A Storied Event? Do Tell!

What’s in a name? Maybe--just maybe--everything.

“I’ve heard that aboriginal people believe that when someone speaks the name of something, that’s when it really starts to exist,” said professional storyteller Bill Harley, a featured performer at this weekend’s Once Upon a Story festival.

“When storytellers get up there and talk about experiences and feelings and relationships, we’re putting names on those things too,” he said. “A lot of my stories may seem outwardly silly, but they have a purpose. . . . People can look at each other and say, ‘Yeah, that happens to me.’ ”

This year’s festival showcases a wider variety of storytelling styles than ever, said organizer Melba Jones. The festival, to be held Friday and Saturday in and around the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, will feature Hawaiian legends and hula stories told by Nyla Fujii and poems by renowned cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell, the Elko, Nev., buckaroo-turned-artist.

Comedy, folk tales and legends from around the world will be performed by locally and internationally known tellers, including Diane Ferlatte, Bobby Norfolk, Angela Lloyd and Izzi Tooinsky. The Crossfire Band will play country music. Storytelling workshops and informal, audience participation “story swaps” are also offered. New this year is a dinner with the storytellers, a barbecue fund-raiser Saturday evening.

Harley’s multifaceted career encompasses 14 children’s albums with such tunes and stories as “There’s a Monster in the Bathroom” and “Wacka Wacka Woo.” (He claims his tapes “bring peace to the world--20 minutes at a time in the car.”) He also delivers commentaries on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

Jones, a Mission Viejo librarian whose memories of childhood storytelling sessions in Tennessee inspired her to launch the festival five years ago, praised Harley’s NPR pieces because they “make you laugh a little but also give you a little choke in the throat.”

Harley and his wife, Debbie, have two boys, ages 9 and 12. He’s around them a fair amount, trying to schedule touring to allow plenty of time with his family. (When interviewed for this story, the four were at a New Jersey rest stop en route from their home in Seekonk, Mass., to Jonesborough, Tenn., for his performance at the National Storytelling Festival.)

He steers clear of using his family or friends as the basis for his stories, Harley says, preferring to mine his own childhood to find the common thread among the generations. Some others’ experiences, however, are too good to pass up, such as the anecdote from a friend who gave the heave-ho to his teenage son’s television set. The incident inspired Harley to write the song “Dad Threw the TV Out the Window.”

His uninhibited performance and wry sense of humor caused one writer to liken him to an adult-size Calvin (of “Calvin and Hobbes”).

“I’m not saying I play the fool when I perform,” he said, “but I do think that you have to walk a little closer to the edge to honor what kids really experience.”

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* What: Once Upon a Story storytelling festival.

* When: Friday and Saturday (see schedule for program times and costs).

* Where: San Juan Capistrano Regional Library courtyard and auditorium (31495 El Camino Real) and the Old Fire Station complex (31421 La Matanza).

* Whereabouts: Exit Interstate 5 at Ortega Highway and drive west. Turn right on El Camino Real. The library is on the left. To reach the fire station, continue on El Camino Real just past the library to El Horno Strett and turn right. It’s at the corner of El Horno and La Matanza.

* Wherewithal: Performances range from free to $10. Weekend passes are $15 to $25. Dinner tickets are $10 to $20.

* Where to call: (714) 768-1916.