Kim Weitkamp “If we are talking Rock ‘n Roll, Tina Turner was a national treasure; country has Dolly Parton and in the world of storytelling we have Kim Weitkamp.” Steve Perry from Highway 89- SiriusXM. Kim travels the continent full time performing at theaters and at festivals. Kim currently has nine albums, seven of them award-winning collections of story and song, the latest being, “Dead Bird Singing.” Her material is played regularly on NPR affiliate stations and on SiriusXM Radio.
Motoko Motoko has appeared on PBS’ Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and toured Miyazaki, Japan, as part of CarnegieKids in Miyazaki Project, sponsored by Carnegie Hall. She has been featured in festivals and theaters across the U.S., most notably, the National Storytelling Festival, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Bay Area Storytelling Festival, and the Provincetown Playhouse at NYU. The recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award, Motoko has enchanted audiences of every age since 1993. She trained with master mime Tony Montanaro (1927-2002) and renowned Appalachian storyteller Elizabeth Ellis. Motoko’s repertoire includes Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, mime vignettes, as well as oral memoirs from her childhood in Osaka and her life as an immigrant in the U.S.
Antonio Rocha Antonio Rocha presents a unique fusion of verbal and mime narratives coated by his tenor voice and fantastical sound effects. He has been invited to perform across the USA in prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, The National Storytelling Festival and on to various countries across six continents. His folktales, personal stories, mime sketches and physical comedy are filled with charismatic characters and important lessons. Antonio is an award winning storyteller sure to delight your soul and tickle your funny bone. In 2015 he received the prestigious Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network.
Tim Tingle Tim Tingle is an Oklahoma Choctaw and an award-winning author and storyteller. His first children’s book, “Crossing Bok Chitto,” garnered over twenty state and national awards, and was an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review. As a visiting author and performer, Tingle reaches audiences numbering over 200,000 annually. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail of Tears in 1835, and his paternal grandmother attended a series of rigorous Indian boarding schools in the early 1900’s. In 1993, Tingle retraced the Trail of Tears to Choctaw homelands in Mississippi and began recording stories of tribal elders.
Kirk Waller Kirk is a Marin Arts Council Community Arts Grant recipient for his work with Fair Housing of Marin, Colors of Diversity Storytelling Project. He was awarded the coveted J.J. Reneaux Emerging Grant in 2010 by the National Storytelling Network. His latest CD, “But Why? Stories, Music and Songs,” received the Parents’ Choice Foundation GOLD award. Kirk received his Bachelor’s Degree in English and his Master’s in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Kirk has told at festivals, schools, libraries, churches and special events in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he resides with his two great boys and across our nation.
Special Guest Liz Nichols
Liz Nichols joins us from Oakland, California. A gifted teacher and coach, Liz was the Storytelling Director of Stagebridge, the nation’s oldest senior theatre company. Since 2007 she has been a master trainer and facilitator for TimeSlips Creative Group Storytelling, designed for those with memory loss. She has a special affinity for tales from her Jewish heritage, and from Japan, where she lived and studied.
Local Teller Dalymple MacAlpin joins us on Saturday morning.
Dalrymple MacAlpin is a professional composer, playwright, puppeteer, storyteller and poet. He has been writing and preforming his own original works for over two decades. MacAlpin is also a visionary scholar who culls together the myriad forms of folklore, mythology, fairy tales, poetry and even 800 year old riddles into a cohesive and exhaustively researched program of artistry, which delights and informs at the same time.
