As I Was Saying…Part 1: NL Recitation Circle
Event Details
Organizer
As I was Saying…
From Nan Blunden’s pantry, to Red Island, to the Big Land, home-grown recitations speak uniquely of Newfoundland and Labrador. Join us as storytellers share recitations, discuss inspiration and their approach to creating stories in verse.
A two-night event hosted by storyteller and folklorist Dale Jarvis, and featuring Karen Carroll, Marion Counsel, Dave Paddon, Ken Parsons, Dave Penny, and Benny Powell.
Part 1: Wednesday, June 24
7:30 – 9 pm (6:00 EST/3:00 PST)
Featuring Karen Carroll, Marion Counsel, Benny Powell
Tellers share tales from the pantry to the trap line that illuminate days gone by. Karen Carroll is a storyteller and playwrite whose recitations call back to her family history, often celebrating the daily joys and hilarious adventures of the fabulous women of her past. Marion Councel recounts tales of resettlement from her childhood home on Red Island, made popular by her performance work “Red Island – Resettlement Girl”. Benny Powell of the famous Flying Powells is a former pilot with a talent for recitations, with over 1700 originals under his belt. Powell shares stories from his family of growing up in Labrador.
Join us on Thursday, June 25th for night two: Based on a True Story
featuring Dave Paddon, Ken Parsons, and Dave Penny!
Free on Zoom!
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ABOUT OUR TELLERS
KAREN CARROLL was born and raised in Carbonear, NL. The daughter of a Fisherman turned Labourer and a stay at home Mom, her family roots are on the north shore of Conception Bay. Karen joined the Outer Cove Concert Crowd in the early 1990’s as an amateur actress and singer. This creative outlet rekindled her love of the spoken word and live performance and provided a platform for her to write and perform her own works. To date, Karen has written four plays that have been performed by the Concert Crowd.
Karen joined the Board of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival in 2017. Karen can usually be found at the monthly Storytelling Circle, where she often performs one of her own recitations in some sort of costume. She has composed many recitations to date, although she has never really counted them. So may do so now as she continues work on her first book. A happily retired Registered Nurse, she lives in Logy Bay with her husband Jim and her Newfoundland dog, Nageira. She is a proud and fierce mother and grandmother.
MARION COUNSEL grew up on Red Island, Placentia Bay. She was a teenager when her family resettled in the town of Placentia during the “Resettlement Program” of the 1960’s. Marion has written many recitations, stories and songs about these experiences, mainly as a keepsake for her son Michael, but also, to help preserve her memories of outport life in Newfoundland and Labrador.
She has compiled her stories and songs and created a performance piece called “Red Island – Resettlement Girl”. Her singing friends Helen Murphy and Barbara O’Keefe join Marion for this heart-warming and captivating performance.
“Red Island – Resettlement Girl” is now available on CD through Marion, at marioncounsel@gmail.com, or at Fred’s Records and O’Brien’s Music in St. John’s, and Placentia Home Hardware – Aylward’s.
BENNY POWELL was born and raised in Labrador, he grew up and became a Twin Otter Captain with Air Labrador. He has written four books and over thousand poems. At a young age he loved to listen to poetry and recite Robert W Service recitations.
DALE GILBERT JARVIS is a storyteller and professional folklorist. By day, he is the provincial folklorist for Newfoundland and Labrador. By night, he is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour, and raconteur of local tales. Dale tells ghost stories, stories of the fairies and little people, tales of phantom ships and superstitions, and legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland, Labrador and beyond. His repertoire includes long-form folk and fairy tales, with a wide-ranging knowledge of local legends, tall tales, and myths.
Former newspaper columnist and author of several books on island folklore, he is a tireless promoter of local culture and oral history.