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Who’s The
Storyteller Here Anyway?
There’s
talk going ‘round again – well, there’s always talk
going ‘round, and often it’s about just this topic – about
Costuming and Storytelling … .
As Storytellers, we walk the walk and talk the talk –
it’s what we do – but do we do or should we do or could we do
more? Like wear a
Storyteller’s costume <?> or a uniform or a badge - nametag
- bandana –neckerchief <?> that somehow designates us as
Storytellers … |
 I
was talking just the other day to a couple for whose wedding I had
stood up.
Of course, they both agreed – they were newly-weds,
afterall – that I should better hone my image for my vocation as
Storyteller; they felt I looked good in a tux; I should go to
Sam’s Club or some such and pick up my own personal tuxedo.
“You could be The
Gentleman Storyteller!”
And I mused:
sophisticated … debonair … .
I tilted my head and raised my right eyebrow.
I told a brief tale at their wedding reception – a
Bulgarian folk tale – and pushed back my coat sleeves and rolled
up my shirt sleeves; my black bow tie found it way into my coat
pocket, my shirt collar undone.
I began to feel more like a Magician than a Storyteller; “You
can see I have nothing up my sleeves!” |
 I’ve
dressed to costume before:
for Kendallville’s Apple Festival, for The
Festival of the Wild Rose Moon … for Naperville’s Chautauqua Event … but these were ‘period’ celebrations that
lodged within a particular time frame.
The 19th Century.
I geared my stories and my dress accordingly.
I even smeared myself with grease-paint and wrapped myself in
fake fur to become a werewolf for several groups of Girl Scouts at
Halloween time.
The lights were dimmed, the auditorium grew quiet … and I
banged on the closed door
and howled for entrance … .
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