Could I Interest You In a Nice Bowl of Stone Soup?

I was thrilled over two years ago now when the good folks at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival chose me to be one of the "New Voices" for their 2020 festival in Woodruff, South Carolina. Stone Soup has a reputation as a proving grounds for national storytellers. Several folks who now are a part of the national storytelling circuit count Stone Soup as one of their first "Featured Teller" opportunities. And the way to get to be a "Featured Teller" is to first be a "New Voice" and hope to be chosen as one of the tellers to move on to that next grand level. So, ol' Terrell --- after telling stories to school groups for over fifty years and to small festivals, civic groups, scout groups, tall tale contests, ghost story tours, and more for over thirty years --- was gonna be a "New Voice"!

Then came March 11, 2020 and the call that Covid had struck one of my schools here in Floyd County. I knew then that our own Big Fibbers Storytelling Festival would have to be cancelled, and that it wouldn't be long before I'd hear the same sad news from Woodruff. 

Oh well, maybe next year.

Next year came and the Delta varient was abroad. BUT the great folks at Stone Soup, Karyn Page-Davies and her new assistant Hunter McLeod managed to organize a belated "New Voices" performance, although it had to be done via "Zoom. I had a ball hearing a bunch of great stories and getting to tell a story of my own. 

Where's Waldo, errr, Terrell? Can you find the two pictures of Terrell above. These are Zoom shots of the Liar Contest and the New Voices Performance for the 2021 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival. I'm the one shamelessly mugging for the camera in both shots.

 

I told a short version of my signature story, "The Prowler," that many of you have heard me tell. It was about the terrifying first night Sheila and I spent in our little log cabin in Chubbtown. Our sleep on that moonless night was interrupted by a prowler.

Well folks, I heard from Karyn and Hunter again last week! I have been chosen as a featured teller for the 2022 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival!  

I hope to have an opportunity to tell the full 25 minute version of "The Prowler", and some newer stories. I will be joined by three other much admired featured storytellers, Janel Behm, Laura Deal, and Jessica Robinson. Yay! 

I hope some of my NC/SC/GA friends will make the drive to Woodruff to enjoy the stories in person, but if you can't be sure to keep your eyes on the Stone Soup website or Facebook page and tune in via the internet, wherever you are. Performances will be April 22,23, and 24. Y'all come!