Rachelle Dart, November
2024 Commission Recipient

Purchase tickets here to experience the recording of this event. The artist has provided this page of resources to accompany the program.

This year’s commission was supported by John Deupree and Sally Reynolds, Commission Producing Donors.

Join us in November as Speak brings its second story commission to life! Click here for details on the process. Our 2024 commission recipient is Rachelle Dart.
Rachelle grew up on stories. Mythology was woven into the foundation of their home, folklore hung on the walls like vines, fairy tales danced through the air and histories walked the halls. Dart trained in traditional storytelling under Liz Weir, MBE and together they received the JJ Reneaux Mentorship Award. She was an Exchange Place teller at the National Storytelling Festival, has told at The Slice Storytelling in Phoenix, Grapevine Storytelling, and co-runs Phoenix Folklore Fridays at Fiddler's Dream. Dart finds the ability storytelling has in creating community with the audience, encouraging. She believes that stories can delight, remind, caution, and connect us, while expanding our capacity to empathize with others. Still thriving on stories, Dart is inspired by characters who endure hardship, magical helpers, gritty truths and even if there is no happily ever after, remind us to be decent to each other; kindness prevails. Dart is grateful for Liz Weir and her partner, poodle, and parents for their love and support.

Gayle Ross, February

This concert was supported by Carolyn Rodis, Producing Donor.

Tuesday’s program was Inside The Beaded Beltway. Created for a solo hour at the National Storytelling Festival, Inside the Beaded Beltway takes a long look at the relationship of Tribal Nations and the United States government from the Revolutionary War up to the present day. Told through the experiences of tribal delegations in our nation’s capital, the piece creates a window into a part of our common history that is all too often overlooked or forgotten. Sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, the stories that make up this presentation are thought-provoking and, in many ways, inspirational.

Peter Cook, March

ASL-to-spoken-English interpretation was provided by Tony Barraza.

Peter S. Cook is an internationally reputed Deaf performing artist whose works incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement. He has traveled extensively around the country and aboard with Flying Words Project to promote ASL Literature with Kenny Lerner since 1986. Peter has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” (PBS) and “United States of Poetry” (PBS) produced by Emmy winner Bob Holman.

Peter was featured at the National Storytelling festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., and the Tales of Graz in Graz, Austria, The Deaf Way II and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Peter has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in Europe, Brazil, Israel, and Japan. Peter was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival in 2003. Peter lives in Chicago and is Associate Professor, and the Chair of the ASL Department at Columbia College Chicago. 

Antonio Rocha, April

This concert was supported by Jackie & Dan Thomas, Producing Donors.

April’s program was The Malaga Ship: A Story of Maine and the Middle Passage which ran 45 minutes plus ~30m conversation. The Malaga was a 183 ton brig built in Brunswick, Maine by Joseph Badger in 1832. The ship eventually found itself a part of the already Illegal Transatlantic slave trade. The Malaga Ship Story is a tour de force performance.  Using his entire body and voice, Antonio sings, narrates, and mimes his way through this poetically toned historical tale told mostly from the perspective of the ship. The story vividly explores the reality and impact of the slave trade then and now through Antonio’s relationships to Maine and Brazil.

Elizabeth Rose, May

This concert was supported by Kathy Buchanan and Dan Shelton, Producing Donors.

Elizabeth Rose shares stories with wit, humor and expressive enthusiasm. Her stories include a blend of traditional southern folklore, Appalachian tales, mountain ballads, ghost stories, songs and her own personal stories of growing up in a small town in East Tennessee. She has the ability to mesmerize her listeners, transporting them through her image-laden tales of other times and cultures. Elizabeth is an educator, workshop leader, presenter, and professional storyteller. She has thrilled children and adults alike with her vivacious storytelling in various venues, festivals, and conferences around the country. She is truly captivating in voice and presentation. 

Dolores Hydock, June

This concert is supported by Anonymous in appreciation of all the members of the Speak Committee, past and present, who have worked hard to help establish, sustain, and grow this awesome concert series!

Storyteller and actress Dolores Hydock fills the stage with what one reviewer called "a swirl of characters and a cascade of lovely language." Her wit and energy bring sparkle to her funny, affectionate personal stories, oral histories, literary classics, true stories from history, and medieval tales that make the magic and mystery of ancient wisdom come alive for 21st century story lovers.

Dolores’ one-woman shows and story performances have been featured at conferences, festivals, and special events throughout the United States, including the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. She has been Teller-in-Residence at Jonesborough's International Storytelling Center, and has won Resource Awards from Storytelling World Magazine for her twelve CDs of original stories. She has collaborated with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Museum of Art to blend stories with music and art, and her Christmas story special airs annually on NPR-affiliate WBHM in Birmingham. She is the 2023 recipient of the ORACLE Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network. 

