Our Members

Perry Andrews

St. Paul, MN
Phone: 612-236-6035

Josette Andree Antomarchi 
“Sparks”

Minneapolis, MN
Email: funnyfrenchlady [at] yahoo.com

Bilingual Storyteller: French/English. Josette delights in sharing her life adventures and world folktales with young and old. International actress by trade, Josette toured Europe and the US for 20 years. In the Twin Cities, she has worked with the Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Children’s Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Mannafest and Spirit in the House. She is a performer and educator for Young Audiences of MN.

Oralee Bailey

Erskine, MN

Jerry J. Blue

Phone: 612.374.9730
Email: jeblue < at > usfamily . net

We are all storytellers! Teller of tales for over thirty years in the Twin Cities, Mr. Blue seeks to bring people together through his world tales. A member of COMPAS and Young Audiences. Join him in telling stories that bring unity to the world.

Allison Broeren

Minneapolis, MN
Email: allison.broeren-AT-gmail.com
Website: www.storyslammn.org

Allison Broeren is a spoken word artist, a Rockstar Storyteller, the founder of Story SlamMN! and the Slam Master of nationally recognized Poetry SlamMN!. She has produced and performed a number of hit Fringe shows including All the Things I Never Told My Mother, and I’ll Marry You for Health Insurance. She has also performed in Women Stand Up! A Comedy Cabaret, been featured on KFAI’s Write On! Radio, and has performed on tables at house parties throughout the tri-state area. Contact Allison for your performance, hosting, or teaching needs.

Dale Butler

Fridley, MN
Phone: (763) 717-4703
Email: dbutler33 [at] comcast.net

Southern born and raised. Sixty-nine-year-old male. I’ve lived in Minnesota since 1978. I love to tell stories and listen to others’ stories.

Joan Calof

St Paul, MN
Phone: 651.481.9261
Email: jcalof [at] comcast.net
Website: http://web.me.com/joancalof
http://www.youtube.com/user/joancalof

Joan Calof is a multidisciplinary artist, exploring the intersections of movement, music, theater, performance art and storytelling. She tells original stories at many venues including the Fringe, Red Eye Theater, MN History Center and Patrick’s Cabaret. Stories vary from the personal, where she often transmutes events once painful to humorous, to historical, multicultural, and stories with a Jewish theme.

Tom Cassidy

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 952.548.2218
Email: cassidy [at] usfamily.net

Though not a storyteller, painter, poet, actor or otherwise disciplined artist, Tom Cassidy enjoys pushing his luck in front of a live audience, ideally positioned on the edge of a cliff. His written/drawn pieces have appeared in hundreds of small press, big press, gallery, museum and misc. venues around the globe. The Sant Antonio Express News calls his performances “fascinating, animated, arresting,” but it’s pretty hot and boozy in Texas.

Alex Cleberg

Minneapolis, MN
Email: acleberg AT gmail.com
Website: www.interculturaladventure.blogspot.com

How many answers are there to the question, “what is it to be human?” The drive to answer this question has led Alex to work as a teacher in Tokyo, narrowly escape scam artists in Bangkok, fend off a monkey ambush on the islands of Vietnam, sleep in a cardboard box on the streets of Chicago, rebuild destroyed villages in Sri Lanka, and share small business advice with woman entrepreneurs in Uganda. Alex is currently a graduate student, business developer, intercultural consultant, improvisational coach, producer and actor, husband, son and father. He performs on the stages of HUGE and the Brave New Workshop, tells stories at Word Ninjas and presents on the topic of intercultural competence. Alex’s wealth is measured in experience. He shares it with you through story.

Dorothy Cleveland

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612-730-5798
Email: folktalesrising gmail.com

Recognizes the gifts stories bring to individuals and communities. Enjoys folktales and personal stories that invoke life
transitions.

Beverly Cottman

Minneapolis, MN
Email: beverlycottman [at] gmail.com
Web site: www.salon1016.org. Or look for her at mnartists.org.

Stories, tales and epics from the African Diaspora for all audiences. Traditional and contemporary presentations of universal themes in intimate settings or large gatherings. Auntie Beverly educates, enlightens and entertains.

Debra Darby

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612-354-3229

Debra and the wee ones (ages three to six) weave a little magic and wonder together telling tales, doing creative movement and dramatics.

Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux
Alchemy StoryWorks

Grand Marais, MN
Email: rose [at] rosearrowsmith.com
Website: www.rosearrowsmith.com

International storyteller Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux has been labeled everything from a “modern renaissance woman” to “deliciously imaginative” by her audiences and fellow storytellers. Animated and poetic, Rose holds a crowd of any age with grace, and audience members both young and old gesture, speak and sing alongs, sometimes even on stage! Rose has performed professionally since 2001 at Swedish festivals, Fall festivals, even Pie festivals! Here in Minnesota, Rose has worked with the Children’s Theatre Company and the Young Authors’ Conference and has been named “an indispensable asset” by the American Swedish Institute for her work with their education and family programs.

Joe DeLorme

Bloomington, MN

I was born in South Dakota. The first twenty-one years of my life were lived in both Dakotas. No favorite. Both are profoundly beautiful. The allure of the northern Great Plains has never left me; it’s the landscape of my youth, fondly and bitterly remembered. I’ve lived in the Metro area twenty-six years now.

John Dingley

Willernie, MN
Email: john.digley [at] gmail . com
Phone: (651) 280-7232

Craftsman, Artist, Singer, Poet, Actor, Stone mason, Glass engraver/Cutter and Story teller “John Dingley and the Biggest Pack of Lies You Ever Heard.”

Nancy Donoval, MFA

P.O. Box 16244
Minneapolis, MN 55416
Phone: 612-889-4043 (cell)
Email: NancyDonoval [at] gmail.com
Websites: www.NancyDonoval.com
www.Stories2StopRape.com

Nancy Donoval is a storyteller, speaker and teaching artist. She is the 2010 National Story Slam Champ. Her work has been heard on Minnesota and Chicago Public Radio and she was featured at the 2004 National Storytelling Festival. Her one-woman shows (Dancing Rats & Vampire Moms; Monster Movies with My Undead Dad) played to sold-out houses at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Besides her work as a performance storyteller, Nancy speaks at colleges and universities on sexual assault awareness and prevention. Go to her website to hear her National Story Slam winning excerpt from her campus rape program, “No Shame, No Silence: Stories to Stop Rape.”

Nancy is also a story coach and teaching artist. She works with storytellers, non-profit and business leaders, and other public speakers. She has a particular affinity for helping craft difficult or complicated material.

Bill Eisenmann
Stories For Living

Maplewood, MN
Phone: 651-731-7901
Email: beisenmann [at] storiesforliving.com
Website: www.storiesforliving.com

Bill is a retired pastor who used stories in different areas of pastoral ministry. He grew up hearing, reading and telling stories. He enjoys telling stories to all ages in churches, schools, community groups and to his grand children. His mission is to tell stories and do workshops for all ages that can empower them to live their lives in love and respect for themselves, others and the world. When Bill isn’t telling stories or doing wokshops, he collects material by canoeing and camping, hiking, listening and reading, woodworking, model railroading, and participating in activities at the Germanic-American Institute in St. Paul.

Marian Eisenmann

Maplewood, MN
Phone: 651-731-7901

Retired pastor and former nurse. Marian uses her parish ministry and nursing experience to help shape her retreats and storytelling programs. Her mission is to facilitate personal and spiritual growth through the use of storytelling and women’s retreats. In addition, Marian works part time as a hospital chaplain.

Sue Frykman

Waterville, MN
Email: goddesskf [at] aol.com

Sue’s stories are told through the unusual medium of coloring books. Using a mixture of text and drawings, she entices her audience to participate in the stories. A refuge from corporate America, now a professional artist, Sue hopes to sell more books (currently self-published) and consider commissions for custom color books from individuals, families and organizations with stories to tell.

Katherine Glover

Minneapolis, MN
Email: messages < at > katherineglover.net
Website: katherineglover.net

Katherine Glover is a writer, journalist, performer and storyteller. She’s performed for Minnesota Public Radio’s “In The Loop,” featured at numerous Minneapolis comedy shows and spoken word events, and toured the country with her solo shows, “A Cynic Tells Love Stories” and “No Stranger Than Home.” On her other career paths, she’s worked for the Associated Press in Buenos Aires, taught English in Nicaragua, and written about the politics of gay hobbit marriage online for Salon.com.

jo gordon

Minneapolis, MN
Email: jo [at] sursumcorda.com

Roger R. Hellesvig
19th Century Programs

Minneapolis, MN
Email: OleOleson.geo [at] yahoo.com
Website: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/7920/

Roger performs living history programs throughout the United States. His programs are suitable for all ages. In most of the programs, he portrays “Ole Oleson,” a Norwegian immigrant.

Andre B. Heuer

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.920.5914
Email: andreh [at] usfamily.net

Dr. Andre B. Heuer LICSW has taught and used storytelling within health care, corrections, a center for the book arts, hospice, justice circles, ministry and social services. As a storyteller he helps individuals to find and create legacy stories, enable communities to explore the stories that bind them together, support organizations in rediscovering their history and mission, and to enable health care professionals to evoke and tell stories of healing. He is a board member of the Healing Story Alliance of the National Storytelling Network.

Maren Hinderlie

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.825.9479
Email: Marenhinderlie [at] gmail.com

Maren has taught storytelling at the Guthrie, the Loft, the Walker and for the Drama Dept. at Metro State, on the North Shore, at Mt. Carmel on Lake Carlos, The Mindekirken in Minneapolis, in the Cascades, the Rockies and some cozy living rooms. As an actress, storyteller, artist in residence ,director or producer she’s done this show and that in theaters, on hay mows, inside churches, libraries, galleries ,museums, clubs, studios, and schools. Right now she’s writing a book, a play, a short story and poetry and working for the Minnesota History Center.

Heidi Hoks

Waconia, MN
Phone: 952-715-1624
Email: fuschialady99 [at] yahoo.com

Storytelling since 1978, Heidi has performed for schools, public libraries, conferences, community events and religious events as a featured artist. She also conducts storytelling workshops and has been an artist-in- residence. Her style is dramatic and interactive.

Khary Jackson
6 is 9

St. Paul, MN
Email: shazzalives < at > gmail.com
Website: www.layitbare.com

Khary Jackson (aka 6 is 9) is a performance poet and playwright. A Detroit native, he has competed for three years at several national poetry slam competitions, placing 6th place or higher individually each year, as well as winning the 2009 National Poetry Slam with the St. Paul team.

Alison Bergblom Johnson

Minneapolis, MN
Email: alison < at > alisobergblomjohnson.com
Website: alisonbergblomjohnson.com

Alison Bergblom Johnson tells relentlessly true stories. Her one-woman show Other Than Tragedy, about mental illness and her family, premiered in the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She has performed at the Walker Art Center, Patrick’s Cabaret and 7th Street Entry of First Avenue. In 2012, she will be working on an ensemble piece about the manic side of bipolar disorder.

Kathleen Johnson

Arden Hills, MN
Phone: 651-340-6530
Email: jeffnkathleen [at] hotmail.com

Kathleen brings back stories and songs from the 11th to 18th centuries, rekindling the banked fires of universal themes: love, loss, resilience of the human spirit. She has been a featured performer for various festivals including CO and MD Renaissance Festivals, Baltimore Harbou, Manitou Springs, Oatlands.

Ken Johnson
“Ken the Traveler”

Campbell, CA
Phone: 612.414.2662
Email: KenTheTraveler [at] comcast.net

A story teller with tales to tell from around the world. (Ken has relocated to a suburb of San Jose, CA and sends his greetings to all his MN storytelling buddies!)

Larry Johnson
“Key of See Storytellers”

Golden Valley, MN
Phone: 763.546.1074 or 612-747-3904
Email: larrjvfp [at] gmail.com or
Website: http://www.keyofsee.mn/

Storyteller/Educator/Activist since the late 60s. Current President of Veterans for Peace. Co-teaches “Storytelling For Parents, Grandparents and Other Activists, Trainers, And Leaders” with Elaine Wynne.

Pati Kachel

Shoreview, MN
Home: 651-483-5804
Office: 651-485-1506.
Email: patikachel [at] me.com
Website: www.theparablefund.org

Pati has entertained audiences since 1982 in churches, retreat centers, schools, libraries, senior residences, hospitals, coffee houses, tea rooms and bookstores from Seattle to Pittsburgh. She creatively weaves together heart-warming and humorous life stories and songs into her performances. Drawing from her Norwegian Lutheran heritage, she is also a member of Salt of the Earth Storytellers, sharing Biblical and personal faith stories. Pati is available to present her programs through The Parable Fund, a nonprofit org. whose mission is to share earthly stories based on scriptural truths communicating Judeo-Christian values.

Harold Kallio
“Twin Cities Storytelling Guide”

Plymouth, MN
Phone: 763.559.5157
Email: harold.kallio@live.com

Teller of personal stories, folktales of many cultures, fairy tales, humorous stories and stories with a twist. Publisher of the Twin Cities Storytelling Guide, a newsletter about MN events, upper Midwest and local venues. Harold has been telling stories since 1990.

