HAINES — Seven local storytellers are slated to tell their tales of resilience and adaptation at Lynn Canal Community Players’ Feb. 18 River Talk event.
Tim Huber, Bruce Bauer, Bill Holton, Judith McDermaid and Tresham Gregg will take to the Chilkat Center lobby stage at 7 p.m. Two slots have yet to be confirmed.
Organizers transform the Chilkat Center lobby into the Chit-Chat Cafe, with everyone sitting around small tables enjoying local music and the company of their friends and neighbors.
“It’s a warm, congenial atmosphere. All we need is a fireplace or a potbelly stove,” said Lynn Canal Community Players secretary Annette Smith. “Some stories are serious and most are humorous. We’d like to get a few more Haines historical stories, but people just seem to like to hear about other people’s experiences and their particular take on things.”
River Talk will run intermittently Thursdays through April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Chilkat Center lobby. The dynamic, community-powered storytelling series draws lively crowds to share in the stories of Chilkat River Valley residents. At each session, seven local people will tell seven stories for seven minutes each, related to a specific theme. The intimate, café setting encourages community members to connect in new and surprising ways over the sharing of stories. The series draws community members and visitors from all backgrounds and walks of life, offering participants and audience members a creative way to get to know one another through the oral tradition.
Themes and dates for the winter/spring River Talk Season are as follows:
• Thursday, Feb. 18: Tales of resilience and adaptation
• Thursday, March 10: Ferry/Fairy Tales
• Thursday, April 14: Disasters
The Lynn Canal Community Players is the oldest continuously operating community theater group in Alaska. It was organized in 1956 by a group of culturally minded Haines residents who decided it would be fun to put on plays for the entertainment and enrichment of the community. The LCCP has continued to foster the arts in the Upper Lynn Canal in many ways: Sponsoring and operating the Concert Series during the 60s and 70s, organizing and hosting the biennial Alaska State Community Theatre Festival (ACTFEST) for 20 years, producing a long running summer melodrama to enhance the tourist season in Haines, operating a Summer Youth Theatre Conservatory, providing drama workshops and scholarships to drama camps, in addition to producing a season of plays each year.
River Talk was conceived in the spirit of entertainment and education that is the mission of the Lynn Canal Community Players. The Alaska Arts Confluence partnered with Lynn Canal Community Players for River Talk’s third season.
Alaska Arts Confluence is a 501(c)3 tax exempt nonprofit dedicated to promoting participation in the arts by providing art education and cultural enrichment opportunities for artists, residents and visitors of the Chilkat Valley. Projects include Art on Main Street, which showcases the work of local artists and artisans in professionally designed storefront window displays downtown, and the Historic Fort William H. Seward Sculpture Garden and Interpretive Wayside Project, revitalizing Historic Fort Seward with commissioned art works by local artists, locally designed interpretive signs and an interpretive walking tour. Art on Main Street and the Fort Seward project are funded by a grant from the ArtPlace Foundation. Alaska Arts Confluence programs and projects provide arts education opportunities open to the general public to foster an appreciation of all arts, with the goals of community enrichment, visitor involvement, and cultural exchange.
For more information, contact Carol Tuynman at 303-0222.
