If you’re looking for trouble you’ll find it in the most delightful way when Emmy-winning professional storyteller Jim May of Harvard, Illinois, and five other storytellers talk on the theme “I Knew I Was in Trouble When …” during a storytelling event on March 11 at Barrington’s White House.
The family friendly event will also feature award-winning professional storyteller Megan Wells.
Both May and Wells have earned acclaim performing for children and adults.
May has told stories for all ages across the United States, Canada, and Europe at assemblies, writing/storytelling residencies, author visits, and more. He is the author of the children’s picture book, “The Boo Baby Meets the Ghost of Mable’s Gable.” May is also artistic director of the Illinois Storytelling Festival, held in Spring Grove.
Wells has performed in museums and libraries, at festivals, and with symphony orchestras. A storyteller for 30 years, she particularly enjoys coaching beginning storytellers. Wells is artistic director of the Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival.
Storytelling came naturally to May. “The roots of it are growing up in a big family,” he explained. “My father had 11 siblings so there were always a lot of cousins, aunts, and uncles around. He really loved passing the time chatting with people and telling jokes and stories.”
May joked that, “You know you grew up in an oral culture if there are only three bookshelves in the house and two of them are filled with knickknacks.”
That tradition came in handy when May began teaching elementary school. “Stories were a great way to keep my students engaged and interested in reading, and telling their own stories,” he discovered.
His love of storytelling grew stronger when a friend persuaded May to come with him to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
After that, May began storytelling when he wasn’t teaching and then started the Illinois Storytelling Festival in his hometown of Spring Grove in 1984. This year, the festival will be an all-day event on Oct. 1 in the Spring Grove Village Park. It will include a dedication of a meditation bench in memory of the late Holocaust survivor Lisa Derman, who frequently performed at the festival.
The storyteller didn’t reveal what trouble he would be sharing at the event at Barrington’s White House but indicated there are a lot of possibilities for him.
“Trouble is a core to any story almost,” May explained. “Create a character you like. Get the character in trouble. Get the character out of trouble.”
May invited Wells to join him at the event because “she’s just an incredible storyteller,” he said. “She has a really strong background in theater. She has a genius-like ability to learn scripts, to create characters on stage. She is one of my very, very favorites.”
Wauconda resident Wells was also influenced to become a storyteller after attending the National Storytelling Festival in 1991.
“It really felt like a conversion experience to me,” she said. “I did not grow up in a storytelling household. I had no exposure to it. I didn’t really understand that it was an art form.”
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Wells has been doing storytelling since that “conversion.”
“Storytelling does two things in my mind,” she declared. “It is a direct connection with the audience. Every individual listener’s personal memory wakes up when you’re listening to the story. The second reason I love storytelling so much is it’s a wisdom-maker. Storytelling is our oldest and most respected means of nourishing our wisdom.”
At the Barrington’s White House event, Wells will share a story from her teen years. All she would reveal was, “I was in trouble in high school.”
In addition to telling a story at the event, Wells is coaching four newer storytellers who will also perform at the event.
‘I Knew I Was in Trouble When …Storytelling Event’
When: 7-9 p.m. March 11
Where: Barrington’s White House, 145 W. Main St., Barrington
Tickets: $22.03 for in-person or virtual
Information: 224-512-4066; barringtonswhitehouse.com
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.