Storyteller’s Workshop Brings Tales to Life

It took only a moment for Jessica Fuentes, a fourth-grader at Shirley Avenue Elementary School, to spot the object of her affection. Rushing over to Estelle Busch, who was seated in the front of the school auditorium amid an array of picture books, the 9-year-old threw her arms around the storyteller and gave her a hug.

“I love Mrs. Busch,” Jessica said. “She reads to us and lets us act out the stories. It’s so much fun.”

Tuesday afternoon in Reseda isn’t just story time. It’s Storytime, an after-school workshop in which children listen to dramatic readings of popular fables and then act them out.

“What’s amazing about Estelle is her incredible energy level, and her ability to adapt to what the kids want to do,” said Steven Friedman, principal of Shirley Avenue School. “I wish I had 10 of her.”

Lucky for Friedman and the scores of children Busch reaches, the 84-year-old North Hollywood resident offers Storytime and several other free programs to local schools, giving children a chance to express themselves through literature and drama.

As executive director of Synthaxis Theatre Company, a nonprofit community-outreach organization in North Hollywood, Busch has spent the last 21 years entertaining and educating young people through one-woman shows, plays and staged readings that strive to break down ethnic barriers and create a spirit of cooperation.

To achieve this, Busch and Mary Mann, a dramatist, create original productions that focus on gang violence, drug use and other topical issues. After the performances, the students discuss the ideas raised in the plays, then write essays and draw pictures about them.

“We don’t produce fairy tales, but the shows are entertaining,” Busch said. “In each of my projects, I’m trying to give the kids a sense of self-esteem and accomplishment. I want them to see that everything they do has value. I want their experiences to be positive.”

In addition to handling Storytime, which targets elementary-age children, Busch brings improvisational workshops to Valley middle schools, where students play theater games aimed at boosting the participants’ self-confidence and awareness.

Busch’s longtime commitment to educating children through theater stems from a childhood in which the New York native was exposed to politics and the arts from an early age.

After apprenticing with New York City’s Group Theater, where she rubbed elbows with Clifford Odets and Elia Kazan, she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In 1943, she and her husband, Ben Busch, arrived in Los Angeles, where she embraced the liberal political scene and the theater with equal enthusiasm.

In the 1960s, the mother of two helped establish the 99-seat Equity Waiver theaters in Los Angeles, including the Professional Actors Craftsmen Theater--now the Internet Theater--in North Hollywood.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the lifelong feminist will present a staged reading of “A Senator’s Daughter” at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Actors Alley in North Hollywood.

“My life is wonderful,” Busch said, her blue eyes sparkling. “What am I going to do? Sit in front of the television twiddling my thumbs?

“The theater is my life. I must stay involved; it’s a question of wanting to do something useful.”