Hampton Storytelling Festival
Coming Back for 2024!!!!
July 15 - 21, 2024
Hampton Storytelling Festival July 19-21
Storytelling Academy July 15-19
(if your organization wants an academy, contact us ASAP!)
FREE for the Community
All Events in Hampton, VA
Sheila Arnold
fondly known as Ms. Sheila, has been presenting Storytelling
Programs, Historic Character Presentations, Christian Monologues, Professional Development and Inspirational/Motivational Speaking for schools, festivals, churches and organizations nationally and internationally since 2003. Sheila is also an Historical Consultant for museums, historical societies and organizations. One of Sheila's greatest joys is being the co-founder and Artistic Director of Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST), which formed during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, and continues to be a source of inspiration, strength and action in the storytelling and artists world. Sheila has been honored as a 2021 MacDowell Artist Fellow, a 2020 Mt. Vernon Research Fellow and a
2019 Hewnoaks Artist Colony summer residence Noted Artist. In the past she has worked as a Drama Ministry Director; Colonial Williamsburg employee; Substitute Teacher; and Social Worker for aggressive teens with emotional problems. Sheila lives in Hampton, VA, near her son, Kristopher; her two grandsons, Brooklyn & KJ; as well as, her father and stepmother, Wallace & Vera Arnold. She communicates often with her Atlanta-based sister, Stephanie.
www.mssheila.org
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.
Bil Lepp
Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. He’s the host of the History Channel’s Man Vs History series, the occasional host of NPR’s internationally syndicated Mountain Stage, and a contributing columnist to the West Virginia Gazette-Mail. Bil’s humorous, family friendly tall-tales and stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. Though a five time champion of the WV Liars’s Contest, Lepp’s stories often contain morsels of truth which present universal themes in clever and witty ways. Audiences all across the country, from grade schools to corporate execs to the Comedy Central’s Hudson stage, have been delighted by Bil’s mirthful tales and delightful insights into everyday life. Bil’s books and
audio collections have won awards including the PEN Steven Kroll Award for Children’s Book Writing, Parents’ Choice Gold awards, and awards from the National Parenting Publications Assoc., and the Public Library Assoc. He is also the recipient of the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folk honor. “Just as New Jersey has Bruce Springsteen, West Virginia has…Bil Lepp.” – Goldenseal Magazine
www.leppstorytelling.com
Lynn Ruehlmann
Lynn tells stories for a wide variety of audiences: adults, children, families, special interest groups. She loves all things story, so that means she tells folktales and fairytales, myths, and personal narratives and human interest stories that come from her experiences, and from whatever she and other people find fascinating.
Dylan Pritchett
Newport News, VA
Since 1990, Dylan (pronounced Die-lan) has been a full-time storyteller and currently resides in Newport News, Virginia. Dylan shared a 13-year relationship as one of a handful of teaching artists in the John F. Kennedy Center’s “Partners in Education” National Touring Program. Dylan was the 10 th President of The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. and presently serves as their Festival Director. He’s the author of two children’s picture book entitled “The First Music” and “The Yellow Speckled Black Bird”. Books The First Music & The Yellow Speckled Blackbird...purchased on Amazon or August House (FM) E)
arts4learningva.org/artist/dylan-pritchett/
Jessica Robinson
Jessica Robinson began performing stories in front of audiences in 2007, and founded Better Said Than Done in 2011. In addition to performing with Better Said Than Done, Jessica has performed locally (in the DMV) for Story District, Tales in the Village, The Grapevine, Perfect Liars Club and GMU’s Fall for the Book Festival. Jessica’s one woman show, “Tech Babies” – about technology, infertility, and prenatal complications – was first performed in 2015 at Stories in the Round. Jessica performed at Exchange Place at the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN in 2018. In 2019, Jessica was selected to perform in the Susquehanna Folk Festival’s Liar’s Contest. In 2020, she appeared on PBS’ “Stories from the Stage,” was selected as a New Voice for the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, and was a featured performer in the Women’s Storytelling Festival before everything shut down. Virtually, Jessica has performed for the Queens Theater, Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST), Six Feet Apart Productions, Stories for Healing, the First Person Arts Festival, Mostly True Things, The Story Space, Bridgeport Pechakucha, at 2 National Storytelling Network (NSN) virtual Conferences, as a New Voice in the Stone Soup and Forest Storytelling Festivals, and was an Emcee for the Florida Storytelling Festival. She also shared stories on the Bonkers Brit, Ellementa Woman, Orchid Story, and Funny Parents Podcasts. In 2022, Jessica was a featured storyteller at the Stone Soup Festival, and the Washington
Folk Festival, and was selected to be a featured storyteller for the 2023 Florida Storytelling Festival. Jessica resides in Fairfax, Virginia.
