Tellabration 2025 at the Dragon’s Egg went great, and was well attended – it was our first return to the Dragon’s Egg since the fire of March, 2024. What a great way to re invite energy into the space (which is not yet complete).

I thank the tellers all, for their unique ways of telling tales, for their generosity and spirit! It was wonderful.
Thank you to Ct. Storytelling Center for continuing to encourage stories out in the world. How else may we heal ourselves, and one another, but through story?

love to all, marya

Here is the programme:

Bios and Programme

Marya – Intro and – “Singing the World into Being”, a Miwok story
Seamus – an Edgar Allan Poe Story
Lizzie – “The Wonderful Brocade”, a Chinese folktale
Aarya – “The Low Toilet”, an original story
Steve and Ako – Ichyou no Mi – The Seeds of the Maidenhair Tree
Lizzie – possibly another short tale
Marya – Farewell
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The Order

Marya Intro
and short Mystic Paper Beasts’s piece to welcome:
“Singing the World into Being”, a Miwok story

Seamus Sheehan-Gaumer will be reading or telling an Edgar Allan Poe story.

Seamus Philip Berrigan Sheehan-Gaumer is a 13 year old actor and 8th grader at New London’s Arts Magnet Middle School. He has been seen locally in many theatrical and musical productions at the Garde Theatre and elsewhere.
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Lizzie Gruber will be telling a Chinese folktale, “The Wonderful Brocade”. It’s about a widow supporting her sons by her wonderful weaving until she sees a picture in a shop that inspires her to weave the picture. Consequences ensue but it all works out in the end.

Over 20 years ago, Liz walked out of the career that helped pay for her children’s college and into storytelling. She’s never looked back. Liz delights in sharing world myth, folktales, including stories of strong women, and courageous young people always emphasizing connections between peoples and the earth.
Liz has studied the Japanese art of Kamishibai storytelling using illustration and sound effects to draw students into the story in a different way. She offers workshops with students in which they may design their own “stage”, write their own story or use a favorite, and make illustrations for performance. She has done this in schools as well as running a two-week workshop for young people in University of Hartford’s SummerPlace program.
Liz Gruber holds a masters degree in Oral Traditions.
She comes to us thanks to the Ct. Storytelling Ctr., which is located in New London.
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Marya will be reading “The Low Toilet” by Aarya Tiwathia

Aarya Tiwathia lives in Brooklyn NYC with her time divided between her mom and dad, and visits her beloved cat, Misty, who is the best cat in the world, but sadly lives in Connecticut with Aarya’s grandmother (me) now because Aarya is allergic. She is in fifth grade, and is the school president – the first girl president of the Arbor School in Brooklyn. She loves dogs, and dancing, and loves to read. She writes a lot of stories, too!

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Steve Long and Ako Hiratsuka

Steve Long and Ako Hiratsuka first met in Japan in the mid 1980’s. They lost touch with each other for a time but reconnected in 2010. Since then they’ve been collaborating on Japan related creative projects like, Katari-Shibai / Storytelling in English and Japanese.
Ako and and Steve will be telling together in Japanese and English. The story is Kenji Miyazawa’s, Ichyou no Mi – The Seeds of the Maidenhair Tree. They reworked Steve’s solo script and performed a version of this in Japan in a small Noh Theater space .. That script has been adapted for an English speaking audience and today is its American Premier!
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Lizzie – a second story about a Bear’s Feast in Alaska
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Marya -thanks to all