Artists
Lillian Allen moved from Spanish Town, Jamaica, to North America in 1969. Lillian is known internationally as a pioneer of dub-poetry. She is a Juno-award winning poet and performer, with numerous books, articles, and recordings. She is a co-founder of the Dub Poetry Collective, and a teacher at Ontario College of Art and Design.
Joan Bailey is an educator and storyteller who has performed and given workshops all over the world. She combines stories with songs and audience participation so that children and adults alike find themselves laughing and singing along. She loves to tell traditional world folktales and to spin her own stories of her English childhood.
Chris Cavanagh, progeny of Scotland and Acadia, is a popular educator, storyteller, writer and artist. Co-founder of the Catalyst Centre popular education worker co-op, he collaborates in designing curricula, facilitating trainings in popular education, popular arts production, anti-racism, participatory democracy and community organizing.
Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Sicily and grew up in the industrial north end of Hamilton, Ontario. He has created and toured several one-man shows to festivals, theatres, and union halls across Canada. For FOOL – festival of oral literatures, he has adapted two stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron and re-set them in Hamilton.
Ivan Coyote, born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, is the author of six books, a novel (Bow Grip), and two CDs. Ivan has toured one-person storytelling/spoken word performances to festivals throughout Canada, and has collaborated with some of Canada’s top singers and musicians. Spare time loves: playing road hockey, fishing, gardening, knitting, and doing leatherwork, campfires, good books and home cooking. “I believe in miracles and hard work.” (Ivan Coyote’s visit to FOOL is supported in part by the Festival intercultural du conte du québec)
Jaron Freeman-Fox is an experimental Fiddler/Composer from the wilds of British Columbia. Known for his versatility, and unique sound, Jaron brings together many styles of music from around the world. Starting out as an apprentice to the late Oliver Schroer, Jaron's music horizon continued to grow, from studying Jazz at university to studying Classical Indian music in south India. Having collaborated and performed with a wide variety of artists, from T.V. Goplalakrishnan and Autorickshaw, to Tanya Tagaq, to the Paperboys, Jaron now lives in Toronto, Ontario and awaiting the release of his debut album.
Sarah Gale's recent Theatre includes: After the Crash, Ruckus Ensemble/Toronto Rehab – (Toronto Fringe and Ontario tour) Frankenstein with Catalyst Theatre at Theatre Calgary/One Yellow Rabbit/Persephone/Yukon Arts Centre. (Upcoming Canstage May 2010) Romeo + Juliet Driftwood Theatre. Butterfly; Summerworks. Klank; Hatch Festival/Harbourfront Theatre) Previous Credits - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Canterville Ghost; TNT Britain. Dr Who, Loups-Garoux (BBC) Anita Shreve’s Where or When (Orion Audio) Crackpot; Finborough Theatre. Dial M for Murder, The Winslow Boy, Absent Friends; Frinton Rep. Training: BFA University of Alberta, London Contemporary Dance School.(UK)
Lynda Howes has been an active member of Toronto’s storytelling community since 1979. In 2003 she produced The 24 Books of Homer’s Odyssey with 24 storytellers in six performances. Presently, she is Co-resident Teacher at Storytelling Toronto. She sings with the group, The Ballad Project, and teaches in the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program which has storytelling at its core.
Brian Katz is an internationally acclaimed guitarist, composer, recording artist, pianist, improviser and music educator currently teaching at York University and the University of Toronto. He draws on jazz, classical, klezmer and various world music traditions to form his personal sound. He is currently working on a new CD, Leaves Will Speak.
Celia Lottridge is one of Canada’s best-loved storytellers and authors. She is a co-founder of Storytelling Toronto, and co-founder and former director of the internationally-renowned Parent-Child Mother Goose Program. Her prize-winning books include The Name of the Tree, Ten Small Tales, The Little Rooster and the Diamond Button, Wings to Fly, Music for the Tsar of the Sea, and Ticket to Curlew.
