Storyteller Profile: Duddy and Howard

Storytelling not just for kids anymore

Published: Thursday, April 12, 2007
By K. Shawn Edgar

Almost from the beginning Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard listened to stories.

For Duddy it was stories and songs her grandmother performed in the living room, while Duddy perched on the couch. "My grandmother was a great storyteller," said the native Oregonian.

Howard's dad would read to him at bedtime from a dog-eared book they simply called "The Green Book." It was fables such as The Tiger's Whiskers and Paul Bunyan that sparked his creativity and imagination. At ten, he learned to recite the Yukon ballads of Robert W. Service.

Together, Howard and Duddy are the captivating duo, StoryHarmonics. "You want your audience to hear in your story a little piece of their own story," said Howard. They have been married for twenty-five years. The couple met in transition. Howard was moving out of a house, as Duddy was moving in.

In 2001, after attending the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, Duddy was transformed. She returned home feeling sure she too could be a storyteller.

Shortly thereafter, Duddy was scheduled to perform at a Halloween storytelling event organized by a friend of theirs. Howard explained, "I wasn't originally supposed to be in it, but someone cancelled at the last minute and she ask if I would step in." The excitement of reciting in front of an audience larger and more diverse than just friends and family hooked them both.

Public storytelling can have different rewards than simply sharing stories one-to-one. "The magic of public performance is exchanging and interacting at a very human level with complete strangers," confessed Duddy. "There's a beauty and sweetness that is unique in the experience."

For Howard there is a truly deep "sense that the audience is on a journey with you. And then there are those rare moments when you know you have touched your listener's heart."

The telling of tales in front of a live invested audience allows StoryHarmonics to break the restrictions of the fourth wall found in most theater, film and television, where by an actor pretends not to be performing for an audience and rarely interacts directly.

But for Portland Story Theater (PST) -- a group Duddy conceived and Howard helped bring together -- the goal is to tell stories that form a complete visceral connection with the listeners. Quoting a Canadian friend, Howard said: "The story is told eye to eye, face to face, and heart to heart." The love of this possible human connection through shared experience motivated Duddy to organize the storytelling group.

PST's latest collection of stories is called "Always Say Yes." Catalytic tales of unlimited possibilities, designed to inspire its viewers to always be open to adventure. For performance dates and times, more information can be found at http://www.portlandstorytheater.com.

One major challenge for storytellers, Howard suggests, is to overcome the commonly-held belief that storytelling is just for kids. "There's this thing where you tell someone you're a storyteller and they automatically ask if you read picture books to kindergartners," he said. Early on when he was performing at local libraries -- with the children up front and the parents in back -- the adults reacted just as much, if not more than their kids. He noticed they were visibly involved -- eyes wide, mouths dilating with every twist and turn.

They believe adults need to hear stories even more than children, and aim to present a sophisticated form for a mature audience. One tactic Howard and Duddy have developed is a tandem telling approach where they are both telling the same story and one just butts in on the other whenever the time feels right. This creates a more complex atmosphere, and it mimics how conversations in adult life sometimes happen. They call it the "butt-in-ski" style.

StoryHarmonics is always up for the task of showing a crowd that their craft is important, and not only for the young-in-years. Working with several groups in the Portland metropolitan area, such as their own Portland Story Theater, the Portland Storytelling Guild and Scratch PDX, Duddy and Howard promote their thesis statement -- storytelling feeds adults' hunger for raw, naked experience. In Duddy's own words: "I believe that people are hungry for story, for an opportunity to connect with the universal human experience."

Storyteller Profile: Claudia Osorio

Persuasive talent to tell tales


Published: Thursday, April 12, 2007
By K. Shawn Edgar

In order to hear her father, Raul, tell a story about the man pictured on its label, Claudia Osorio was willing to swallow cod-liver oil. She says her father knows "the persuasive super powers of a new tale," and how they can transform "true life into never-ending fables."

Raul was "The Storyteller" when Osorio was a child in their large, boisterous yet happy family. As a teenager she began making money telling stories, and Osorio's father encouraged her to pursue the art he loved. Now she is a persuasive and imaginative teller of stories in her own right. Influenced deeply by her father's tale of "John Scott the brave Basque fisherman" she went on to earn a degree in dramatic literature and theater from a university in Mexico City.

But it was the mixed-bag of talented people in her family -- ranging from cooks and singers, to teachers, doctors and pianists -- who helped her achieve a career in professional storytelling. Along the way her grandmother gave Osorio, who was trying to gain greater attention from an audience, a key piece of advice, "Stand tall so they can see you; speak loud so they can hear you; and be brief so they applaud you."

Growing up in the villages near Cuernavaca, Mexico exposed Osorio to a strong oral tradition and to the natural flowering beauty of a place known as The City of Eternal Spring. The beauty and the resonant voices have remained with her, informing the tales she tells. "It was a magical place full of artists," said Osorio. "Just like Ashland [Oregon], I can totally relate to the theater people. We're like the same people."

Osorio's performances combine puppetry -- inspired by European and Canadian puppeteers on tour in Mexico City; who made their puppets come to life from ping-pong balls -- and improvisation, which she brought forward from her time as an actress, to create magically unique styles and meanings.

She explains that if an audience knows you, they have probably heard your stories. The challenge then is adding surprises, and letting each story live and grow in a way that even the oldest and dearest friend will not expect. This is the essence of spring.

Communication is the prime incentive. It keeps Osorio coming back to professional telling, again and again. That and humor are most important to her. Most of her stories are told in Spanish. So how does she capture non-Hispanic audience members? She has found a persuasive super power of her own: Her stories can cross the language barrier.

"Sometimes I see people coming in the back; they don't speak Spanish," Osorio explained. "They start coming to the front, but acting like they are not interested. So I try to catch their attention. Not translate for them, just catch their attention, like throwing in a handkerchief to make them part of the action. When they get engaged, we don't need to speak the same language. We connect without words."