Lynn Canal Community Players, the originator and producer of River Talk, a storytelling series, is joined for third season by Alaska Arts Confluence and Haines Community Education to present a series of storytelling events this November through April.
The first features Daniel L. Henry, frontier rhetoritician, author, and educator. Henry will kick off the storytelling season with a free, public storytelling workshop, Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the Haines High School music room. Participants will hone their skills at shaping their stories and telling them to listeners. They’re encouraged to come to the workshop with a story in mind and be willing to work it into shape for delivery. They’re also encouraged to register in advance with the Alaska Arts Confluence, as space is limited.
Henry’s workshop is scheduled in conjunction with the season premiere of River Talk, a storytelling program organized by Lynn Canal Community Players with Alaska Arts Confluence.
River Talk will run intermittent Thursdays, Nov. 5 through April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Chilkat Center Lobby. Each session, seven local people will tell seven stories for seven minutes each, related to a specific theme. The series draws community members and visitors from all backgrounds and walks of life, offering participants and audience members a way to get to know one another through the oral tradition. Nov. 5’s theme is “A story I’ve always wanted to tell.” Dec. 18’s is “Tales of resilience and adaptation;” Jan. 21’s is “I didn’t think anyone noticed;” March 10th’s is Ferry/Fairy Tales; and April 14th’s is “Disasters.”
The Lynn Canal Community Players is the oldest continuously operating community theatre 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.
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 pubic to foster an appreciation of all arts, with the goals of community enrichment, visitor involvement, and cultural exchange.
