Bios 2015

Storytellers, Hosts and Musicians

Chris Brookes
Chris Brookes is an author, storyteller and independent radio producer whose documentary features have won over forty international awards including the Peabody Award and the Prix Italia, and have been broadcast around the world. He has directed documentaries for Canadian network television, is a published author and playwright, and has taught documentary storytelling at festivals and workshops across North America and Europe. As a sound artist, his audio art has been exhibited at international festivals and released on CD. He was formerly artistic director of the Mummers Troupe Theatre of Newfoundland and pioneered the use of theatre as a vehicle for community development. He has also produced radio drama for CBC.He has been inducted to the Nfld & Labrador Arts Hall of Fame, holds an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and is a recipient of the Order of Canada. Brookes currently directs the production company Battery Radio with studios at the bottom of the cliff where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Charis Cotter
An award-winning writer, actor and storyteller, Charis Cotter has worked extensively in schools across Canada. She uses storytelling, costumes, drama and games to bring her books alive in the classroom. Charis has toured Canada from coast to coast, entertaining children with her alter egos: Queen Elizabeth II, complete with gown, crown and royal attitude; and the Scottish Silky Ghost, who dusts everything in sight, including children. In 2005 Charis won the Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence for her book, Toronto Between the Wars: Life in the City 1919–1939. Since then she has written several critically acclaimed children's books, including a series of biographies about extraordinary children and an illustrated book about international ghosts. In 2013 she published The Ghosts of Baccalieu, a collection of traditional ghost stories and drawings created by the students of Tricon Elementary in Bay de Verde, Newfoundland. Her latest book,The Swallow: A Ghost Story was published by Tundra Books in September, 2014. Her fascination with ghosts has led her to many far corners of Newfoundland, looking for ghost stories. Charis takes her ghost storytelling workshops to schools, community centres and book festivals, and reviews children's books for several online and print publications.

Eleanor Dawson
Eleanor Dawson grew up in Bay Roberts where she developed a life-long interest in the history, folklore and culture of Newfoundland and Labrador. She has been singing all her life. One of the founders of the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, Eleanor has a particular interest in traditional singing and has a vast repertoire of songs from the English, Irish and Newfoundland traditions. She is past president of both the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society and the Newfoundland Historical Society. She is currently one of the hosts of the monthly Song Circle at the Crow's Nest Officers Club in St. John's.

Ford Elms
Ford Elms Originally from the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, Ford Elms is an accomplished storyteller and set dancer. His recitations of anything from Roald Dahl to Rudyard Kipling are always a favourite part of folk club open mic. He has told Newfoundland stories locally and internationally.

Stella Mair Evans
Born in Wales, Stella has been living in Newfoundland for the past 30 years. Although she considers herself relatively new to performing as a storyteller, Stella has been using stories her entire life in retreats, ministry, and pastoral visits. She likes getting people to tell their own stories, and through that, recognizing their own strengths. Stella believes that stories are powerful in the process of healing and can aid in cross cultural understanding, and the building of community. A regular teller at St. John's Storytelling Circle, she shares legends and folktales from many countries and cultures, especially from Wales and China, creation stories, and her own stories and poems.

Mary Fearon
Storyteller Mary Fearon has been performing professionally since 1997. Over the years she has performed here at home, as well as nationally and internationally. She travelled the province collecting material that was traditionally used with children and co-developed a book Over The Big Fat Waves; A Collection Of Newfoundland & Labrador Rhymes, Songs and Language Games. While collecting material, she spent time talking with people about storytelling in their communities. Since then she has a particular love for traditional Newfoundland tales and is very interested both in how they reflect our distinct culture and in the connection they have to stories told in other parts of the world.

Gary Green
Gary Green is a storyteller and author who has performed both inside and outside the province in a variety of settings from camps to international conferences. Among the groups for which he has performed are the Cape St. Mary's Performance Series; Battle Harbour Historic Trust; Canadian National Storytelling Conference; St. John's Folk Festival; and Trails, Tales and Tunes. Gary has performed on television as part of the series Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic and on several radio stations. He is a board member of the St. John's Storytelling Festival, and a founding board member of the Soundbone Traditional Arts Foundation. Gary teaches storytelling at the Vinland Music Camp and is a regular performer at the St. John's Storytelling Circle.