Regina Machado: When I was a child, a friend of my mother once asked her to give me some candies so that I would stop talking. Since then, I have tried to transform this traumatic experience in something useful for people. I think stories are a treasure to be discovered, so I’ve been working the best I can to tell stories in such a way that the listeners may experience their wonder and learn from them. The passion for tales guides my intention, my research, and my storytelling. I also have groups of storytellers and musicians who work with me in the production of Brazilian cultural performances. I am the director of the Boca do Ceu storytelling festival.
Tim Machin - Performer/Writer Tim is in the cast of Catalyst Theatre’s award winning show Frankenstein which has played all over Western Canada and is part of CanStage’s 2009/10 Season. He has written and performed his own one man show I Ain’t Dead Yet based on the life and times of Woody Guthrie which was last seen at the Uno Festival of one person shows in Victoria BC earlier this year. Last fall he was in Brandon working on the new play, Soldier Up!, based on interviews with Canadian Soldiers returning from Afghanistan, for which he also wrote some songs. He co-created and performed You Mean Now for The Question Company, which was a hit at the 2008 Toronto Fringe. Tim lived and worked in the UK for 15 years. Highlights include The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged) for the Reduced Shakespeare Company (UK tour), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Murder Of Sherlock Holmes (European tours), Around The World In Eighty Days, weekly rep including Taking Steps and Why Not Stay For Breakfast. In the UK he is the reader for Orion Audiobooks Harlan Coben thrillers including One False Move, which was an SWPA gold medal winner in 2004. He also plays guitar and writes songs runs music sessions for kids in his local area in Toronto.
Celia McBride has been telling stories for over a decade as an award-winning writer/performer in theatre and film. Her work has reached audiences all across Canada as well as in Europe and the United States. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Sour Brides Theatre (www.sourbrides.com), a company based in her hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, and an Inspiring Coach (www.celiamcbride.com). Celia is a member of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Ann McDougall is a storyteller, writer and theatre artist. In her work she likes to explore the intersection of aural and visual storytelling through puppetry, visual art, and electronic media. Ann’s work as a storyteller has been featured in the Toronto Festival of Storytelling, the RED Festival and on CBC Radio. She is one-third of children’s theatre company Tinderbox Theatre and an Artist Educator with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through the Arts program. Ann recently completed her first novel. Find out more about Ann and her work at www.annmcdougall.ca.
Dov Mickelson is a Toronto-based performer in theatre, film, and television. With Catalyst Theatre he has toured their award-winning productions of The House of Pootsie Plunket and Frankenstein across Canada and the UK. Frankenstein will have its Toronto Premiere this May 2010 at Canadian Stage. Recent theatre performances include The Gladstone Variations, The Right Road to Pontypool, Dying to Be Sick and the acclaimed short film, Found Objects. Dov has written and performed his own work previously at the Rhubarb Festival, the Red Cabaret, and the Red Festival.
Ginette Mohr is thrilled to be part of such an exciting festival. She has been writing and performing professionally for over ten years. Her newest piece, Fish Face, garnered critical acclaim and won the Cultch Theatre Award at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. This winter Ginette will continue to develop Fish Face, while co-creating The Belle of Winnipeg (Keystone Theatre) and The Children's Museum (The Quickening).
Mutamba and Pasi grew up in Zimbabwe surrounded by mountains, healers, dance, drums, stories and song. Both aspiring story-tellers who draw from the Karanga, Zezuru and Ndau multidisciplinary storytelling traditions and the environment which they grew up in. They tell tales of all the animals, trees, winds, waters and the earth that they grew up seeing and learning from. Most of their music and stories have been passed on from many many generations before through oral means. The stories from the Karanga, Zezuru and Ndau people defy time, age and cultural categorizations. They are intended to entertain while simultaneously educating about issues that nature in its entirety faces. Stories are told through mbira music, dance, body movements, song, poetry, words, sounds and a combination of all. Mutamba and Pasi could be seen story-telling on the streets, community gatherings, parks, farmers markets around the city of Toronto and surrounding areas.