Vickijoan Keck
“The Rainbow Lady”

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.343.7045
Email: vicki1joan [at] hotmail.com

Vickijoan is an actress, poet and storyteller who loves whimsy and rhyme, folktales and personal stories. She is a past president of Northstar and a member of the Minnesota Association of Community Theaters (MACT).

Christy Marie Kent

Savage, MN

Email: christy-AT-christymariekent.com
Website: http://christymariekent.com

Born in Mississippi and raised all over the south, with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s in mathematics, I am a writer, storyteller, speaker, and insurance product manager. I enjoy writing and storytelling because I get to be creative and make stuff up—something that they frown on me doing in my day job analyzing insurance statistics and calculating indicated rate levels. That day job has moved me further and further north. Now I find myself living with my husband and two sons in the frozen tundra of Minnesota (don’tcha know), telling stories about the south to any audience that will listen.

Kay Kirscht

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.824.6836 or 612.624.3532 (cell)
Email: kaybird [at] toast.net
Website: http://kaybird01.livejournal.com/

Kay tells ghost stories – real ones. She also tells tales of Minnesota history, kindness. Kay is one of three cartoonists featured on the weekly Channel 16 MTN (Minneapolis Community Cable) program “Philo.”

Katie Knutson
Rippling Stories

PO Box 28275
Crystal, MN 55429
Phone: 763.535.7509
Email: stories2teach [at] gmail.com
Website: www.ripplingstories.com

“Enchanting and magical,” Katie Knutson is a professional storyteller and owner of Rippling Stories. Regularly performing for both adults and children, Katie works as a storyteller, actor, writer, and educator. She has presented numerous workshops for teachers, storytellers, and students. Notable performances include 9 shows in the Minnesota Fringe Festival and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She serves as the Minnesota Representative on the board of Northlands Storytelling Network and is serving her second term as the President of Northstar Storytelling League. Contact Katie for workshops, school residencies, performances, story coaching, and teacher in-services.

Noel Labine

Andover, MN
Phone: 651.303.9264
Email: noellabine [at] comcast.net

Telling stories from folklore traditions and personal experiences, Noel has developed a repertoire of stories that both entertain and teach. Drawing from Native American, Asian and European folklore, Noel provides a rich tapestry of material that sets up his personal experience stories in a surprising way. His stories about experiences in Southeast Asia have especially strong teachings about the “emotional trauma” of war.

Ruth Ladwig

Minneapolis, MN
Email: ruthl36 [at] juno.com

Ethnic stories from around the world.

Lisa Laird

Orange City, IA
Cell: 712-737-7760
Home: 712-737-2639
Email: lisa {at} pocketsfulloffun.com
Website: www.pocketsfulloffun.com

Lisa Laird is a former elementary and preschool teacher who now travels the Midwest with her cast of puppet friends known as Pockets Full of Fun. Her programs include puppetry, ventriloquism, stories, magic and music. Her goal is to provide children’s programs which entertain, encourage and educate.

Howard Lieberman

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612-382-5200
Email: hlieberman [at] lieberman-nelson.com

Howard Lieberman is a poet, storyteller, spoken word performance artist and traditional Irish ceili dancer. He promises he won’t sing on stage.

Allegra Lingo

Minneapolis, MN
Website: www.allegralingo.com

Allegra Lingo was first published at the age of 13, promptly forgot she could write until taking a writing class in college, and hasn’t stopped since. After finishing her BA in English at Kalamazoo College and a year at the Samuel Beckett Centre for Drama and Theatrical Studies (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), she made her way back to Minneapolis and found the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She has performed in eight of the last ten Minnesota Fringes, including five full-length solo shows—Hubcap Frisbee (2005), A Heap of Broken Images (2006), I Hate Kenny G (2007, Fringe Encore Winner Playwright’s Center), Tipping the Bucket (2008, Fringe Encore Winner Rarig Arena), and Crescendo (2009). She performs throughout the year with the Rockstar Storytellers and her work has been featured on MPR and various stages around Minnesota. She spent two years on the road as the sax player for Buckets and Tap Shoes, performing in 21 states and two shows in Helsinki, Finland. She is also the co-founder of the Rockstar Storytellers.

philip andrew bennett low
Maximum Verbosity

website: maximumverbosityonline.org
email: maximumverbosityonline ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com

Chinese-American playwright, poet, mime, theatre critic and libertarian activist, philip founded the theatre troupe Maximum Verbosity and co-founded the Rockstar Storytellers, an organization he chairs. philip created the hit storytelling show “Descendent of Dragons.”

