Q: Where do your stories come from? Are they based on ancient stories or legends? Are they original?
Helen: Being that I just got into storytelling a couple of years ago, I usually get stories from books, or ideas in my head and then I find the written story somewhere. Several of my current stories have fit into the theme of "getting along," and I research appropriate stories from the Middle East, North American continent, and elsewhere. Although I'm now beginning to write my own, as well.
Sondra: I do a combination of original and traditional tales. I have a CD of my original stories. For my Tour of Africa in Story, Rhythm and Song program, the stories are all adaptations of traditional tales. Sometimes I adapt real life incidents into story, as I did for a peace program a few years back.
Q: Are your stories scripted, and in what format?
Sondra: Stories in written form are not always written in the best way for an oral presentation. So, they generally need tweaking. I add "bits of business" and, unless I am performing a poem or rhyming story (like Cowgirl Poetry), I change the verbiage a bit for the audience that is in front of me. Even stories that I have performed for years get new treatment to keep them fresh. Folk tales, after all, were never static. They were verbally handed down or even passed across countries and modified. The stories I've written, of course, evolve. My half-hour-long fairy tale, The Prince and the Gryphon or the Truth About Boredom went through countless re-writes before it was committed to my CD. One of the musicians on the CD accompanies me live. Because of that, that particular story stays pretty true to the script each time.
Helen: Well, they are written, and the format varies. Usually I use the written word as a base and go from there. I endeavor not to deviate too much from the original author's words. I have found, though, that I've had to make some changes to the phrasing since sometimes written stories sort of get garbled when they're spoken out loud.
Q: Are the stories memorized? Do you rehearse in a traditional sense, addressing certain movements, facial expressions, vocal emphasis, etc?
