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Tell Me A Story
The event was the culmination of two weekend workshops with professional storyteller Bill Gordh. For a decade, Gordh has taught storytelling to students at the school as part of an annual residency. But this year, thanks to a $3,000 grant from the Center for Arts Education under their Parents as Arts Partners and the Early Stages Programs (supplemented by the school PTA), he worked with parents as well. In the workshops, Gordh helped nearly 40 families shape stories of their choice. Book artist Barbara Grezselo then volunteered to help them illustrate those stories. “It was a unique, creative, calm and warm moment for the P.S. 150 community members to get to know each other,” said Nancie Katz, who, along with Mitchell Cohen and Amanda Guest, was the force behind the program. The theme of the workshop was “heritage,” but the term was loosely defined. It could include, said Gordh, anything passed down through a family, including, say, a sense of humor.
On April 3, the music room was packed for an evening performance of about a dozen storytellers. Gordh sat stage right, quietly plucking a banjo as each family performed. Eyal Danieli and his 7-year-old daughter Bella told an off-the-cuff tale about “Tusbarhindi,” a character created by Danieli’s father. “Now, are you going to tell the story of Tusbarhindi or am I going to tell it?” began Danieli. “Me,” said Bella, swinging her legs as she perched on a ledge at his side. “Okay, go ahead.” Bella looked at the expectant crowd. “Umm…you tell it.” Danieli laughed. “So Tusbarhindi had all these adventures and the people of the country he was in—”
Danieli prompted her: “He splashed hot water on himself and said…” “Put the lid back on!” yelled Bella. “I’m going to catch pneumonia!” The crowd broke into laughter and father and daughter exchanged proud glances. Randi Larowitz and her daughter Maddie told how Randi’s grandmother swaddled Randi’s father, aged four, like a baby and smuggled him through Ellis Island so officials wouldn’t notice the child’s limp and send the family back to Europe. Her grandmother later saved that same leg from amputation, once from gangrene and a second time after a bad fall. Each time, Larowitz and her daughter repeated the same catchy chorus. “And my grandmother took him to the doctor and what did he say?” asked Larowitz.
“And what did my grandmother say?” “I’m not letting you take off his leg!” Maddie cried. By the end, voices from the crowd were chiming in. But one tale probably had a more familiar ring to many parents in the room. “I had in mind telling a story about Italy where my husband’s from or Eastern Europe where I’m from,” sighed Sarah Maiolo. “But for Julia, her heritage was our family trip to Disney World.” See more photos of the Heritage Storytelling event at tribecatrib.com.
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