Out Of Season
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
Out Of Season is a Cinderella-type story, rather similar to the Russian Vasalisa, which is rather similar to the story of Hansel and Gretel. These stories just won't stay in their own boxes. This is a tale from what used to be called Yugoslavia, before it was chopped up into smaller nations with less humorous-sounding names. We bring you this story from a country that no longer exists, from a town that didn't exist back then: Kill Devil Hills, NC. In fact, it didn't exist in 1903 when the Wright Brothers made history here. So the site of their experiments was recorded as Kitty H ..read more
Visit website
Common Sense
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
Common Sense is a story from Jamaica with roots in Africa that involves the legendary trickster man-spider, Anansi. Many tales are told about Anansi not only in Africa, but in America and nearby islands. He seems to have come to the New World along with the slaves, which is hardly surprising. This particular story is rather similar to Anansi and the Story Box, a tale from Ghana that we have performed on stage. We come to you from Jonesboro, Arkansas, where we are in the middle of our summer season, which we kicked off with 17 performances at libraries in Los Angeles County. In the midst o ..read more
Visit website
The Lady Of Stavoren
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The Lady Of Stavoren is a tale that has been told for centuries, in dozens of variations. Stavoren, on the coast of The Netherlands, is now a village of fewer than 1000 people. But 1000 years ago, it was a major seaport. Then during the Middle Ages, a sand bar formed in the harbor that made it impossible for ships to get in and out. As a result, the city fell into decline. This story, probably entirely fictitious, was created to explain how the sand bar got there. In 1969, a statue of the Lady Of Stavoren looking out onto the harbor was erected in the town. You might notice that like our story ..read more
Visit website
The Three Heirs
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The Three Heirs is a tale from Germany, in the tradition of worldwide sibling rivalry yarns. As usual in these stories, the youngest brother gets the best of his older siblings; even though they are older, bigger and stronger, and consider him a simpleton, he triumphs with his honesty and wits. Compare the Russian story The Flying Ship and the Fool of the World and the Hispanic tale Juan Bobo. The latter even involves a door and a tree like the present story. We come to you from Reno, Nevada, where we are in the midst of putting together our new production, Tales Afoot, which opens next month ..read more
Visit website
The Quackling
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The Quackling, from France, is an odd fable in which not only is the main character a talking animal, but it's taken for granted that inanimate objects can talk as well. It involves quite a suspension of disbelief, even to the point that in the original story there is no explanation given for why the duck doesn't just fly or swim to solve his problems. This story is of the type in which the main character makes clever use of what appear to be useless objects in order to get out of a jam, and win fame and fortune. This motif occurs not only in folktales, but also in other types of fiction. As w ..read more
Visit website
The Troll and the Shoes
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The Troll and the Shoes is one of those stories about racing in which (as in The Tortoise and the Hare) the hero wins by means of some skill besides sheer speed -- i.e., determination, imagination, knowledge, and/or (as in the present case) trickery. This will be one of the stores we will be presenting next summer at libraries for the summer reading theme "Ready, Set, Read." We come to you from Bowie, MD., having just wound up our fall stint in New England, and now beginning to migrate south for the winter. We were able to attend and perform at the New England Library Association's a ..read more
Visit website
Vasalisa and Baba Yaga
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
Vasalisa and Baba Yaga brings together two characters from Russian folklore who each appear in several other stories. Vasalisa is a sort of Russian Cinderella/ Hansel and Gretel, and Baba Yaga is the nasty old witch/ogre who lives in the deep dark forest and eats bad children. We come to you from Dedham, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston), where we just performed for the summer reading program. One of the stories we performed was Davy Crockett, which was appropriate, since we performed on August 17, which was David (Davy) Crockett's birthday. Three more performances after that, and our busy su ..read more
Visit website
The Tortoise and the Hare
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The summer is racing along at a rabbit's pace, so it's a good time to bring you "The Tortoise and the Hare", popularized by the Greek slave Aesop, who told a great many fabulous fables. In later centuries, many similar stories sprang up in many cultures around the world. This is a sort of sneak preview of the story for our audiences, as next summer we'll be unveiling a stage version of the tale that will incorporate some of the elements we've put into this podcast. By the way, do you recognize the references to other stories and songs we sneak into this story? (If you don't see the answers bel ..read more
Visit website
Anansi and the Story Box
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
Anansi and the Story Box is a tale from Ghana in Africa, about the legendary spider-man hero of the Ashanti tribe, and how he brought stories to the world. It bears certain similarities to the Greek myths of Pandora and Prometheus, and includes a plot point similar to The Tar Baby, which made its way from Africa to America. We come to you from Reno, NV, where we are putting together our new show that will premiere this summer.  We recently returned to our roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we hiked a trail at Land's End, near The Golden Gate. We also took a ride on the Niles Canyo ..read more
Visit website
The Snake and the Frog
Activated Stories
by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza
3y ago
The Snake and the Frog is a trickster tale from the Island of Andros in the Bahamas. It's similar to many Anansi stories, and for good reason: Anansai the spiderman, according to legend, made his way from Africa to the New World to comfort and inspire slaves. Thus, we have many Anansi stories in the U.S., as well as in these islands just offshore. We chose this story because we recently returned from a 4-day trip to The Bahamas, visiting the cities of Freeport and Nassau. At Lucaya Marketplace in Freeport, we encountered a colorful character dressed in traditional costume, who told us about th ..read more
Visit website

Follow Activated Stories on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR