PARTNER PROGRAM | Tales from the Collection with the Story Circle at Proctors

Sunday, June 11th at 2:00 pm

Included with Museum Admission!

Join us for an afternoon of storytelling with the Story Circle at Proctors as they present, “Tales from the Collection: Everything Has a Story” on Sunday, June 11th at 2:00 pm! “Tales from the Collection” will feature the voices of five local storytellers: Eileen Egan Mack, Karen Pillsworth, Kate Dudding, Mary Murphy, and Beverly Schwartz.

Coordinated by the Story Circle at Proctors, these storytellers selected artifacts from the Albany Institute of History & Art’s collection to inspire their writing process; ultimately creating stories that range from fairy tales and folklore to personal stories. This afternoon storytelling will be the debut showcase for these stories, presented in our Key Cultural Center with an image of the collection item that inspired their tale.

This event welcomes story lovers of all ages! See you at the museum.

Meet the Storytellers!

Eileen Egan Mack was happy to support Claire Nolan’s vision of integrating storytelling and the Albany Institute of History and Art’s collections. She was inspired by the photo of the baby booties and created a story about the shoes’ fictional history set in their historic time frame. Her own storytelling history includes personal stories, folktales, and stories honoring nature. She has written and produced two one-woman shows, “Voice of the Mountains: Jeanne Robert Foster, an Adirondack Legacy,” and “Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton: Albany Girl/ American Woman.”

As a vocalist, she enjoys performing jazz, Broadway, folk, and classical music. Eileen was a speech/language therapist, teacher, and museum educator and attended Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake CSD, and State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Kingston, New York’s Storyteller Laureate Karen Sangaline Pillsworth, has been spinning her tales for over 35 years. Her work has taken her “to the ends of the earth”, telling stories from Newfoundland, Canada to Sydney, Australia. She has performed in libraries, schools, historic sites, camps, parks, festivals, and even on a stage floating on a lake in a cave! Karen’s work as a story practitioner has led her to work with people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, families in homeless shelters, and people in senior residencies where she helps them all realize the most important story in the world is THEIR story, no matter where they are in life!

Karen is co-founder, along with Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi of Tall Tales-Short Story Productions which has produced Tellabrations and other storytelling programs. Karen serves on the board of the Multifaith Storytelling Institute.

Mary Murphy is a writer/storyteller who has told regionally at Proctors and Story Sundays in Schenectady, NY and nationally at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro TN and the Clever Gretchen Storytelling Festival at Syracuse University, among others. She has been a teacher and a mentor for young storytellers in schools. She has been a coach for Children at the Well, a nationally recognized, interfaith youth storytelling group located in the Capital District of New York State. Her stories have been published in anthologies and magazines.

Kate Dudding, an award-winning storyteller from Clifton Park, NY has been sharing entertaining, heartwarming and memorable stories since 1995. While specializing in true stories about real people who made a difference, she also delights in telling participation stories with children, creating stories from the past for all ages, and singing old-time songs with senior citizens. Many of her five CDs received national awards. She won the 2010 National Storytelling Conference story slam in Los Angeles. 

Beverly Schwartz was an elementary teacher for 35 years in Troy, New York.   Beverly was also a substitute principle for Troy elementary schools.  She received the 1992 Christa McCauliffe fellowship award  for creating an innovative, hands on program she named STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. The STEM program is now used worldwide. Beverly was featured on NBC national news in 1990 when Jane Pauley featured her and the STEM program she developed.  

Beverly is now retired and has become a storyteller in the US and other countries around the world. Beverly enjoys telling a variety of stories, historical and personal. Beverly participates in helping animal rescue groups and she is an avid gardener.

To reach Beverly’s STEM webpage click here. To contact Beverly, email schwartzbeverly68@gmail.com.