The Stories Continue...
Featured Storytellers
Check back often for updates to our Featured Storyteller Lineup for 2026!
Nestor Gomez
Nestor "the boss" Gomez was born in Guatemala and moved to Chicago with his family in the mid-80's. At that time he undocumented, had a stutter and didn't know English. He didn't have a voice. Today Nestor speaks English with a sexy Latin accent, has become an American citizen and a storyteller, winner of close to 100 Moth Slams. He found his voice. He is also the creator, producer, curator and host of 80 Minutes Around the World, a storytelling show that features the stories of immigrants, their descendants and allies.
Anthony Burcher
Anthony Burcher grew up in Grafton VA, and now tells of that experience in ways that will make you laugh until your sides split. He spent most of his young life hearing himself described as "He Ain't Right..." Anthony's gift (or curse) of wit has entertained friends and family for a generation. Now his humor and his mastery of "Spoonerisms" (aka "lackwards banguage") entertains audiences in his native Virginia and coast to coast. Anthony's books, 101 Games that Teach Storytelling Skills and Another 102 Games that Teach Storytelling Skills!, have been honored by Storytelling World and his recordings delight listeners of all ages.
Paul Strickland
Paul Strickland is a professional storyteller and theatre artist who lives in Kentucky. He has more hours of unique family friendly stories in his repertoire than he has fingers, including reupholstered folk tales, fairytales for adults and future adults, tall-tales and even historical stories that just happened to have never happened. Paul was a Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center in 2024. He was a FEATURED TELLER: NEW VOICE at the National Storytelling Festival in 2023. He was also a Featured Teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in September of 2023, and has been a featured teller at several major storytelling festivals, including the Cave Run Storytelling Festival, in 2022. In November of 2018 he made his NYC stage debut Off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse with his shadow and flashlight ghost story play "13 Dead Dreams of "Eugene."Always adapting to whatever audience is in front of him, Paul LOVES telling stories in every imaginable environment, from comedy clubs to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons - where he was NOT an inmate at the time. Collections of his stories have won "Best of Fest" honors more than 18 times at Fringe Theatre Festivals in the US and Canada. Selections from his comedy performance "Levels of Difficulty" are still played nearly every day on SiriusXM radio.
Charlotte Blake Alston
Charlotte Blake Alston is a nationally acclaimed storyteller, narrator, instrumentalist, librettist and singer who has performed in venues throughout North America and abroad for over 30 years. She is committed to the preservation of African and African American oral storytelling traditions. Her stories include folktales, historical stories and songs that highlight the richness of those traditions. Her presentation style is engaging and often participatory. She sometimes incorporates traditional instruments such as thumb piano, djembe, or the 21-string kora. Her wide range of talents includes collaborations with other arts institutions. The 2020-2021 season marks her 30th consecutive season serving as host and narrator on family concerts for The Philadelphia Orchestra; her 27th as Host of sound All Around, the orchestra’s preschool concert series. She hosted family and school concerts at Carnegie Hall for 19 years and has performed for Lincoln Center Institute and the Juilliard School digital learning platform. She has appeared in such venues as the Smithsonian Institution, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Storytelling Festival and the National Festival of Black Storytelling.
Janice "Jay" Johnson
Janice “Jay” Johnson spent most of her professional life working in youth
development organizations. She is a newly minted storyteller whose only regret is that she didn’t start doing this earlier. Jay lives in Newport News, VA.
Darci Tucker
Who is Darci? An historian, author, playwright, actress and storyteller.
She portrays more than 20 women from American history, and performs in venues nationwide. She literally wrote the book on how to portray people from history and literature, and she trains teachers and museum professionals to teach through storytelling and character interpretation. She is a veteran museum educator, was Founding Director of a character interpretation program at a Tennessee university, and consults for museums and municipalities who want to improve their visitors’ experiences. She was recently granted a Mount Vernon Research Fellowship to turn her original, one-woman play, Revolutionary Women™, into a book for middle grade readers.