Connie Regan-Blake

Last updated

Connie Regan-Blake (born January 20, 1947) is an American storyteller, author, and workshop facilitator. Regan-Blake is well-known for her role as part of The Folktellers storytelling duo. She was a founding member of the National Storytelling Network or NSN (formerly the National Association for the Preservation and the Perpetuation of Storytelling or NAPPS). Regan-Blake served as the Artistic Director from 1975 until 1983. She was awarded the Circle of Excellence in 1996 by the National Storytelling Network after being recognized by her peers as a master storyteller. [1] She has appeared onstage as a featured performer or emcee at every National Storytelling Festival since its inception in 1973.

Contents

Biography

Regan-Blake first began her work as a storyteller in the early 1970s. She was hired by the Chattanooga Public Library to fill a grant-funded position (as part of the Library Services and Construction Act). With this new position, the library was able to launch the early childhood literacy program, M.O.R.E. (Making Our Reading Enjoyable).

In 1973, Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman attended the first National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. There they met, Ray and Rosa Hicks of Beech Mountain, who became lasting friends and mentors to Regan-Blake. Two years later, Regan-Blake and her cousin, Barbara Freeman left their positions with the Chattanooga Public Library and began touring as The Folktellers storytelling duo.

As The Folktellers, Regan-Blake and Freeman pioneered 'tandem telling,' [2] a type of duet storytelling performance. The duo also created the record label Mama T Artists. Over the next two decades, The Folktellers toured across the country, performing at folk music festivals including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival [3] [4] in Washington D.C..

In 1985, The Folktellers moved to Asheville, NC and began working on a play titled, Mountain Sweet Talk. This two-act, fully staged play starred Regan-Blake and Freeman, incorporating original material and stories of The Folktellers. The show ran for seven seasons (1986-1992) with over 300 performances at the Folk Art Center.

Connie Regan-Blake set out as a solo performer in 1995. She collaborated with The Kandinsky Trio, a chamber music group (consisting of Elizabeth Bachelder on piano, Benedict Goodfriend on violin, and Alan Weinstein on cello) based out of Roanoke College, VA. Regan-Blake and The Kandinsky Trio performed Tales of Appalachia, a piece composed by Mike Reid [5] which combined the arts of storytelling and chamber music.

Connie Regan-Blake performed in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the International Storytelling Center on June 25, 2010.

One of Connie Regan-Blake's original stories is "Hope is Back on Me: A Storyteller's Journey in Uganda." It narrates her experience with Bead for Life, a non-profit group helping Ugandan women out of poverty. [6] Regan-Blake has been a long-time community partner with this organization and made a trip to Uganda in 2007. [7]

Today, Regan-Blake continues her work as a storyteller as well as providing workshops and coaching under the company name, StoryWindow Productions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Storytelling</span> Social and cultural sharing of stories

Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view. The term "storytelling" can refer specifically to oral storytelling but also broadly to techniques used in other media to unfold or disclose the narrative of a story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn Tucker Windham</span> American journalist, author and photographer (1918–2011)

Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, folklorist, and journalist. She was born in Selma, Alabama, and grew up in nearby Thomasville.

The Southern Ohio Storytelling Festival is an annual storytelling festival held Thursday through Saturday after Labor Day in Chillicothe, Ohio. Local, regional and nationally known storytellers are invited to perform their favorite stories for thousands of school children and storytelling enthusiasts. A board of community volunteers and local/regional storytellers makes up the 503(c) non-profit organization that is responsible for organizing and overseeing the festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Offutt Irwin</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1957)

Andy Offutt Irwin is an American storyteller, singer-songwriter, and humorist. Born and raised in Covington, Georgia, a small town outside of Atlanta, Irwin began his career in 1984 with an improvisational comedy troupe at Walt Disney World. After five years he shifted to performing as a singer-songwriter, touring the Southeast. In the mid-1990s, Irwin branched into performances for children.

Elizabeth Ellis is an American storyteller and author known for her live performances of traditional tales, literature, Texas and Appalachian history and folklore, and personal memoir. She was awarded the Circle of Excellence in 1997 by the National Storytelling Network after being recognized by her peers as a master storyteller. She is a regular performer at the National Storytelling Festival. She was selected as a "Listener's Choice" at the 30th Anniversary National Storytelling Festival and a Storyteller-In-Residence at the International Storytelling Center. She was the first recipient of the John Henry Faulk Award from the Tejas Storytelling Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Kay Adams</span> American storyteller, author, musician

Sheila Kay Adams is an American storyteller, author, and musician from the Sodom Laurel community in Madison County, North Carolina.

The National Storytelling Festival is held the first full weekend of October in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the International Storytelling Center. The National Storytelling Festival was founded by Jimmy Neil Smith, a high school journalism teacher, in 1973. It has grown over the years to become a major festival both in the United States and internationally.

Jay O'Callahan is an American storyteller known for his performances at national and international storytelling festivals and in theaters worldwide. He performs from materials which he himself authors and is known for his large-scale oral stories that explore the rich details and nuances of different cultures and time periods through the perceptions of a central narrative character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyn Ford</span> American storyteller

Lynette (Lyn) Ford, an American storyteller, teaching artist, author and creative narrative workshop presenter was the first storyteller in the state of Ohio to be nominated for a Governor's Award for the Arts. She is a regular performer at regional and national storytelling festivals and conferences, including the National Storytelling Festival, Hawaii's Talk Story Festival and the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. Lyn has also shared keynote presentations, performances and workshops in Australia and Ireland, and for the Transformative Language Arts Network's and Ohio Literacy Resource Center's annual conferences and events.

