FOOL Festival Schedule

The FOOL Festival runs from Thursday, October 27 to Sunday, October 30, 2011.
For artist bios, please see the Artist page

Pre-Festival Events: FOOL at the Free Times

Venue: Free Times Cafe, 320 College St, 2 west of Spadina
Wheelchair accessible
Dinner reservations: 416.967.1078 (necessary to guarantee a seat)
Cover: $10. Guaranteed seating only with dinner reservations. To reserve please call Free Times Café: 416.967.1078. Limited seating – please call early!

Thursday, October 6

TBA Book of Desire MothUP Toronto's Daniel Goldbloom presents an evening of true stories from some of MothUP Toronto's favourite storytellers. For better or for worse, the theme of the evening's personal tales is "desire." The stories are short and the theme is loose (as might be some of the tellers). Whatever happens, the night promises to offer a taste of Toronto's blossoming true-story-telling scene, along with delectables from the Free Times Cafe.

Thursday, October 13

8:00 pm What Do All Women Want? This evening features Ann McDougall, Sarah Granskou, Michael Wex, Anna Kerz. Stories about Norwegian midwives and fiddlers, wonderworking rabbis and a very scary noodle pudding, Catholic girls and the Victory Burlesque, and women scientists.

Thursday, October 20

TBA Hosted by Dan Yashinsky and Brian Katz. A mix of personal stories and rewondered fairytales, featuring award-winning writer, storyteller, and budding calypsonian Itah Sadu, playwright/comic/actor Diana Flacks, and Dan and Brian’s ongoing musical/narrative collaboration.

FOOL at Mercer Union

Venue: Mercer Union Gallery, 1286 Bloor Street West, 1 east of Lansdowne
Wheelchair accessible
Pay What You Can (suggested donation $10) – to reserve: dan_yashinsky@hotmail.com

Thursday, October 27

4 - 6 pm Mythtelling
Hosted by Lynda Howes
Metis storyteller and oral historian Ron Evans: The Human Being Who Married a Thunder Being. Dancer: Meagan O’Shea.
8 - 10 pm First Campfire
Hosted by Dan Yashinsky and Brian Katz
Featuring:
Luigi Rignanese (France) telling canta storia
Peggy Baker dancing/telling a true story
Ouanani (Sadio Sissokho, griot and kora player from Senegal, and Jean Arsenault, Québec) telling How Sadio Saved My Life in Senegal, part 1
Ron Evans telling a Métis folktale

Friday, October 28

4 - 6 pm Mythtelling
Hosted by Lynda Howes
Omushkigo storyteller and oral historian Pennishish (Louis Bird): The Wailing Clouds, a tragic epic from Omushkigo history. Dancer: Ann-Marie Bastien.
8 - 10 pm Second Campfire
Hosted by Dan Yashinsky and Brian Katz
Featuring:
Erika Batdorf performing “kid”
Ouanani (Sadio Sissokho, Jean Arsenault) telling How Sadio Saved My Life in Senegal, part 2
Pasi Gunguwo and Raino Mutamba (Zimbabwean musicians and storytellers)
Eddy Da Original One doing beatbox and poetry

Saturday, October 29

4 - 6 pm Mythtelling
Hosted by Lynda Howes
Ron Evans and Pennishish (Louis Bird) telling myths from Chippewa Cree, Metis, and Omushkigo traditions. Dancer/teller: Ann-Marie Bastien. Musician: Jaron Freeman-Fox.
8 - 10 pm Third Campfire
Hosted by Dan Yashinsky and Brian Katz
Featuring:
Peggy Baker dancing/telling The Disappearance of Right and Left
Pat Braden (storyteller/musician from Yellowknife)
Luigi Rignanese (France)

Sunday, October 30

4 - 6 pm Mythtelling
Hosted by Lynda Howes
Ron Evans (Metis storyteller/oral historian) and Pennishish (Louis Bird – Omushkigo storyteller/oral historian) exchanging myth. Dancer: Spirit Synott.
8 - 10 pm Third Campfire
Hosted by Dan Yashinsky
Featuring:
Erika Batdorf performing “kid”
Luigi Rignanese (storyteller/musician from France)
Mariella Bertelli telling stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron
Louis Bird telling Omushkigo legends

FOOL at Alliance Française

Venue: Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Road, 1 north of Bloor St.
For information: 416-922-2014
Admission: 10$, 5$ étudiants, Gratuit pour les moins de 12 ans, les membres et les étudiants de l’AFT.

Friday, October 28

7:30 – 8:30 pm Tutto Santi, Tutto Pagani
by Luigi Rignanese
Alliance Française and FOOL – festival of oral literatures present Luigi Rignanese: Tutto Santi, Tutto Pagani (en français)

FOOL at the Barns

Venue: Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St., 2 south of St. Clair West – on the outdoor stage at the farmers’ market
For information: 416-922-2014

Saturday, October 29

10 am – noon FOOL at the Barns
Hosted by Dan Yashinsky
Featuring:
Celia Lottridge (author/storyteller)
Rainos Mutamba and Pasi Gunguwo (Zimbabwean musicians/tellers)
Joan Bailey (storyteller)
Pat Braden (Metis storyteller/musician from Yellowknife)
Ouanani (Jean Arsenault, Sadio Sissokho)

Workshop: The Music of the Story

co-presented by Storytelling Toronto and The Tellery
Dates: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 7 – 9 pm; Wednesday, Oct. 26, 7 – 9 pm; Saturday, Oct. 29, 12 – 3 pm.

Tuesday, Oct. 25
7 – 9 pm

Wednesday, Oct. 26
7 – 9 pm

Saturday, Oct. 29
12 – 3 pm

Workshop:
The Music of the Story
Hosted by Luigi Rignanese
Wheelchair accessible
Fee: $125
To register, contact: dan_yashinsky@hotmail.com
This workshop is aimed at experienced storytellers and musicians working with narrative. The goal is to explore the musicality of oral stories, both in terms of performance and as a way to dig deeper into the meaning of traditional and composed narrative. It is presented by Storytelling Toronto and The Tellery, and with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Visiting Foreign Artists program.