Steven Henegar Storyteller Concerts

Vibrant original and traditional American tales celebrate the wonderful variety of stories that friends, families and communities use to “share their lives” with each other. Steven finds the everyday and the fantastic in stories that grew up here or took root with new arrivals — a comfortable, personable trip through growing-up stories, original fiction, literature, veracious tall tales and traditional stories of adventure and magic.

Funny, affecting stories: Truth & Lies from long ago or just last week. Story selection varies to fit audience or situation.

Original, traditional, and literary stories primarily from the Midwest & South
Time: 75-90 minutes

Magic, mystery and a distant howl—the dead moon, a hungry skeleton, the doctor-werewolf and others beckon as chills and laughter wrap around you in these tales of light and shadow.

Growing up was trickier than Ozzie and Harriet led us to believe. Touching and laugh out loud funny, these original stories follow a boy growing up during the 1950's and 60’s. Thirty-five naked five-year-old boys face their first Swimming Lesson at the YWCA; a class fieldtrip discovers How Things Work at the slaughterhouse; the perpetual neighborhood baseball game is called on account of the falling Fighter Pilot. Alternately amazed or determined, he navigates these and other everyday ambushes of his life as death passes by and sometimes circles nearer.

CONCERTS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Steven’s performance ranges from off-hand conversation to high-energy participation. Most of the stories come from the Midwest, South or places Steven has lived, so he can at least claim to know what he’s talking about.

Concerts for children, family and student audiences are designed to introduce them to the wonderful variety of stories that we use to share our lives. So, the concerts draw from personal stories of growing up, family stories that audiences will recognize, literary stories adapted for oral performance, and original work by Steven or young authors he has worked with in workshops, as well as traditional American tales of adventure and magic.

Concerts support curriculum standards in language arts, speech and drama or introduce the library’s traditional literature collection. With smaller groups, Steven’s casual presentation allows for give and take with the audience touching on the place of storytelling in their lives or in their studies. The length of presentations can be arranged to fit a school period, a library program or expand to include an evening for the whole family.

Vibrant original and traditional American tales celebrate the wonderful variety of stories that friends, families and communities use to “share their lives” with each other. Steven finds the everyday and the fantastic in stories that grew up here or took root with new arrivals—an often funny, personable trip through growing-up stories, veracious tall tales, urban legends and traditional stories of adventure and magic. Truth and Lies from long ago or just last week.

This concert has a little of everything, and Steven can vary the stories to fit the audience or your needs.

Mystery, magic and a distant howl – a Vanishing Hitchhiker, the dead moon, a hungry skeleton, and others beckon as chills and laughter wrap around you in these tales of light and shadow.

Steven brings stories that you just heard on the internet from a friend of a friend or tales that drift back from long ago. What’s really in that hamburger? Do the buried remember? Can bubblegum chew you?

Urban Legends: Truth and Lies from a Friend of a Friend
45-60 minutes/Young Adults & Adults

Everyone knows and tells these informal stories about the burglar in the closet, the real ingredients of that hamburger, or the poodle in the microwave. None of them happened to us, but we heard about it from a friend, who heard about it from a friend, or we got it in an email. They’re funny and scary and gross, and are probably modern legends.

These modern folktales actively circulate. We hear them at reunions, hanging out with friends, and over the Internet. They reflect legitimate anxieties, offer practical lessons, but also traffic in rumor and stereotypes.

Part performance, part discussion - a thoughtful, fun and participatory presentation helps to spot these stories, asks why we tell them, what we are saying about each other, and invites audiences to share the versions that they have heard.