The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival takes place the weekend after Labor Day at the end of each summer in Lehi, Utah. The festival draws a combined attendance of about 26,000 people each year, making it one of the largest storytelling festival in the United States. The festival typically lasts two days and invites professional storytellers from throughout the United States. In addition to daytime performances on Friday and Saturday, there are typically themed public performances in the evenings, such as Look Who's Talking, Bedtime Stories, My Favorite Stories, and Laughing' Night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ratner</span> American actor

William Gerald Ratner is an American voice actor, author and solo performance artist. He is best known as the voice of Flint in Hasbro's syndicated TV cartoon G.I. Joe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oral storytelling</span> Tradition between the storyteller and their audience

Oral storytelling is an ancient and intimate tradition between the storyteller and their audience. The storyteller and the listeners are physically close, often seated together in a circular fashion. The intimacy and connection are deepened by the flexibility of oral storytelling which allows the tale to be molded according to the needs of the audience and the location or environment of the telling. Listeners also experience the urgency of a creative process taking place in their presence and they experience the empowerment of being a part of that creative process. Storytelling creates a personal bond with the teller and the audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparky and Rhonda Rucker</span> Musical duo

Sparky (James) and Rhonda Rucker are a performing duo. They travel to various places to sing folk and traditional music. They have been nominated for musical awards. Combined, they have released 16 albums. Ten of these albums were together. Their album, Treasures and Tears, was in the running for an award. Their music style is vast, including blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, storytelling, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Hicks</span> American storyteller

Lenard Ray Hicks was an Appalachian storyteller who lived his entire life on Beech Mountain, North Carolina. He was particularly known for the telling of Jack Tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Black</span> American professional storyteller

Judith Black is an American professional storyteller, who has toured internationally, telling stories to a wide ranging audience in the United States, Europe, and the Near East. She has produced thirteen CDs, and won a variety of awards, such as the coveted Oracle Award. Her work has been featured in venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Montreal Comedy Festival, and has been featured seven times at the National Storytelling Festival. In addition she has produced a variety of seminars and workshops for storytellers. She has been commissioned by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Public Radio, religious institutions, and non-profit organisations to create original stories that strengthen their respective missions.

Margaret Read MacDonald is an American storyteller, folklorist, and award-winning children's book author. She has published more than 65 books, of stories and about storytelling, which have been translated into many languages. She has performed internationally as a storyteller, is considered a "master storyteller", and has been dubbed a "grand dame of storytelling". She focuses on creating "tellable" folktale renditions, which enable readers to share folktales with children easily. MacDonald has been a member of the board of the National Storytelling Network and president of the Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society.

Yvonne Healy is a professional Irish storyteller who regularly performs at Midwest, national, and international Irish festivals, story slams, conferences, and other spoken word events. As a child, she and her family moved to the United States from Ireland. Many of her stories come from both her experience as an Irish immigrant and from her family background, including stories of her grandfather, Christy Robinson. Along with true stories, Healy's repertoire includes revived Irish myths, folktales, and legends. She has also published several articles in industry magazines such as Storytelling Magazine and the Michigan Humanities Council's newsletter, as well as written versions of her stories in short-story collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasant DeSpain</span> American storyteller and author (born 1943)

Pleasant DeSpain is an international storyteller, world traveler, and author of multicultural story collections and picture books, many of which are used in elementary schools and libraries as multicultural teaching aids. He has performed in more than 3,000 schools, theaters, conventions, libraries, and churches in America, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Central America.

Linda Goss, sometimes known professionally as Mama Linda, is an American storyteller and performer in the African diasporic oral tradition. She is a co-founder of the National Association of Black Storytellers, which works to preserve folk traditions.

Jan Blake is a British storyteller, consultant and coach specialising in myths and folk tales from the Caribbean, West Africa, North Africa and beyond. She has been performing to children, adolescents and adults since 1986 and has an international reputation for dynamic storytelling.

References

  1. ↑ "Circle of Excellence Award Recipients". National Storytelling Network. Archived from the original on 15 September 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Wright, Jonatha Hammer (2010). Team Up! Tell in Tandem!. PRESTO & US. ISBN   978-0967223490.
  3. ↑ Burch, Milbre (2014). In her own words : Connie Regan-Blake, the foremother of the festival-based American storytelling revival (Thesis). University of Missouri--Columbia. doi:10.32469/10355/44155. hdl: 10355/44155 .
  4. ↑ Burch, Milbre (2014). In her own words: Connie Regan-Blake, the foremother of the festival-based American storytelling revival. mospace (Thesis). doi:10.32469/10355/44155. hdl: 10355/44155 .
  5. ↑ "Kandinsky Trio to Give Masterclass and Present Recital with Connie Regan-Blake | FSUNow | Fairmont State University". www.fairmontstate.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Jill (2011-01-01). "The Journey Within: Connie Regan-Blake's "Hope Is Back on Me"". Storytelling, Self, Society. 7 (1): 72–76. JSTOR   41949146.
  7. ↑ "Brush the Dirt from My Heart". The Spark. 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.