July: An Evening of Crankies
Featuring Katherine Fahey & Emily Schubert

This concert was presented in partnership with the Contemporary American Theater Festival

Katherine Fahey, award winning multidisciplinary storyteller, uses the art form of crankies, a form of visual storytelling involving a scroll of artwork in a box. With a background in papercutting, puppetry, singing, and a warm and soothing voice, Katherine Fahey guides one through her crankies, intricately cut paper scrolls of yards of artwork. Katherine and her partner Dan Van Allen have performed throughout the US. Katherine has been featured in the Maryland State Arts Council mentorship program and the National Puppetry Festival. She is a recipient of the Baker Artist Award. Accompanying her will be woodworker, puppeteer, and foley artist Daniel Van Allen.

Emily Schubert is a puppet maker, crankie maker, storyteller, and mixed media artist, based in Pittsburgh, PA. She has participated in puppet theater festivals and workshops in Europe, Indonesia, and the United States including performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, at the National Puppetry Festival, and at the National Puppet Slam. She is also a co-organizer of the Baltimore Crankie Festival. Emily is enthralled by the emotive power and depth of expression achieved through puppetry and storytelling and she believes that within these realms lies a source of real-life magic that is deficient in much of our daily lives. She will be performing with her partner in life and puppets, Ian Mansfield. Ian is a cider maker and all around apple enthusiast.

Ilene Evans, August
Program For This Concert: Click Here!

This concert was supported by Carolyn J. Rodis, Producing Donor.

Ms. Ilene Evans, M.A., is an inspired storyteller, performer, and scholar who weaves music, poetry, dance and drama, to bring history alive. Ilene specializes in traditional folk tales and historical storytelling in the form of portrayal. Her repertoire includes folk tales from the African and African American treasury, as well as stories that cross over cultural boundaries and speak to all of us. 

Ms. Evans creates and presents storytelling/theater programs and workshops/seminars that inform, educate and entertain audiences young and old. She has toured extensively across the US and internationally with her historical and original works. Her historical portrayals of women who have changed the world include Harriet Tubman, Bessie Coleman, Ethel Waters, Memphis Tennessee Garrison, Esanda Robeson, Elizabeth Catlett, Rose Agnes Rolls Cousins, and Coralie Franklin Cook.

Tuesday’s Program. To help celebrate Jefferson County’s 30th Annual African-American Cultural & Heritage Festival, Ilene’s program was Coralie Franklin Cook. Cook was born enslaved. She went on to graduate from HBC Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the first descendent of a Monticello enslaved person to graduate from college. She was a gifted public speaker, and she taught elocution and English at Storer and at Howard University. Coralie served as a member of the District of Columbia Board of Education. A personal friend of Susan B. Anthony, Cook was active in the women’s suffrage movement.

Debs Newbold, September

This concert was supported by Liz Loughran and Terry Kramer, Producing Donors. The program was Dauntless: Grace O’Malley, Pirate Queen.

Award winning storyteller Debs Newbold gleefully delivers the boisterous, remarkable and inspirational story of her hero: Grainne ni Mhaille – Grace O’Malley – legendary Irish clan chief and queen of the sea.  

Stowing away aboard her father’s ship aged 8, Grace became a 16th century force of nature. A multilingual, seafaring weapons expert, leader of 2000 men, rebel, politician, kingmaker and slayer, prodigious lover, avenging hero and notorious pirate. Best of all, she was real. 

From the west of Ireland to the court of Elizabeth I, from wild youth to even wilder old age, Dauntless is an epic celebration of uproarious storytelling, high drama, and one fascinating 16th century feminist. No knights in shining armor need apply.   

Adam Booth, October
with guest organist Dr. Judith Ofcarcik

This concert was supported by the Mary J. Stanley Charitable Fund, Producing Donor.

Adam Booth is the 2022 West Virginia Folk Artist of the Year, awarded at the Governor’s Arts Awards. Adam blends traditional mountain folklore, music, and an awareness of contemporary Appalachia to create original, forward-thinking story artistry. Adam’s new multidisciplinary program The Heron’s Journey has been selected for the 2024-2025 Mid Atlantic Arts Touring Roster.

As a nationally touring artist, his professional telling appearances include premiere storytelling events across the United States, including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Festival, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, and as a Spoken Word Resident at the Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada). He is a member of the Recording Academy and serves as the inaugural Storyteller-In-Residence at Shepherd University.

Tuesday’s Program featured seasonally spooky tales! Joining him on the pipe organ was Dr. Judith Ofcarcik, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at James Madison University and an active organist throughout the region. Dr. Ofcarcik’s past performances include a recital of mystical music by Arvo Pärt and Olivier Messiaen and a performance of J. S.Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations, transcribed for organ. She has also performed with Winchester Musical Viva and is excited to participate in this night of spooky stories.