had a workshop about the story from the night before. We’d play and rest in the afternoon, then do it all over again.

Where and how could we do this? We puzzled over the idea for a few years until the day that somebody recommended the Storyteller’s Riverhouse in Bethlehem, Indiana and Scheherezade’s Legacy, the storytelling partnership of Cynthia Changaris and Mary Hamilton. Bingo! That was the place!

We had our first Going Deep Festival in March 2006. It began with Liz Warren’s performance of The Grail. The next night we heard Olga Loya’s version of the Aztec Creation Myth. The last night was Priscilla Howe’s telling of Tristan and Iseult.

Cynthia and Mary were wonderful midwives of that first festival. We were nourished both literally and metaphorically. The group of participants (fewer than 25, including cooks, massage therapists and the palm reader) were enthusiastic about the whole endeavor.

Our plan? To do it again and again and again, building our repertoires and our roster of performers. We definitely plan to go back to the Storyteller’s Riverhouse, and we also are interested in traveling the festival around the world.