Curt Lund

Minneapolis, MN
Email: curt [at] trueenough.com
Website: www.curtandlaura.com

Curt Lund’s literary work has been featured on stages, pages and airwaves including Tellabration! 2008, Minnesota Public Radio, McSweeney’s, CBC Radio, the Minneapolis Geek Slam, KFAI, GLBT Pride festivals in three states, and cabaret and open-mic performances across the Midwest and in glamorous faraway destinations from Vegas to Vermillion. Curt and performing partner Laura Bidgood are the nerds behind the critically acclaimed spoken word storytelling shows “Slow Jobs”; “Boys Don’t Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses”; and “Take a Left at the Giant Cow: A Beginner’s Guide to North Dakota”. Curt is also a founding member of Rockstar Storytellers.

Rhonda Lund

Minneapolis, MN

Rhonda Lund has been storytelling and mask-making for the past 30 years in the schools, libraries and parks of MN, with Minnesota State Arts Board, COMPAS, Young Audiences of MN, Arts for Academic Achievement and Theater Mu. She has chased stories and masks through India, China, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Cambodia, Singapore and Borneo. Specializing in Pourquoi and trickster tales from around the world, as well as Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythologies, Rhonda also tells Chinese stories in a duo program with Chinese musician Ying Zhang. Resident storyteller and theater director for the last 28 years at Theater Nest, a multi-disciplinary arts program for youth in south Minneapolis, Lund has performed in venues ranging from the American Embassy in Prague to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. This last summer she taught mask workshops in Switzerland, and the year before studied Monkey King staff techniques in Beijing.

Lennie Major

Mounds View, MN
Phone: 763.717.9168 or Cell: 612.384.4887
Email: major18 [at] comcast.net

I’ve been telling tales officially since 1988 – mostly jewish ones, and more particularly, Jewish tales of the Supernatural. †I tell original tales as well as officiate bibliodrama with groups. †I have done a lot of work with children and youth groups.

Mike Mann

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.724.4454 or 612.724.7074
Email: mike [at] storymann.com
Website: www.storymann.com

Mike began telling stories when his family put their TV away. Coauthor of Telling Stories and contributing author of The Art Of Storytelling; Training Consultant, National Institute on Media and the Family; Certified Trainer – Minnesota School Age Care Alliance. Keynote Speaker, Minnesota HeadStart Conference, Minnesota PTA Conference, member of Cygnus Storytelling.

John F. Martin

St. Louis Park, MN
Phone: 952.926.4522
Email: bigheadjohn1 [at] comcast.net

Carol McCormick

Plymouth, MN
Phone: 763-546-4133 and 715-533-4554
Website: www.carolmccormick.net
Email: mccobuch [at] comcast.net

Ears perk up, eyes widen, and imaginations spark when Carol McCormick tells stories. A professional teller since 1976, Carol is a performer, workshop leader, author, and conference keynoter. She has presented artist residencies and assembly programs at over 400 schools (preschool to university).

Rose McGee

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 763.544.9366
Email: rtist528 [at] aol.com

Storyteller, poet, playwright. Uses the art of connecting the human spirit in an a cappella rhythm called “Story + Song = Harmony.”

Margaret Meyers

Little Canada, MN
Email: margaretmeyers <at>  q.com
Phone: 651-484-4389
Cell: 620-276-9849
Website: www.storyteller.net/tellers/mmeyers

Minnesota became my home in 2010. After a career teaching college philosophy and many years writing, I found storytelling ten years ago. It gives me an opportunity to do what I want most to do: to explore, to educate, to challenge, to play. In the creative world of storytelling lie deep truths.

Nan Montgomery

Forest Lake, MN
Email: nanmo244 [at] msn.com

Nan loves stories based on history and geography and how both affect our life. She enjoys sharing great yarns, especially Celtic tales, ghost stories, and excerpts from the chronicles of French Voyageurs. Nan has performed at a number of fairs and festivals – the Irish Fair, the Minneapolis Mosaic Festival, Northeast Minneapolis’s Art-a-Whirl, Shakopee Rendezvous, and the Stone Arch Bridge Festival – as well as in theater settings such as Bryant Lake Bowl, the Jungle Theater and the Southern Theatre. Tales have also been spun at numerous and more intimate venues, including bookstores, coffee shops, and pubs, the ordering of which is strictly alphabetical. As a member of the Minneapolis-based Storm Fools, Nan has created and told stories based on art works in local gallery shows. In winter 2010 she appeared on KFAI radio as the voice of Christmas Present in an adaptation of Dicken’s classic tale, “A Northshore Christmas Karol,” adapted by Britt Aamodt and performed by “Deadbeats on the Air.”

