Open Book
1011 Washington Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
in the Performance Hall
ASL interpreted

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The Children’s Concert will take you around the world and back again, with stories from as far away as Africa and as close as the Mall of America. Come listen, dance, laugh, sing, and allow your imagination to soar as five terrific storytellers and two talented concert hosts weave together “A World of Stories.” Although this concert is designed to be appropriate for school-aged children, all are welcome.

All you need to get in is a Tellabration! 2011 button, which are free to children under 12; a donation is requested for adults. Stick around after the concert for youth open mics!

Warning: attending this concert may captivate young minds, boost morals, activate imagination, encourage spontaneous reading, and inspire family storytelling traditions. Attend at your own risk.

Beverly Cottman, “Auntie Beverly,” tells stories, myths and folktales rooted in African and African-American traditions. She is a modern-day “griot” delivering wisdom of the ages in a voice of the present for the future. Her storytelling sessions pass on values, instill pride, evoke self love and celebrate culture.

Philosopher, storyteller, mother, grandmother, Margaret Meyers has traveled many roads. On the journey, Margaret found the truth about story: that it imparts deep wisdom in a way that captivates both adults and children. Honoring the many great storytellers who were her teachers and all storytellers around the world and through the years, she tells stories with love for the work and for the world.

Nothando Zulu is a Master storyteller who has been sharing stories with audiences for more than 30 years. She shares stories that entertain, educate, motivate and inspire. She has performed at many venues locally, nationally and internationally and draws from an extensive resource of colorful, often funny characters whose antics and follies leave audiences pondering their own life’s lessons. As Director of Black Storytellers Alliance, she and her husband, with the help of the Board of Directors, have produced a three-day storytelling festival called “Signifyin’ & Testifyin’” (now in its 17th year) celebrating the art of Black storytelling. Nothando is also a wife, mother, grandmother, community and political activist who believes in the power of stories.

Larry Johnson started telling stories at camps in the late ’60s, and since the early ’70s he has been an environmental educator/storyteller in many capacities. He was recently featured on WCCO for starting the Children’s Hospital TV Channel, based on a storytelling model, in 1978. Larry and his wife, Elaine Wynne, won the 1986 Tokyo Video Fest Grand Prize for helping children trade stories internationally, and in 1995 they brought World Storytelling Day from Scandinavia to the U.S. Larry does Sing Along with your Compost Pile every year at the Minnesota State Fair, and he once opened for Captain Kangaroo at a Kennedy Center Children’s TV Conference, but mostly he just likes telling stories to children, especially his 13 grandkids.

Carol McCormick sparks imaginations for audiences of all ages. A professional storyteller for more than 30 years at child care centers, ECFE programs, schools (elementary through university), museums, zoos, libraries, shopping centers, fairs, corporations and conferences, she’s an experienced Artist in Residence and Workshop Leader for storytelling and story writing. Carol creates programs and costumed characters to fit client themes. Popular programs are “I Love to Read!,” “Make Every Day Earth Day!,” “Be a Peacemaker,” “One World, Many Stories,” “Herstory,” “Ancient Egypt,” and “Prevent Bullying!” and characters “The Snow Queen,” “Ever Green,” “Shamrock O’Toole,” “Ms. Val N Tine” and “Wanda the Witch.” Carol is also the author of A Bridge for Grandma, a picture book to help children overcome a fear of death.

Katie Knutson (co-host) is a professional storyteller, actor, director, playwright, improviser, coach and teaching artist who has spent more years of her life as a storyteller than not. She spends her days working in schools using theater and storytelling to teach everything from literacy and playwriting to the inner workings of a theater company. She has been called an ‘enchanting and magical’ performer, and an ‘articulate, fun and inviting’ workshop leader. She has been supporting the storytelling community by serving on the boards of both the local Northstar Storytelling League (7 years, including 4 years as President) and the regional Northlands Storytelling Network (6 years). Learn more about Katie and her programs at www.ripplingstories.com. Photo by Chris Hibbs.

Pam Schweitzer (co-host) has been entertaining audiences with stories for more than a decade. An avid gardener, she blames the short growing season and long winters for turning her toward story. In both gardening and storytelling she enjoys the act of planting seeds and watching what blooms. She feels it is the surprises which make both endeavors worthwhile. Pam is a Tellabration! planning committee member and a former Northstar board member. She produces P.J. Stories, a monthly children’s storytelling concert at Coffee Grounds Coffee Shop in St. Paul, and also organizes the Northstar Children’s Storytelling Guild.

Return to Tellabration! 2011 home

Northstar Storytelling League is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of a Minnesota Festivals Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.