As part of this year's Theatre and Community Stories Fulton Initiative, the Brigham Young University Department of Theatre and Media Arts will co-sponsor the Timpanogos Mid-Winter Storytelling Conference Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 21-23.
In addition to the workshop events, public evening concerts featuring conference presenters will be held Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the Orem Public Library or by calling (801) 229-7436. All full-time BYU faculty, staff and their spouses are eligible for a free, full-conference ticket as part of their benefits package. For information on fees and registration, visit timpfest.org orcall (801) 229-7436.
The Midwinter Event was started last year by the committee that hosts the three-day Timpanogos Storytelling Festival each summer. The conference features local and national artists in lectures and workshops on topics from humor to historical tales.
“It promises to be one of the foremost conferences in the nation, just as the Timpanogos Festival has become among the top festivals,” said Karla Huntsman of the BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts.
Eclectic storyteller and master teacher David Novak will host a workshop, perform and give Friday’s keynote address. Novak combines his past as a mime and clown with his experience in professional theater and classical literature in an amazing repertoire ranging from fractured fairy tales to classic mythology told in iambic pentameter.
Donald Davis—a storyteller, writer and consummate performer who many consider the leading storyteller in the nation—will also perform, host several workshop sessions and give Saturday’s keynote address. With his true-to-life stories of childhood memories and grown-up adventures, Davis considers storytelling as a way of giving and living life, the way we share who and what we are.
Inspired by theatre scholar Sonja Kuftinec’s groundbreaking work, "Staging America: Cornerstone and Community-Based Theater," this year’s Fulton Initiative supports the exploration of the various productions and storytelling models of theater and community stories.
The goal of this year’s initiative is to help us learn about each other find by reaching into communities to search for and tell the stories that define, characterize and motivate us, said Huntsman.
Writer: Marissa Ballantyne
