Barbara Reed

Do you have memories of Barbara Reed? Please email to info@storycrossroads.org.

Below is a playlist of Stories from Barbara Reed’s YouTube page. While she may not appear on screen in each piece, the collection reflects her work and vision as a producer—

From Sara deBeer, Collegeage

Share favorite memory/memories with the Story Artist.

“Everyone’s a storyteller” and “everyone’s a storylistener” were the twin mantras that fed Barbara Reed’s soul. And it was around those twin mantras that Barbara built the first few Connecticut Storytelling Festivals. Participants spent the Saturday morning “Gathering” engrossed by a wide spectrum of tellers; after lunch, attendees made their way to rooms scattered throughout Connecticut College, each joining a sharing group with a designated facilitator who invited members of that circle to share memories and stories with one another. Though the festival did not continue to follow that structure, Barbara Reed dedicator her life to supporting beginning storytellers. Those first festivals inspired story sharing groups across the state, and Barbara nurtured new storytellers year after year in the courses she taught at Connecticut College.

Barbara’s conviction that “everyone is a storylistener” led her, often with me as her accomplice, to seek out small venues across the state where we could present storytelling programs. Barbara lived close to the Stony Creek Puppet House, which had been built to present performances of medieval Sicilian puppets. The current owner generously let us use the space for Sunday afternoon family programs, and just as generously hosted raucous parties on Saturday nights. We never knew what we’d find when we arrived. Frequently we needed to clear away empty and partially empty beer cans, taking care not to spill any more beer on the wooden floors, before we set up chairs for children and their parents. For them, listening to stories occasionally mingled with the faint smell of stale beer.

Those beer cans didn’t adequately prepare me for Barbara’s enthusiastic embrace of the opportunity to tell stories at “Arts Night”, sponsored by New Haven’s punk rock bar, “The Grotto”. We parked on a dark street and walked down some concrete steps, Barbara holding onto the iron bar that served as a bannister. When we opened the door, we found ourselves staring into a facsimile of an actual grotto: white painted stalactites hanging down from the ceiling; rough walls, also painted white, covered with black graffiti. The room was crowded with people perhaps one third Barbara’s age, most pressed up to the bustling bar to our left. My heart sank but Barbara journeyed on. I discovered, to my relief, that there was a separate room for “Arts Night”. A stage of sorts, ordinarily the place for bands like “Mental Gymnastics” or “Scruffy the Cat”, was where we’d stand to tell stories. People were busily setting up narrow metal chairs.
“Isn’t this wonderful,” Barbara whispered to me. “I bet none of these people have EVER heard a storyteller.” With Barbara’s faith to carry me along, as well as the earnestness of the Eritrean musician who preceded us, I joined Barbara in the storytelling part of the evening. I no longer remember what story I told, but I do remember how attentively people listened and how once again, I was convinced of the truth of Barbara’s mantra, “Everyone is a storylistener.”

What place(s) did you know the Story Artist?

Many venues in Connecticut. I worked with Barbara every year as she produced the CT Storytelling Festival and served on the CT Storytelling Center board with her for many many years.

Picture below: Sara deBeer with Barbara Reed