Friday, November 18, 2011

Okay, adults, it’s time to fess up and acknowledge that we all ready love hearing a good story. One of my earliest memories is hearing my mom or dad tell me a story. Entire family reunions were filled listening to stories. I can remember sitting spellbound listening to the various exploits of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As an adult, I realized that not all of them were 100% true, but it doesn’t matter because the teller enjoyed sharing the story and the audience enjoyed listening.

Stories have the capacity to do more than simply entertain, as much fun as that is. They can also pass along culture, like Native American stories do, impart wisdom, and are excellent ways to keep concepts in the mind of your audience. Long after the bullet points on your carefully crafted PowerPoint slides have faded from memory, the stories you told will still be fresh in the minds of your audience.

Each year, Roswell keeps the joy of storytelling alive by participating in a world-wide storytelling event called Tellabration! It is a time when guilds and storytelling enthusiasts all around the globe share their storytelling talents in concerts held in cities and towns to celebrate the art of storytelling. Roswell’s Tellabration! brings together highly respected regional storytellers, to delight, captivate, and mesmerize audiences with their tales.

As is Roswell’s tradition, we hold our Tellabration! the Friday night before Thanksgiving and this year is no different. It’s a fun night of family-friendly stories geared to adults – yes, adults! You don’t even have to bring along a child or grandchild to hide behind while you enjoy the stories.

This year’s tellers are Mary Apps, John Beavin, Grace Hawthorne and Phil Kaplan. Martha Tate will be the emcee. I love hearing each of these tellers and would be hard put to tell you which one is my favorite. Each brings their own unique style to telling.

Admission is $5 and tickets are sold at the door. Join us at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 18th at the Roswell Adult Recreation Center, 830 Grimes Bridge Road for a great evening of entertainment.

The evening is sponsored by the Roswell Ramblers Club, Historic Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau, Roswell Recreation and Parks Department and the Magnolia Tellers of the Roswell Folk and Heritage Bureau.

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