2010 Featured Storytellers

Ed Stivender

We are so pleased to have acclaimed storyteller, Ed Stivender as our emcee for the 11th annual Ojai Storytelling Festival. Called the “Robin Williams of storytelling” in the Miami Herald, Ed Stivender performs with a mixture of humor, music, song, dance, story, and sometimes seriousness! Famous for unique fractured fairytales, updated bible stories, and hilarious and touching memories of his parochial school upbringing, Ed’s performances are simultaneously fast-paced and comforting. Ed has traveled throughout the United States and abroad delivering corporate and political roasts, providing training seminars and spreading his happy stories and music wherever he goes. web brochure

Nancy Donoval

Nancy Donoval crafts stories of the moments in life that shape us—memories, large and small, that help make us who we are. She tells tales of first kisses and lost love; a childhood trip to the bathroom of the opposite gender; a fortune that comes true in unexpected ways; the ultimate death of a parent and monster movies on late-night TV. Witty as the best stand-up comedy with a compassionate heart, Nancy Donoval can also take us safely into the darker corners of life where laughter and pain sometimes dance together and transform each other. Her favorite accolade comes from a menopausal audience member…. “I laughed so hard my cramps went away”. www.nancydonoval.com

Angela Lloyd

Think of your weird and eccentric aunt coming for a visit to mix up your ordered life and you’ll get an idea of the adventure that awaits you when Angela Lloyd takes to the stage. As storyteller Barbara McBride Smith muses about Angela, “She is diagonally parked in a parallel world”. Angela is a matchmaker of spoken word and music. Combining an eclectic listener’s ear, a penchant for rhythm and a longing for harmony she performs for all ages sharing her constant companions, Rhythm, Rhyme and Melody. Not many people can boast virtuosity on a washboard, but storyteller and one-woman-band Angela Lloyd does so masterfully along with the autoharp, tenor guitar, spoon and bell. Her story-songs are witty and insightful, and compare to the gentle and intriguing styles of A.A. Milne and Carl Sandburg, giving pleasure to audiences of all ages. www.angelalloyd.com

Willy Claflin

Willy Claflin is known for his witty humor, impeccable timing and uproarious antics. With help from his best buddy, Maynard the Moose, the only full-blooded North American moose currently on the storytelling circuit, Claflin uses innocently demoralizing character descriptions and a vocabulary peppered with non-words to reel his listeners into his imaginative world. Willy also plays a variety of musical instruments. When not performing, Claflin is known for his work helping to save endangered squeaking rubber animals often venturing into the dangerous waters of the Bermuda Bathtub. www.willyclaflin.com

David Gonzalez

Described as “a New York Puerto Rican version of Bill Cosby,” David Gonzalez tells ages-old world myths and stories, tales from his Puerto Rican and Cuban culture, and from his childhood experiences in the Bronx. With speech, sound, mime, dance and above all, inspired imagination, nationally acclaimed master storyteller/performer David Gonzalez is keeping the ancient art of storytelling alive. From London’s Royal National Theater to Broadway to hundreds of schools across North America, Gonzalez has performed to more than 5,000 audiences worldwide. A winner of the Helen Hayes Performing Artist of the Year Award, Gonzalez is applauded for his vocal, physical and narrative talents and gift for mimicry, comic timing, and wordplay. Relying on the majesty and variety of language, the limitless landscape of imagination, the pulse of music and the beauty of art, he creates and performs productions that capture audiences of all ages and cultures. www.davidgonzalez.com

Samite of Uganda

A brilliant and inspiring musician, Samite takes audiences back to his homeland in Africa with melodic and sensual sounds played on flute, kalimba and litungu. Samite was born and raised in Uganda, where his grandfather taught him to play traditional African flute before his fingers were long enough to cover all the sound holes on the flute. When he was twelve, a music teacher placed a western flute in his hands—setting him on his way to becoming one of East Africa’s most acclaimed flutists. He performed frequently to enthusiastic audiences throughout Uganda until 1982, when he was forced to flee to Kenya as a political refugee. His smooth vocals were soon mesmerizing audiences in Nairobi, his new home. A world renowned musician, we are pleased to welcome Samite to our village of tales. www.samite.com

Hobey Ford

A festival favorite, we welcome back Hobey Ford and his cast of amazing puppet characters. Winner of puppetry’s highest honor, the UNIMA Citation of Excellence, and recipient of three Jim Henson Foundation grants, Hobey Ford is known for excellence in puppetry performance and craft. Hobey’s intricate shadow puppetry work and creation of the original rod puppets, the “Foamies”, have earned him a place on stages across the world. Hobey’s performances incorporate a variety of puppetry styles including Bunraku, rod, marionettes, “Foamies”, and shadow puppetry. Hobey adapts folk tales from various cultures for many of his performances, always adding a special “Golden Rod” twist. He uses his own voice to create characters and sound effects, tell stories, and sing. www.hobeyford.com

Motoko of Japan

Award-winning storyteller, Motoko, enchants audiences of every age with her weaving of ancient lore, original tales, lyrical movement and traditional music. Her repertoire includes Asian folktales, Zen tales, comical tales from rakugo (a Japanese traditional style of storytelling), funny mime vignettes, as well as personal stories from her childhood in Japan and her life as an immigrant in the U.S. Her tales are at once comical and wise, earthly and sublime. Through her tales we journey beyond our imagination and to a life of Now and Zen.motoko.folktales.net

“Inside every American, there is a Japanese woman. You are lucky that we are so small”!! --- Motoko