Rick Oginz is a sculptor, print-maker, jewelery designer, and painter. In 2006 after 30 years in Los Angeles, he relocated to Toronto. His studio is in an industrial loft in the heart of the downtown core of the city.
Kayla Owen is a grade 10 student at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute. Introduced to doing storytelling in grade 8, her school gave her the opportunity to present at that year's Toronto Storyjam. She looks forward to the future of storytelling.
Panchatantra Collective is Andy Moro, Gabi Caruso, Anand Rajaram, and Sharada K. Eswar. They have brought together their theatrical, puppetry, and storytelling skills to explore stories from the Panchatantra. With thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts.
Evalyn Parry is an award-winning songwriter, spoken word artist and theatre creator, arts educator, and outspoken social commentator. Funny, provocative, challenging and accessible, evalyn has toured music, storytelling and theatre festivals both sides of the border, taking her unique perspective on the world and transforming it into art that spans genres, genders and generations. She has released three critically acclaimed albums (most recently, Small Theatres on Borealis Records). Her new show, Spin (about bicycles, women, and advertising) has it’s first public workshop at the Hysteria Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre on October 25th. www.evalynparry.com
Lisa Pijuan-Nomura is multidisciplinary artist who believes that no matter what media she works with, she is a storyteller. Upcoming events include storytelling as part of Toronto Stories at Theatre Passe Muraille in December. She is also pleased to have her story collages on display in her first solo art show, Sleeping Cats and Other Stories. You can see these at the wonderful Wise Daughters Craft Gallery in the Junction. Lisa is pleased to help others in their creative endeavours as a creativity coach. And of course, she is tickled pink to be co curating the first ever FOOL with Dan. For more info about Lisa and her many happenings, please see www.girlcancreate.com
Corin Raymond is a young man writing old songs — not songs written deliberately in an old style, but songs that sound like they've been around a lot longer than Corin himself.
He didn't grow up playing music or writing songs, but he grew up around words.
He lived in Cochenour- pop. 418- the furthest northwest point on the Ontario roadmap- until the age of ten. He lives in Toronto now. Though most of the songs on his first full-length cd Record Lonesome Night were written while living on the shore of Lake Wabigoon.
He started writing songs with guitarist Sean Cotton as part of the still-active acoustic duo The Undesirables.
Corin's songs are stories. They're also bittersweet tunes sung with unadulterated joy. Equal parts heartache and hope. Tom Waits does that. John Prine does that. They don't take themselves too seriously but they break your heart. The low in loneliness and the high in hi-dee-ho, all at once.
Corin's songs want to be sung. Whenever people hear them they leave singing.
You'll be singing them soon too.
Karen Richardson is a Toronto-based writer who has performed original spoken word poetry since 1995. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from McGill Univerisity and a degree in journalism from the University of King’s College. In 2004, Karen co-edited T-Dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers with Steven Green. The book contains poetry, articles and stories by more than forty African-Canadian artists. Her experience in writing and performing led to freelance opportunities in journalism and public relations. Karen has worked as a reporter for newspapers and magazines in both Canada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Lucy Rupert has been carving her own path in the dance field since 1996, but the penchant for quietly doing things her own way was apparent even when she was a teenager as she interpreted George Orwell’s 1984 through dance for English class and arrived at Music class wearing a red tutu in order to discuss the details of Stravinsky’s Firebird score. As a performer and creator, Lucy is noted for her great passion, her unique physical dexterity and her intelligence. Her quiet rebelliousness now takes the form of a relentless search for artistry and drive for communion with audiences.
In 2003 Blue Ceiling dance emerged from Lucy’s imagination with the support and artistry of Jennifer Bolt, Caroline Niklas-Gordon, Jeremy Brace, Brian McDonald and Dennes Pehadzic, through a dance-theatre staging of Henry Miller’s groundbreaking 1934 novel Tropic of Cancer. Since then she has produced eight shows, commissioned solo work, and created a repertoire of a dozen contemporary dance works which have been performed in Germany, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, in a basement bar and on a mountain top in Austria.