Delynn Mulligan

St. Louis Park, MN

Paula Reed Nancarrow

Hopkins, MN
Phone: 612.217.1027
Email: prnancarrow [at] gmail.com
Website: http://ordinarytime.livejournal.com/

I tell stories of epiphanies in ordinary time, drawn from my own experience as well as the cultural memory, for adults and children. I find joy, creativity and support in the Twin Cities storytelling community.

Rachel Nelson

Two Harbors, MN
Phone: 651.353.3370 (cell)
Email: bardlive [at] usfamily.net
Website: http://www.bardlive.com/

Accompanying her stories on fiddle, banjo, guitar, hand drum, and washtub bass, Rachel Nelson has taken her brand of interactive live performance to venues as diverse as the Moose is Loose Story Tent in Ely, the Cedar Cultural Center on the West Bank of Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Rachel loves the exchange of energy between audience and teller. “Every performance is unique,” she says, “a thing we create together in the moment.”

Thea Nicholas

Des Moines, IA
Phone: (515) 778-2279
Email: entheastic-AT-aol.com
Website: www.grandmothernaturetales.com

Thea tells stories for all ages based on ancient myths, new science and everything in between. She researches, writes and performs many one-woman shows including: Susan B Anthony, Iowa’s Wonder Women and more. She uses nature-based tales for school age children believing that we all have an inner bias toward our natural surroundings.

Loren Niemi

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 651.271.6349
Email: niemistory [at] aol.com
Website: www.storytelling.org/Niemi and www.thepublicpolicyproject.com

Loren Niemi has spent forty years telling political and community stories as an organizer and consultant as well as thirty years creating, collecting, performing and teaching stories for audiences of all ages. Loren teaches storytelling at Metropolitan State University and is the author of “The Book of Plots” and the co-author with Elizabeth Ellis of “Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories.” The public policy work he does is a fundamental transformative kind of storytelling with a focus on assisting individuals, organizations and communities to recognize that they have stories to tell and to consciously shape and tell them to better their lives and culture.

Elizabeth Nordell

Duluth, MN
Phone: 218.724.3484
Email: abusweepea [at] aol.com

Elizabeth tells stories from around the world, including bilingual stories. She teaches storytelling too all ages in a variety of settings. She has organized such storytelling events as Tellabration!, Courageous Stories and Tender Tales, and the Food and Farming Story Tent. Elizabeth believes that story is the heart of humanness.

Jeanne K. O’Gorman

St Paul, MN
Email: jayohgee [at] msn.com

Inspirational stories on themes of recovery and survival.

Bill Ratner

Los Angeles, CA
Website: www.billratner.com

In addition to his long and successful career in voice-overs Bill is in love with stories. He is a 5-time Moth Story Slam Winner and a published short story writer, playwright, and essayist. He performs his stories in nightclubs and theaters across the country.

Ann Reay

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.309.7589
Email: annreay [at] mac.com

Began storytelling for families at the Minnesota Children’s Museum. Now specialize in stories that draw from world folklore – often involving a fairy or two. She is a member of Klatch Productions. Their first production, My War: From Bismarck to Britain and Back, a true family story of WW II, was part of the 2008 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Marcie Rendon

Minneapolis, MN
Email: MRendon703 [at] aol.com
Website: www.marcierendon.com

Marcie Rendon, White Earth Anishinabe, writer, playwright, poet, mother, grandmother and sometimes performance artist, creates so that Native people may see themselves and be seen. We are kept in their mindset as “vanished peoples.” Can you believe you exist if you look in a mirror and see no reflection? And what happens when one group controls the mirror market? As Native people, we have known that in order to survive we had to create, re-create, produce, re-produce… The effect of the denial of our existence is that many of us have become invisible… however, not everyone can still that desire, that up-welling inside that says sing, write, draw, move, be… we can sing our hearts out, tell our stories, paint our visions…we are in a position to create a more human reality…in order to live we have to make our own mirrors…

Tina Rohde
Wonderweavers

Eden Prairie, MN
Email: tina [at] wonderweavers.com
Website: www.wonderweavers.com

Whether telling solo or as part of a tandem team with Colleen Shaskin, Tina is dedicated to bring stories and storytelling to life for people of all ages. Wonderweavers specializes in quality entertainment for children and families. Member of Cygnus Storytelling.

