TALES, YOU CAN’T LOSE : A 2-day Festival for All Generations Features Ghost Stories and African Legends

A skinned knee. A bad day at work. A cutting remark. Fact is, unless your fairy godmother works overtime, rarely a day goes by that you aren’t roughed up a little bit by the kind of hurts that once sent you in search of a friendly lap, a hug and a good story.

The way Melba Jones sees it, we never outgrow our need for the closeness and comfort that comes from a story well told. With that in mind, Jones, a part-time school librarian and devoted yarn spinner, has concocted Once Upon a Story: A Festival of Tales, a storytelling celebration this Friday and Saturday in San Juan Capistrano.

Story themes vary greatly, from tales of King Arthur’s day to ghost stories to African legends. Told by a lineup of seven Southern California professional storytellers, the tales are appropriate for children and adults. Sponsored by the Decorative Arts Study Center, the event will be held at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library and the DASC facility.

“There’s a common misconception that stories are only for children,” noted Jones, a librarian for Mission Viejo’s Cordillera Elementary School, “but there are certainly great benefits for adults, too.

“Storytelling helps people communicate. Think back on all the people who have told you stories, and you’ll find that you almost always like that person and find it easier to get along with them because they’ve shared something special with you.”

Storytelling is an ideal way to strengthen family bonds, said Jones, who says her own father instilled a love of stories in her as a child, and she hopes this weekend’s festival will inspire harried parents to make time for stories in their own homes.

“Even if you don’t have the time to read a book to your children, you can still tell them stories, just little episodes from your life. It gives children a real sense of who their parents are and of their own traditions.”

Martha Holloway, one of seven tellers who will appear at Once Upon a Story, agrees. “Parents can tell stories that nobody else can tell,” explained Holloway. “They are the only ones who know their family story.

“Listening to them gives children roots; it makes them feel secure. These stories have come through the generations to them, and now they’re the next step in the story.”

A retired bacteriologist turned professional storyteller, Holloway has performed at major festivals across the United States, as well as libraries and community events near her La Jolla home. She remembers her family sharing stories as they worked together on their Texas farm, and when her grandson, Sam, was born 11 years ago, her interest in storytelling was reawakened.

A gracious, soft-spoken woman whose voice has been described as “pure grandmother, sweet heated pancake syrup on a cold morning,” Holloway specializes in legends and ghost stories that recall her Southern roots. At this weekend’s event, her tales will include “The Ghost Woman’s Ring,” a tale she says is “so well known in the South that in Mississippi you might call it the state ghost story,” and an excerpt from Pat Conroy’s “The Prince of Tides,” in which an elderly woman teaches her young grandchildren not to fear death by including them on a shopping trip for her own coffin.

It was the “The Prince of Tides” selection that linked Jones and Holloway, and ultimately brought this weekend’s festival to fruition. Last fall, while attending the prestigious National Storytellers Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., Jones was captivated by Holloway’s performance of the story, and in particular by her warm, personal manner on stage.

“It was standing room only,” recalls Jones, “but even from where I was, I could feel her warmth. Even though I had never met her before, I felt that she was talking just to me.”

That feeling, and the positive impressions she carried home from the Jonesborough festival (the three-day event attracts tellers from around the world and is considered by many to be the best of its kind in the United States) inspired Jones to launch her own storytelling festival in South Orange County.

She started with her school, working with then-principal Mardell Skaggs on a program that encouraged kindergartners through sixth-graders to write and tell their own stories before an audience. Last February, during the school’s annual “No TV Week,” 60 students and a small group of parents, teachers and grandparents spun tales for two nights, winning such a favorable reaction that, in July, Jones decided to take the event to the community.

A longtime volunteer with DASC, Jones worked with the center’s director, Gep Durenberger, to secure DASC’s sponsorship as part of this weekend’s Capistrano Arts Festival. A nonprofit organization dedicated to the domestic arts, including furniture, home decor and gardening, DASC was the perfect partner in the festival, said Jones, “because the home isn’t just furniture; it’s the people in it. It isn’t complete without tradition.”

Jones’ first phone call was to Holloway, who immediately agreed to participate. With the help of friends, associates and the National Assn. for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (NAPPS) in Jonesborough, Jones quickly racked up an impressive list of Southern California storytellers.

Joining Holloway will be David Novak, a San Diego actor turned storyteller who has appeared at Lincoln Center in New York and L.A.’s Music Center; Cary Trivanovich, a Trabucco Canyon “silent storyteller” whose performance centers on the use of mime and comedy, and Ellaraino & Baki, a Los Angeles Storytelling team specializing in African tales. Also appearing are author and librarian Sandra Leah Heidenrich and UCLA Prof. Jerry Camery-Hoggatt.

Once Upon a Story will begin Friday at 6 p.m. with a reception in the San Juan Capistrano Library courtyard with the artists, followed by two hours of ghost stories suitable ages 7 and up. On Saturday at the Decorative Arts Study Center, Heidenrich will conduct a storytelling workshop for parents, teachers and librarians at 10 a.m.

At the Library, Children’s Corner Tales will feature stories for children ages 4 and up (including simultaneous Spanish translations) from 10 a.m. to noon. A storytelling concert for all ages caps off the festival at 3 p.m. Because seating is limited, reservations are suggested for the sessions, which range in price from free to $15 for the workshops.

In the hands of Ellaraino & Baki, storytelling is not only a means of comfort and communication, it is an effective teaching tool. As they see it, their “Afrocentric” repertoire, which includes contemporary, personalized versions of traditional African and African-American folk stories and depictions of history’s most important black men and women, offers dramatic lessons for people of all ages and colors.

“Our history as African-Americans is vital, and we aren’t getting enough of that (told) in the schools,” explained Ellaraino.

A large measure of audience participation, especially for their younger audiences, helps bring the lessons closer to home. For example, during their performance in the Children’s Corner, the pair will lead an African-American rain game in which children will learn Swahili words and chant in several languages.

But whether it’s African lore or homespun tales, in most cases, the true test of a really fine story is its universal appeal, said Holloway.

“A good story has to be good on many levels,” noted Holloway. “You can be telling to preschoolers and adults will walk by, and pretty soon they’re listening just as intently as the kids.

“I guess there’s just something about a good story that attracts people.”

What: Once Upon a Story: A Festival of Tales.

When: Friday, Oct. 11, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: San Juan Capistrano Regional Library (31495 El Camino Real) and Decorative Arts Study Center (31431 Camino Capistrano) in San Juan Capistrano.

Whereabouts: To reach the library, take the Santa Ana (5) Freeway south, exit Ortega Highway and turn right. Turn right on El Camino Real. To reach DASC, exit Ortega Highway and turn right. Turn right on Camino Capistrano.

Wherewithal: $5 to $15; some events are free.

Where to call: (714) 496-2132.