gingerparkinson@gmail.com
(801) 400-3568
Ginger Parkinson is a spunky, energetic storyteller and coach. She has spun her magic at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Weber State Storytelling Festival, Thanksgiving Point, Red Butte Gardens, City Creek Center, Traverse Mountain Outlets, school and libraries across the Western United States. Ginger is a avid storytelling coach. She has done residencies Riverview Jr. High and Hillcrest Jr. High. She takes students who have never been exposed to storytelling and gets them ready to perform in the Murray City Storytelling Festival. Nebo School district title VII had her do a four month residency teach Native Americans how to tell their own traditional stories. For nine years, she has coached Steffani Raff and Karla Huntsman on a regular basis.
Ginger’s Residency Philosophy & Approach
I set up a safe place to try storytelling. I do not allow harsh criticisms when new storytellers are experimenting with the art form. I teach the value of listening and giving specific appreciations to each other. Because they learn to coach each other, I use the Round Robin technique so everyone tells, and everyone listens. Nobody stands around waiting for me to help them.
I used imaging tools to help the students imagine sight, sounds, touch, taste, smells, emotions and kinesthetic energy of their stories. A vivid imagination creates great easy to understand stories.
I use a game called Silence, Blabber & Tell to help storytellers use there body effectively. Everyone starts telling their stories, When I yell silence, everyone keeps telling their stories with pantomime. When I say Blabber, I have them tell the stories in gibberish. They have to use their voice inflections and body to convey the meaning of the story. When they tell they can use their voices and body to tell the story.
To work on story structure I play a game called Director’s Chair. The listener is the director, they can choose between, Talk it, which means the storyteller must add dialogue between characters. Make it Pretty, describe what is going on, or where you are at in the story. Move it, means move the plot to the next point as quickly as possible. The storyteller tell, but must change it up by what the director tells them to do. It mixes it up. Often tellers learn they spend too much time in describing thing, and not moving the story plot along.
Another game I play is Five, Three and One to help storytellers learn what is necessary for the story to be understood. First everyone tells the story in five minutes, then without speeding up the storytellers speech, tell it in three, then one minute. It helps storytellers get the main point of the story. When they get to tell the story with the full five minutes, the storyteller has a better understanding of how every part of the story should lead to the most important plot points. This exercise often gets rid of distracting tangents.
Ginger’s Special Training
Workshops I have Attended:
Timpanogos Storytelling Conference 13 years
Steffani Raff, Imaging Riding Intensive
Donald Davis, Personal Stories Intensive
Doug Lipman, Coaching Coaches Intensive
Doug Lipman, Coaching Workshop
Elizabeth Ellis, Storytelling Workshop
Regi Carpenter, Workshop
Dean Hughes, Nonfiction Writers Conference
Performances:
Thanksgiving Point, Mrs. Claus & Veronica Broomstich the Witch
Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Pre-shows & Hauntings Pre-show
Weber State Storytelling Festival
Traverse Mountain Outlets, Mrs. Claus & Veronica Broomstitch
City Creek Center, Mrs. Frost
Red Butte Gardens, Garden After Dark & Family Camp out (9 years)
Adobe: Family Picnic Day
Novel: Bring you Kids to Work Day
Spanish Fork City: Harvest Moon Hurrah (6 years)
Roots Tech Conference
Schools: Over 300 performances
Libraries: Over 220 performances
Residencies Ginger Has Done
2015-2016 (Dates Not Set Yet) Riverview Jr. High School, Murray, Ut “First Exposure to Storytelling Festival” for one hour a day for 15 days youth ages 12 to 14.
2015-2016 (Dates Not Set Yet) Hillcrest Jr. High School, Murray UT “First Exposure to Storytelling Festival” one hour a day for 15 days.
3/17/2014-3/26/2014 Riverview Jr. High School, Murray, UT- “First Exposure to Festival” for 1 hour a day for 8 days youth ages 12-14
3/16/14-3/26/14 Hillcrest Jr. High School, Murray, UT- “First Exposure to Festival” one hour a day for 8 days for youth ages 13 -15
9/30/2006-1/30/2007, Title VII Nebo School District “Teaching Native Americans to tell Traditional Stories.” 3 hours a day twice a week for four months youth ages 5 to 17.