Tales from the Brothers Grimm, and Beyond
Storyteller Susan Gordon
Monday, December 7, 2009 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM EST
Research 1, Room 163
Please join us for an evening of tales for adults from the Brothers Grimm and beyond, as well as a conversation about storytelling as a healing art, especially in therapeutic settings.
Susan Gordon will tell three stories:
“The Handless Maiden”
A father cuts off his daughter’s hands to save himself from the Devil, as the mother stands by. The daughter leaves home, meets a loving king who marries her and gives her silver hands. But the Devil intervenes, and once again she has to flee--this time with her baby son. Then in a green and growing wood, her life changes forever.
“Shudder and Shake”
A young man thought to be a simpleton by his enraged father is booted out of his home after admitting that he has no fears and that his goal in life was to learn how to shudder and shake. His journey takes him to a dark glen where the dead bodies hang in the trees above him, and to an abandoned castle . . .
“Nya Nya”
The Paramount Chief, jealous of his stepdaughter Kitila, calls for his huntsmen to search for the monster, slice off his hideous skin, and wrap the skin forever around Kitila. How can she become herself again?
Susan Gordon, a professional storyteller from Ijamsville, Maryland, does much of her work in therapeutic settings. She has designed storytelling programs and related activities for such groups as the elderly, emotionally handicapped children, women jail inmates, adolescent boys in residential treatment centers, and survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse. Currently, she leads several groups of storytelling for women exploring their life journeys, and she tells stories to terminally ill children as part of the Georgetown Hospital=s Children’s Program. A performer of national stature, she has recently told her tales at American University and the Washington Storytellers Theater. An employee of the Frederick County Health Department, Ms. Gordon holds a Masters of Arts degree in therapeutic storytelling from Antioch College. To read about Ms. Gordon’s creative process, see her articles on “The Handless Maiden” in Joan Radner’s Feminist Messages, and on “Juniper Tree” in Kay
Stone's Burning Brightly.
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Department of English and the George Mason Folklore Program.
