Beaver Tales
Beaver’s Unique Storytelling Event Returns – Friday, September 20, 2024
7:00 pm at The Gazebo (Irvine Park)
The widely acclaimed, annual “Beaver Tales” storytelling event, sponsored by the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, The Miller Family Foundation, and the Beaver Women’s Club, returns to Beaver. We are so excited to be welcoming this diverse group of storytellers to Beaver County to help connect our communities to the world and celebrate different cultures!
A Lunch, Listen, and Laugh event will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the Beaver Area Memorial Library. *Reservations are required to attend this event. Please contact the library at (724) 775-1132 for more information.
Also, our storytellers will be entertaining and captivating school children and students throughout the county at Elementary Schools and the Beaver Library.
The culmination of the Beaver Tales Storytelling Festival will be a special evening event at the gazebo in Irvine Park (the alternate / inclement weather location will be College Square School).
Make sure to bring your lawn chairs and blankets! This will be a free event for all ages, featuring these amazing, internationally acclaimed storytellers.
About This Year’s Storytellers:
KEVIN CORDI
Performing at Friends of the Library
Dr. Kevin Cordi was raised on stories and knows that stories is at the heart of meaning making. He has told stories in over 44 states, England, Japan, Qatar, Singapore, Scotland, and Canada. He holds a Doctorate in Storytelling and Education from The Ohio State University. He has authored books on storytelling including Playing with Stories: Story Crafting for Writers, Teachers, and Other Imaginative Thinkers and You don’t know Jack: A Storyteller goes to School. He hosted Storyville, open mike for storytelling and is the host and founder of the on-line program Debut: A Fusion of Storytelling and Play. He currently teaches storytelling and education as an Associate Professor at Ohio University Lancaster and you can find more about his work at wwwkevincordi.com. He believes that thinking, acting, and telling stories can change the way you live. It has for him, and it can for you.
MISTY MATOR
Performing at Rochester Elementary
Misty Mator captivates with timeless tales that teach history, celebrate culture, inspire creativity and promote moral values. Misty draws on her study of traditional myths and her experience as a mother-of-four to entertain, educate, and amuse audiences of all ages. She has performed at EQT Children’s Theatre Festival in Pittsburgh, the Ellwood City Storytelling Festival, and the Women’s Storytelling Festival in D.C amongst other venues. Audiences have called her performances “brilliant,” “enchanting,” and that “Every gesture, every expression, all made [the] story come alive!” Her stories enrich lives with connection, laughter, and wisdom.
MIKE PERRY
Performing at the New Brighton Elementary School
As a lifelong learner with an M.S.Ed. from Duquesne University, Mike Perry’s broad and adventurous career experience has taken him from the circus to the Census Bureau, from major motion pictures to maintenance man. He has taught Elementary School, and performed as a corporate edu-tainer.
Mike can be found telling original tales regionally, live, or online, at fairs, festivals, libraries, schools, and corporate events. Appearances have included:North East Storytelling’s’Sharing The Fire’, Debut, Art All Night, The Cary Storytelling Festival, Tellabration, Beaver Tales Storytelling Festival, Pittsburgh’s Children’s Festival, The Ripley Arts Festival, and The Youngstown Children’s Book Fair.
His storytelling seminars have included presentations for: The West Virginia Storytelling Guild, The Kentucky Storytelling Conference, The Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Carlow University Student Teachers, and The Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Pittsburgh’s Osher programs.
KATE MCCONNELL
Performing at College Square Elementary
Kate McConnell is the descendant of a long line of Irish storytellers, and began her performance career at the age of five, telling stories to her St, Bernard dog under the dining room table. She received her BA in Theatre, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing. For 25 years, she has performed personal narratives, tall tales and traditional Irish stories at festivals, universities, schools, and museums. She is a two-time winner of the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival Liar’s Contest, and a member of West Virginia’s Storytelling Guild. She is the Producer of TELL: Pittsburgh Storytelling Series, trains educators to integrate storytelling in the classroom, and has spoken at national and regional conferences on the impact of storytelling on academic retention and learning.