Roseanna Gaye Ross

St. Cloud, MN
Phone: 320.252.3213 or 320-308-2217
Email: rgross [at] stcloudstate.edu

Professor of Communications Studies, storyteller, communication consultant and trainer. Specializing in personal stories, cultural stories, inspirational, healing stories, creative writing. Use stories in training about communication issues — conflict, listening, relationship building –- as well as training about story. Performed at Seward, Black Forest and Tellabration! 2010 at Open Book. Studied with Sarah Meybourn and Doug Lipman.

Richard Rousseau
Tales From Another Stage

St. Paul, MN
Phone: 651.646.0338 or 651.649.1757
Email: richard [at] tales-from-another-stage.com

Richard Rousseau has been an active participant in this regions performance community for the past 45 years. He has worked as an actor, a director, a playwright and as a storyteller.

Richard’s interest in storytelling was prompted by a desire to try engaging his audience without the aid of scripting or rehearsal. For the past twenty years he has been refining the craft in a wide variety of settings – formal and informal – across the country.

Richard has a great deal of experience in the classroom working as both a teacher and as a corporate trainer. He has extensive experience utilizing his storytelling techniques as a reenactor for the Minnesota Historical Society. Presently, Richard is a member of the Science Live Acting Company at the Science Museum of Minnesota. He is nationally recognized for his educational scripts performed by museums across the country.

Richard is one of the founders of Northstar Storytelling League. He was the recipient of the NSL Talking Stick Award in 2007.

Amy Salloway

Minneapolis, MN
Email: awkwardmoment [at]  mindspring.com
Website: www.amysalloway.com

Actor/writer/storyteller Amy Salloway has been called “utterly fearless and hysterically funny,” “gifted at finding humor where most would see only darkness” and “the voice for all of us who were picked last for kickball.” A lifelong fan of educational and issue-oriented theatre, she spent years playing flora, fauna and astronomical objects at science museums and elementary schools before taking the plunge and creating original plays around the issues she knows best ­ body image, loneliness, discrimination and bullying, the search for self-worth. Her autobiographical solo shows (“Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?”, “So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!”, “Circumference” and “Entwined”) all began their lives in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and have gone on to tour to Fringes, solo festivals, colleges, organizations and theatres in the US, Canada and beyond, including appearances at OpenStage Theatre of Harrisburg, Victoria BC’s UNO Festival, the Manhattan JCC, and the International Teatronetto Festival of Solo Performance in Jaffa, Israel. Amy’s been a guest playwright for Interact Center for the Arts, and a contributor to MPR’s “In the Loop” and CBC radio’s “Definitely Not The Opera”; she’s also one of the twelve Rockstar Storytellers, and a Minneapolis Community Ed instructor for improv, theatre and writing classes. She loves performing, but also loves creating workshops and residencies that empower others to put their own inimitable stories on the stage and the page.

David Schaal

Minneapolis, MN
Cell: 612.327.8927
Email: davidrobertschaal [at] hotmail.com

I am a lover of stories and a teller of tales for children and adults.

Pam Schweitzer

St. Paul, MN
Phone: 651.487.3376
Email: pls2009 [at] live.com

Pam enjoys teaching elementary aged children the art of storytelling and entertaining them with yarns from around the world. She hosts monthly “PJ Stories” at the Coffee Grounds in St. Paul.

Barbara Scotford

Minneapolis, MN
Email: bizscotford [at] hotmail.com

A late blooming beginner with lots of stories to tell.

Joseph Scrimshaw

Minneapolis, MN
joseph [at] jokingenvelope.com
http://josephscrimshaw.com

Joseph Scrimshaw is a critically acclaimed writer, comedian, and the Creative Director of Joking Envelope LLC. As a storyteller, Joseph has experimented with a mix of traditional stories, comedy,and audience interaction in his work as a member of The Rockstar Storytellers as well as appearances on The Current, MPR and KFAI. He has had multiple top ten best-selling shows at the Minnesota Fringe Festival including Adventures in Mating, An Inconvenient Squirrel, and this year’s Brain Fighters. Outside the festival, his work has been seen in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando, the UK, Bulgaria, Peru, the middle of the Caribbean Sea, and various bars across the entire expanse of South Minneapolis. He also makes jokes on twitter at @JosephScrimshaw and posts his stories on his site at http://josephscrimshaw.com.

