Debut: The Fusion of Storytelling and Play November

Debut is a fusion of storytelling, story making, play, coaching, and community. Three professional storytellers will tell a story that they are debuting. This month, the talented storytellers are Jeff Gere, Pete Griffin, and Jeff Doyle.   The story they tell has never been told in public.

We believe that the first telling can be a wonderful shared experience. The motto is "There is beauty in the beginning." This is the beginning of each tellers’ stories. However, it is told with the skill of a professional storyteller so it bound to be inviting.

Then, Story Coach (Mediator) Dr. Kevin Cordi, author of Playing with Stories: Story Crafting for Writers, Teachers, and Other Imaginative Thinkers will lead these storytellers as they play with this new story.  Kevin will use proven playful practices and audience members will experience new ways they could work with their own stories.

A little bit about the tellers:

•  Jeff Gere

Jeff Gere blends talents as painter, puppeteer, and mime into performances which have electrified audiences in Hawaii for 30 years. Jeff's physical energy, morphing elastic face and voice characterizations make his shows events. Jeff becomes his stories! 

Born on Halloween, Jeff performs constantly. He produced/hosted/ told in the Talk Story Festival, Hawaii’s biggest storytelling celebration (26 years), Story TV (23 years monthly), Talk Story Radio (2 years weekly, Hawaii Public Radio), story camps & conferences. He’s performed at the National Storytelling Festival (2010, Residency 2013) and Spain, Hong Kong, Turkey, Vancouver & the Yukon before retiring from Oahu Parks Department to end 2014. In 2015, Jeff began international tours (Thailand, China, India, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Java, Romania & Kenya.) During covid, he’s been active in local, national & international virtual events as performer & producer.  See tons of him on YouTube. (www.jeffgere.com) 

• Jeff Doyle

Jeff started telling stories around the campfire at the family campout when his kids were elementary age.  His first story was The Blue Ape, which the kids asked to hear over and over again.  Before long, the kids were requesting new material and Jeff eagerly took to the task, eventually becoming the hit of campfire time. 

He joined the Ann Arbor Storytellers’ Guild in 2005 and his passion for developing and refining this art form has only intensified with each performance. Jeff enjoys telling all types of tales, but specializes in funny stories and scary stories, which range from the somewhat scary to the truly terrifying.

In October 2006, Jeff organized the very first Scary Story Festival at the Howell Opera House. The actual theater section of the Opera House looks essentially as it did when it closed in 1925. It has a reputation for being haunted and is the perfect venue for the telling of the scariest of stories, which occurs there annually.

Jeff is an ardent believer that his audience should have fun and be entertained. His dedication to your satisfaction is what makes Jeff Doyle a premier storyteller.

• Pete Griffin

Pete joined the US Forest Service in 1973 as a wildlife biologist. As a District Ranger on the Tongass National Forest in Juneau, Alaska, in 1999, he started recording short natural history vignettes for radio. The essays documented his exploration of the rainforest and incorporated Pete's experiences growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (yes, he's a Yooper).

Following retirement in 2010, he now tells natural history stories aboard Disney and Princess cruise ships in Southeast Alaska (33 cruises as of 2019).  On board he performs stage shows for hundreds of passengers at a time, featuring stories, facts, and photos about common and not-so-common Alaska wildlife. 

Pete offers storytelling workshops teaching his unique way of blending personal stories with science and natural history. He performs at libraries and is regularly shares his stories on the Red Jacket Jamboree, an old-time radio show originating in Calumet, Michigan.

Pete's book, Stories of a Forest Ranger (Parkhurst Brothers Publishers) is now available from Parkhurst Brothers Publishers,  Amazon.com, and Shop Now on this website! Following is an early review:

These gleanings from the life of a forest ranger give great insight not only to those who work in the field but to everyone who must navigate the pathways of work and compromise in service to a dream. Full of homespun wisdom and told with honesty, modesty and such a beautiful directness it is like an encounter with Pete himself, these anecdotal stories take us behind the scenes of a life lived close to the wild. His pieces have a glorious amble to them, leaving space for the listener to ruminate on the turns of their own lives and reminding us of the opportunity we have to discover a deeper meaning no matter what the difficulties.

We hope people can join us for the novel event of performance and play. Ticket holders will be sent an email 3 hours prior to the event with login information.

The event is a fusion of storytelling and play. The attendees will have the honor of being the first audience of these tales. Proceeds from this event helps the event and the tellers.