Reviving Art of Storytelling for Adults

“Tell me a story.” Sometimes we just want to let our imagination switch into overdrive and, through the mind’s eye, paint a picture with words.

Interactive entertainment has acquired new meaning through one of the oldest forms of communication--storytelling, and no batteries are required.

“Words, Wisdom and Wit” is the first of a series of live spoken-word concerts for and by adults to be presented tonight at 8 at the Beverly Hills Library.

Eight Los Angeles-based storytellers will be featured at the event, including With Our Words (WOW) founding member Milbre Burch.

Burch, a nationally known raconteuse, describes storytelling as a live and healing art.

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“Storytelling arose in a time in the world when society was a tightly woven fabric,” Burch said. “What happens during your life stays with you; storytelling is that reweaving of the fabric, and people have been hungering for it.”

Burch said that most adults assume that storytelling is primarily for children, and equate it with baby-sitting, but many are pleasantly surprised, for the experience is not what they expected. “Adults come away from a performance saying, ‘Gosh, I enjoyed that!’ ” Burch said.

As an audience, adults are more polite than children, Burch explained. “Adults will be very nice to you, but children are more vocal. They’ll just say, ‘I hate that already!’ ”

Also scheduled to appear at Saturday’s performance are Karen Golden, Phyllis Applegate, Vicki Juditz, Angela Lloyd, Kathleen Zundell, Leslie Perry and Willie Sims.

Emmy nominee Applegate is a storyteller who has toured the United States and Europe with her one-woman shows “The Horn of Plenty” and “Sheroes.” During the Vietnam War, she brought her USO show to the American forces and received a commendation from the late Gen. Creighton Abrams.

Applegate said that through her performances she connects with people. “Storytelling has a magic, a beauty all its own,” Applegate said. “It brings out the extraordinary things that ordinary people do.”

* Beverly Hills Library, 444 N. Rexford Drive, $10. Information on future concerts: (213) 933-4614.