Sunday July 23 through Thursday, July 27 at various venues

— by Margie Doyle —

Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, back on Orcas for StoryFest, July 23-28

Next week, summer Islanders Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo bring the worlds of storytelling to the island as Orcas Storyfest unfolds for the seventh time on Orcas. They bring with them gifted and nationally-recognized storytellers, and highlight Orcas poets and storytellers also

Their “team” includes:

  • Bill Harley, Grammy award winning and very funny storyteller from Massachusetts; author of Dirty Joe the Pirate, a True Story “Bill uses song and story to paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life. His work spans the generation gap, reminds us of our common humanity and challenges us to be our very best selves” (from billharley.com)
  • Erica Lann-Clark, Jewish American and very funny storyteller from California; Erica Lann Clark author of Jewish Tales on the Silk Road will tell the stories “the Silk Road Jews told — the stories the mountain Jews of [Bukhara, Afghanistan, China and the Caucasus] told – the stories told by the Çhinese Jews to remember who they originally were, where they came from and why they stayed in the new place. “We 21st century people are no different. We tell stories so we can remember who we are . . . and who we once were. I want to give people from every culture and every background an experience of hearing a “concert” of amazing Jewish stories.”
  • Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor, whose writings have appeared in print and online in several journals and anthologies including Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults, Kuwento: Small Things, and Beyond Lumpia, Pansit, and Seven Manangs Wild: An Anthology. She has been performing as a storyteller with the Bellingham Storyteller’s Guild since 2006 and specializes in stories based on Filipino folktales and Filipino-American history.

The unique multi-day performance appeals to all ages, with individual events geared to youngsters and elders:

• Sunday July 23: ‘Forest Welcome Potluck & Performance’ ~ For volunteers, donors, neighbors and special guests 4:30 pm at 491 Discovery Way forest in the Highlands;

• Monday July 24: ‘Mirth of Mindanao’ stories and music of Mindanao, Philippines, with Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor and Nancy playing the “kulintang” — a set of bronze gongs, “a huge ensemble of different size and thicknesses, some gongs that play the melody and all the others drive the rhythm,” says Nancy.
8pm at Odd Fellows Hall 112 Haven Rd., Donation at door;

• Tuesday July 25: ‘Pajama Tales’ family stories 6:30 pm at Orcas Library 500 Rose St. Come in pajamas! Free;

• Wednesday July 26: ‘Wisdom & Wit’ 1:30 pm at Orcas Senior Center 62 Henry Rd., Free;

• Wednesday July 26: ‘In the Spirit of Sacred Stories’ 8 pm at Odd Fellows Hall 112 Haven Rd., Donation at door;

• Thursday July 27: ‘World of Stories’ 8 pm at Emanuel Parish Hall 218 Main St., Donation at door. Anji Ringzin will recite the poetry of the Persian Mystic Rumi, and Fred Klein will also bring poetry to the event.

If anyone wants to volunteer or contribute in any way, please call Robert at 360-376-8705 or write: Contact@ethnohtec.org.

This year, Nancy and Robert have scaled down the performers at the Festival, bringing only one person from Eth-Noh-Tec’s home base in San Francisco. Which is not to say that they’re taking it easy — that’s not in the dynamic duo’s character. Nancy is a student in Walter Henderson’s wood-working class, and has participated in a Therapeutic Touch seminar. She is also teaching a storytelling workshop at the Senior Center. Robert has been in the garden at their Rosario home since arriving on the island earlier this summer, weeding, planting and harvesting.

Nancy says it’s been easier this year, with the StoryFest “flow figured out, we usually have a larger group of volunteers, and in recent years we’ve brought up apprentices from San Francisco, but not this year. Robert’s fellow Odd Fellows have been wonderful; when he was sick with bronchitis, they helped with the forest and painting the signs. That really helped.”

Other help has come from Marj Franke, Eth-Noh-Tech’s “Cssserole Queen,” organizing community members to make food; and from Island Market donations for basic items.Nancy and Robert are delighted that the Friends of the Library are sponsoring StoryFest this year. From the San Francisco Bay area, their friend Les Katsura is coming to help with the festival — “He’s magnificent,” says Nancy.

Nancy’s heritage is Chinese; Robert’s is Filipino-Japanese. Eth-Noh-Tec is a kinetic storytelling company. The name refers to the weaving [tec] together of distinctive cultural elements of the East and West [eth] to create new possibilities [noh]. Eth-Noh-Tec’s commitment to cultural diversity and the contributions of Asian immigrants was on display recently at the National Storytelling Festival and at the Asian Summit, a three-day conference in Kansas City. “We decided we need to gather together and get strength from each other,” said Nancy. Their work included a panel presentation “Invisible No More.”

Nancy speaks of the empowerment of gathering together to increase visibility and recognition: “There are things you can talk about with your own group; as a minority you’re always having to couch things a little differently when you’re in the majority concert.” Participants at the “Invisible No More” panel were encouraged to discuss their ethnic background, where they were born, where they live, and a time in which they experienced racism or being dismissed; with the follow-up question “What are you doing to become visible? to honor and be seen by the majority culture, which sees us as passing for white?”

Nancy recalls living in New Orleans before the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and 70s and being allowed to drink from “white” fountains, sit in “white” sections of public transportation, and use “white” public restrooms, and questions why that is.

“I don’t know why that is, but that’s why we’re here, that’s what the ‘Red Altar Project’ is about.”

The “Red Altar Project,” presented at Orcas StoryFest 2015, was written and performed by Nancy to tell the story of how the Chinese created the fishing industry in Monterey Bay and about the racism they faced. She says, “I don’t think we hear these stories in California history or in American history. These are important stories. One of the primary undercurrents in “Red Altar” goes beyond the specific story of Chinese immigrants in California; the stories of racism and immigration have new relevance today.”

At the World of Stories, on Thursday, July 27, Nancy will perform 10,000 Steps, a play written by Jeff Gillenkirk about Connie King and the Chinese community of Locke, Califronia.Gillenkirk contacted Eth-Noh-Tec about producing the play and Nancy said, “I read it and thought ‘This is so important, so good; I will do a performance reading of it.”

10,000 Steps,  is the story of one feisty Chinese American woman’s self-chosen task to care for the remaining Chinese bachelors of Locke, California, and save this Chinese town by fighting for its citizens to own the land beneath their homes. Sadly Nancy spoke to Gillenkirk about producing the play only once, and a week later, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Gillenkirk’s girlfriend and projectionist collaborated with Wang to perform 10,000 Steps, at the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

“Once upon a time, long ago…” may be how audiences at the Orcas StoryFest 2017 will tell their own children and grandchildren stories of adventure, honor, determination, humor and mystery. Escape to those wonderous stories told in music and dance, at StoryFest 2017 next week.

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