First Friday Storynight at BLTC
March 2, 2012 – 7-9pm
Better Living Through Coffee – 100 Tyler St., Port Townsend, WA 98368
$10 Suggested Donation; no one turned away
Come join the Mythsinger Foundation and host Brian Rohr in welcoming back one of Port Townsend’s favorite storytellers, Pam McWethy, as we engage in doing what humans have been doing for thousands of years – listening and sharing in the oral tradition of story and song.
This Friday March 2, McWethy will tell the story of the Greek Goddess Athena. Her birth and the challenges of her life echo the tumultuousness and unpredictability of our own time. Athena offers surprising solutions and outcomes for contemplation in our modern world. Being that Pam is a retired farmer, mother, grandmother, teacher, and midwife to the soul from the back woods of New Hampshire, you can be assured that her telling of Athena’s saga will be richly embellished with insights that draw from both the human and the animal communities of life.
In honor of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, Brian Rohr will guide us into a world where everything has gone topsy-turvy and a people are praying for their survival. The traditional story of Esther is one that dances with the themes of betrayal, courage, cunning and celebration, sharing what happens when a woman takes a risk to save her people. While the story may deal with real fears, the holiday of Purim, where the story is shared each year, is one of joy and celebration often referred to as the Jewish Mardi Gras.
As is our tradition, we will also host an open mic section, so please bring your own short story to share… only rules are it must obviously be a story and no reading, everything must be shared in the ways of the oral tradition.
About the Artists:
Before coming to Port Townsend in 2005, Pam McWethy spent 35 years homestead farming in New Hampshire while raising 4 children and keeping company all sorts of wild and domestic animals. Included with this were stints as a middle and high school teacher, a terminal care provider and continuing her understanding of human behavior through the study of myth, religion, psychology, shamanism, symbolic art and nature. Since arriving in PT, Pam has become a board member on the Mythsinger Foundation, serves on the advisory board of Songwriting Works and greatly enjoys singing with the Songlines choir.
Brian Rohr is a storyteller and healing arts practitioner living here in Port Townsend, WA. Having moved from Chicago in 2007 to study with local master Storyteller Daniel Deardorff, he has since shared myth from different cultures to national and international audiences. Locally, Rohr first began hosting a bi-monthly Storynight at the Boiler Room in 2009, before moving it to its present monthly format at Better Living Through Coffee for the past 18 months. He is an active Board Member of the Mythsinger Foundation and fully believes that the old stories are alive, vital and can inform us on how to live our lives as authentic human beings.
About First Friday Storynight
This monthly event explores the art and ritual of the oral tradition: sharing the old myths, folk tales, and fairy tales along with more modern stories and personal sharings. Showcased will be local and visiting storytellers, musicians and weavers of magic with words. Each month, there are two to three featured tellers, and space for guests in the audience to share a story or two during the open mic sections. First Friday Storynight is supported by the Port Townsend Arts Commission.
BLTC is a family owned and operated coffee house located in Downtown Port Townsend.
For more information on this event, please call: 360.531.2535 or visit www.brianrohr.com