Dean J. Seal

Minneapolis, MN
Email: seal13dean [at] gmail.com
Website: http://spiritinthehouse.org

Dean J. Seal is Artistic Director of Spirit in the House, a 501 (c)(3) company that produces performances that deal with Spiritual Diversity. Theater, storytelling, film and dance are all part of this effort. Mr. Seal sometimes tells at these events. He is a producer, performer, playwright, preacher and a generally known Big Mouth.

Nadine Sehnert

Minneapolis, MN
Website: www.nadinesehnert.com

Colleen Shaskin
Wonderweavers

Minnetonka, MN
Email: colleen [at] wonderweavers.com
Website: www.wonderweavers.com

I enjoy telling stories to all ages and any size group. I am a tandem teller with Tina Rohde and also do solo performances of folk and fairy tales and personal yarns. I specialize in stories for children and their families. Member of Cygnus Storytelling, www.storyswans.com.

Susan Smith-Grier

Woodville, WI
Phone: 651.235.3907
Email: storycoat < at > yahoo.com

For more than fifteen years Sue Smith-Grier has been captivating both children and adults with a vast array of stories pulled from fiction and fact. Best known for her moving and inspirational rendition of Harriet Tubman and stories from the Underground Rail Road, she also amuses audiences with stories from around the world, classic fairy and folk tales and fantasy from her own imagination! Ms. Smith-Grier designs school programs with state standards and best practices in mind for students. For adults she creates interactive workshops to train others in telling stories and coaches them in using stories in teaching. And for both adults and children she provides entertainment and fun for your heart and your mind.

Mike D. Tangerdal

Minneapolis, MN

Sara Boyle Trautner

Richfield, MN
Email: sbtrautner [at] yahoo.com

Sara tells traditional Celtic tales, fairy tales with a spin, and some boomer-centric trips down memory lane.

Gene Van Massenhove

Arden Hills, MN
Phone: 651.633.7075
Email: evanmasse [at] yahoo.com

Personal stories and tall tales.

Diego Vázquez, Jr.

St. Paul, MN
Email: fatbrush [at] comcast.net
Website: www.diegovazquezjr.com

Diego Vázquez founded the MN Poetry Slam and is the author of Growing Through the Ugly (WW. Norton), co-author of Twelve Branches: St. Paul Stories (Coffee House Press) and the editor of two COMPAS anthologies. His next novel, The Fat-Brush Painter, is forthcoming.

Jerry Wellik

Clearwater, MN
Phone: 320-558-6894; 320-308-4090
Email: jjwellik [at] stcloudstate.edu

Elaine Wynne
Key of See Storytellers

Golden Valley, MN
Phone: (763) 546-1662
Email: wynneE10 [at] gmail.com
Website: http://www.keyofsee.mn/

Storyteller/Psychologist/Activist since 1970′s. Storytelling consultation groups for: 1) Medical and Psychologial professionals; 2) Personal Growth. Conducted research with storytelling and healing at Mpls. Children’s Hospital. Conducts Women’s groups with dreams & storytelling. Travelled and taught storytelling around the world; Co-teaches S.T. for parents, grandparents and other activists, and leaders with Larry Johnson.

David Zander
“Story Safaris”

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.529.8964
Email: davidbzander [at] gmail.com

David grew up in London. He has traveled in 22 countries and taught in five. These experiences led him to study Anthropology and develop an interest in storytelling. He collects stories from around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He constructs story programs on a wide range of themes for different audiences. He is a resident storyteller at the St. Joan of Arc Summer Camps, with a different country each year (past years have included Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico. Ireland,& Russia). He co-founded and coordinates the Asian Storytellers Alliance and is a storyteller in the Lore and More tent at the annual Irish Festival, on Harriet island. His most recent storytelling was an evening on Irish Mythology and Nature for volunteers at the Tamarack Nature Center, White Bear Lake.

Nothando Zulu

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.629.5864
Email: nzulu [at] blackstorytellers.com
Website: www.blackstorytellers.com

Vusumusi Zulu

Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.629.5864
Email: vzulu [at] blackstorytellers.com
Website: www.blackstorytellers.com