Community tales: NM Jewish Storytelling Festival features performances, stories and workshops

Congregation Nahalat Shalom welcomes all to its New Mexico Jewish Storytelling Festival 2024.

The event takes place Friday, Nov. 8, through Sunday, Nov. 10, at Congregation Nahalat Shalom. It will feature performances, stories and workshops with six storytellers. A full schedule is available at nahalatshalom.org/storytelling.

Joanie Calem is a singer, songwriter, storyteller and inclusion advocate that hails from Columbus, Ohio. Calem’s stories might be sung, spoken, drummed or danced and provide a way for the listeners to participate, according to the festival website.

Community tales: NM Jewish Storytelling Festival features performances, stories and workshops

Cherie Karo Schwartz, of Denver, has been a storyteller, author and educator for more than five decades, according to the festival website. She shares spirit-filled Jewish tales across the country and abroad. She will be offering a two-part beginner’s storytelling workshop.

Karen Golden, of Los Angeles, will present her mixed media show of storytelling, music and visuals, “Pilviskai: My Father’s Village,” followed by Klezmer Music and dancing with the Nahalat Shalom Community Klezmer Band.

Corrales storyteller Bob Kanegis, who goes by MoBob, serves as a story coach and helps people find their craft and tell their most important stories, according to the website. Kanegis will hold a storytelling workshop during the festival.

Puppeteer Marc Wunder has been performing for decades to audiences of all ages. His craft has been appreciated at Hanukkah festivals, state fairs, school assemblies, libraries and other events.

Mark Binder, who goes by the pen name Izzy Abrahmson, will be performing “The Better Place,” a show from Izzy Abrahmson’s “Village Life” from 1:30 to 2:20 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. Binder, who is from Rhode Island, is an Audie Award-nominated storyteller. His new book, “The Council of Wise Women,” will be available at the festival. He also will talk about the book during a discussion following “The Better Place” performance.

“For 20-25, years, I’ve been a performing storyteller,” Binder said. “This actually goes a little more toward a one-man show than a straight storytelling piece. Storytelling is sometimes a little more conversational, and I’m intentionally being a little bit more theatrical with this piece, because I want to take it other places besides just storytelling festivals.”

He added, “The Better Place” is a story about a man who is tired of people laughing at him.

“Pretty much everything he does, they just laugh at him,” Binder explained. “It’s in the context of his community is a very laughable place. It’s a fairly light-hearted place and somewhat foolish place. So the challenge of being yourself, in some ways, is what the piece is about.”

He said “The Better Place” ponders the question, “What if we could just be who we are and have that be something great?”

Following “The Better Place” performance, Binder will hold a workshop talking about the difference between storytelling and writing and theater. He will answer questions from attendees. He also will read from his book, “The Council of Wise Women.”

“‘The Council of Wise Women’ is a book about an ordinary woman,” Binder said. “Her extraordinary daughter is in a secret society, and it’s in this village in Eastern Europe.”

He added the book is not about politics or a right way or wrong way but rather about a community that happens to be Jewish.

“You don’t need to know anything about Judaism,” he explained. “You don’t need to feel like you’re being invaded by the religion to enjoy it. It’s not going to preach at you. It’s a story about people.”