Lucy is a multi-faceted performer whose interpretive skills have drawn her into a variety of disciplines. Lucy has been working with Theatre Rusticle in 7 productions since 2001, most recently in the company’s 5-Dora-nominated production of April 14, 1912 in which she played the ship Titanic. Other theatre and multidisciplinary projects include work with Volcano Theatre, Fides Krucker/Bad Hair Day Productions, The Paradise Project (co-directed by Lisa Pijuan-Nomura and Erin Shields), Puppetmongers Theatre, and on fire, literally, with Circus Orange. Lucy is a member of Dance Ontario and serves on the Board of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, Ontario Chapter.
Naomi Steinberg believes strongly in the power of stories to catalyze and support change both personally and globally. She has told stories in places as varied as Jerusalem, Ramallah, Zurich, and Mendocino, California. In her home town of Vancouver, Canada she has produced shows independently as well as with the In the House Festival, Fringe Festival, and Sistahood Celebration, among others. Naomi has also developed storytelling workshops for schools in Vancouver, Morocco, Switzerland and India and for the Cortona Conference in Italy. In her current position as chair of the Vancouver Society of Storytelling, Naomi intends to foster an appreciation of the art in all of its aspects and applications for audiences of allsorts! (www.naomi-eliana.ca)
Tongues Wagging Productions ~ Storytelling is two storytellers: Carol Leigh Wehking and Glenna Janzen – working together. Their performances include individual voice stories and stories told in tandem. Their tandem telling takes two voices and weaves them together into a unique and vibrant performance. Carol Leigh and Glenna have performed on three continents and are delighted to be at the first FOOL Festival.
My name is Darwin O. Valeny. I was born on February 17th, 1994 (you do the math and I'm 15), and I am a grade 10 student at Dr. Norman Bethune C.I. My hobbies are sports, music (METAL!) and video games. Nothing really special about me (unless you consider getting facial hair by the end of 6th grade special), just a regular teenage dude... who apparently has a knack for storytelling... who would've thought?
Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller and the author of Suddenly They Heard Footsteps – Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century. He founded the Toronto Festival of Storytelling, and is delighted to be co-directing, with Lisa Pijuan-Nomura, the first FOOL – festival of oral literatures. He has performed and taught at festivals around the world. In l999 he received the Jane Jacobs Prize for his work with storytelling in the community. He is currently doing research on listening with the support of a Chalmers Arts Fellowship (Ontario Arts Council).
d’bi.young is a jamaican-canadian dub poet. actor. and playwright who believes in life. love. and revolushun. her first play, yagayah (co-authored with naila belvett) was published in volume ll of testifyin’: contemporary african canadian drama, edited by djanet sears in ‘03. her premiere book of poetry art on black was published by women’s press in ‘06. blood.claat, her critically acclaimed one womban show (nominated for five and awarded two canadian theatre dora awards for outstanding new play and outstanding female performance ’06) was recently published in english and spanish by playwrights’ canada press.
as a dub poet and actor, d’bi.young has performed extensively throughout canada, the caribbean, latin america and europe. she has produced four dub poetry albums and is currently working on her fifth, entitled ky-ky. she has been featured in numerous productions including the play da kink in my hair and canada’s first afro-canadian sitcom lawd have mercy. d’bi.young has appeared on hbo’s def poetry jam, cuba’s cuerda viva, bravo television’s playwright’s and screenwriters, and showcase television’s literature alive series.
her other writings have appeared in fireweed feminist quarterly, canadian contemporary verse, and the african canadian theatre review. she is currently completing her second manuscript of poetry entitled rivers…and other blackness…between us. recently she was appointed a two-year residency at the soulpepper theatre academy and shortlisted for the inaugural toronto arts council emerging artist award. she is currently preparing for a london, england premiere of da kink in my hair at the hackney empire theatre. d’bi.young resides in toronto, canada with her sun: moon. www.dbiyoung.net | www.bloodclaat.net