Christine Hennebury
Christine’s storytelling career began at age 3 when she earnestly explained to her parents, while holding an empty bottle, that she had not spilled her bubbles on the couch. Understandably, they didn’t believe that the wet couch was the result of water shooting out of their daughter’s nose but she swears that her stories have improved greatly since then. She likes to tell a huge variety of stories, including myths, family stories, folk tales and stuff she made up, and her topics range from the story of Sekhmet, an avenging Egyptian goddess, to the story of the time that her Dad tricked her uncle out of a hotdog. Christine is a writer, creative life coach, actor, and, director living in Mount Pearl, NL. She is the founder of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and the current President of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival.

Andy Jones
Andy Jones has been a professional actor, writer, director, and producer for forty years. He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he co-founded the Resource Centre for the Arts at the L.S.P.U. Hall, co-writing, acting in, and directing many original productions. He is well known in Canada as a member of the groundbreaking Newfoundland comedy troupe CODCO, in both its theatrical and television incarnations. He has written five critically acclaimed one-man comedy shows, as well as Albert, a one-act play for one man and a budgie bird; The Lady with the Lapdog(a radical theatrical adaptation of Anton Chekhov's short story); and the children's plays The Queen of Paradise's Garden, Jack Meets the Cat (co-written with the Sheila's Brush collective) and Jack-Five-Oh (co-written with Philip Dinn). More recently, Jones has been adapting Newfoundland folktales as children's books, including a highly acclaimed series of Jack tales illustrated by Darka Erdelji and designed by Veselina Tomova: Jack and Mary in The Land of Thieves (winner of the 2012 BMO Winterset Award and the 2014 Bruneau Family Award), Jack and the Manger (winner of the 2012 Bruneau Family Award), and The Queen of Paradise's Garden. The newest book in this series, Jack, the King of Ashes will be launched on October 2nd. His Tartuffe(an adaptation of Moliere's classic to a 1930's Newfoundland setting) will appear this fall from Boulder Publications. Andy's website.

Jean Pierre Makosso
Born in Pointe-Noire (Congo Brazzaville), Jean-Pierre Makosso, taught by his mother MA M'KAYI, is from a family and traditional background. Enrolled in occidental school system, he has in his pragmatic journey been listening and observing. Throughout his schooling, he quickly displayed his taste for the verb to become the storyteller of all those who do not have one. As a theatre actor he has worked with Company Punta-Négra (Congo), Théâtre du Corps (France) and Théâtre Amiel (Switzerland).Living in Canada since 2001, Jean-Pierre Makosso works with a traditional music group Masabo (Vancouver, Ottawa), has been writing and directing plays for Canada World Youth with his own cultural company Makosso village. He is also a bilingual comedian and storyteller who performs in schools and universities all over Canada and in festivals worldwide. Jean-Pierre’s website

Marta Bruno Singh
A passionate storyteller born and raised in Argentina, Marta brings luminous magic, poetic language, and deep emotional impact to traditional, literary, and personal material. In 2011, 2 women productions premiered Landscapes of Silence: A Daughter's Story, Marta's first solo performance, developed thanks to the Emerging Artist Grant awarded to her in 2009 by the City of Ottawa. In 2010, Marta debuted in her native city of Buenos Aires, where she's been hired to perform at schools, concert series, and book fairs. Since 2005, she has performed regularly at the Fourth Stage of the National Arts Centre and at Canadian storytelling festivals. Marta performs in English, in Spanish, and in her own interplay of both. Always concerned to deepen her connection to her art, she studies and takes workshops with every master artist whose path shines a true light. Marta’s website

Catherine Wright
Catherine Wright is a multidisciplinary artist who has been active in the St John's community for over twenty years as a performer, arts advocate and enthusiastic arts educator. She has presented independent and collaborative works at many events and venues for a range of audiences from preschoolers to seniors. Her performances often interweave storytelling, movement/dance, music/song, exploring a range of themes, oft-times autobiographical. Over the past year, Catherine has performed at ARTFUSiON, Killdevil Fair, Peter Pan Festival, Lantern Festival, Festival of New Dance, St. John's Storytelling Festival and AC Hunter Children's Library. Catherine appears at St John's Storytelling and Song Circles at the Crow's Nest. She also tells nightly to her son Benjamin, who is a source of encouragement and inspiration, and enjoys collaborations with musical/life partner Len Sperry.