Print Issue: November 21, 2002

Catholic, Jewish Storytellers Join Forces In 'Tellabration'

ATLANTA - "Tapestry Tellers" Audrey Galex and B.J. Abraham will be among the featured storytellers at the 2002 Tellabration in Atlanta, an annual storytelling event presented this same weekend across the world.

The Atlanta event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 23 at The Carter Center.

In their program entitled "Tapestry: An Arab-Jewish Storytelling Dialogue," the two Atlanta-based storytellers - one Lebanese, one Jewish - offer an alternative way to stop the war raging between their two peoples. Abraham, a Lebanese Catholic, and Galex, who is Jewish, have teamed up to share Arab and Jewish folklore, as well as proverbs, personal stories, song and poetry as a plea for peace in the Middle East. They have performed "Tapestry" in a variety of settings, from retirement communities to schools and churches. They have also presented a showcase performance of it at the 2002 National Storytelling conference in Denver.

According to Atlanta-based storyteller Connie Dodge, "In their obvious affection and care for one another, B.J. and Audrey are modeling exactly what it takes to create peace in the world, one relationship at a time."

Tellabration originator J.G. Pinkerton envisioned this international event as a means of building community support for storytelling. In 1988 the event was launched by the Connecticut Storytelling Center in six locations across the state. A great success, it extended to several other states the following year and then in 1990 expanded nationwide under the umbrella of the National Storytelling Network, later the National Storytelling Association. By 1998 there were Tellabration events on every continent but Antarctica. In 1999 333 sites, 400 producers and 6,700 production staffers spun stories to a combined audience of over 34,000. And it has expanded to include a weekend of storytelling that builds appreciation and advocacy for the art form at storytelling centers, colleges and universities, schools, museums, libraries, performing arts centers, elder hostels and on trains and planes. It has also evolved at many sites from a showcase for storytelling to a community-support project. For information contact B.J. Abraham at (404) 633-3277 or bjstory@hotmail.com or Audrey Galex at (404) 486-7377 or audrey@RootsWings.com.