Lee-Ellen, Biography
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Lee-Ellen Marvin has explored the emerging revival of storytelling from several directions: as a radio producer, events producer, teacher, performer, and folklorist.
Her journey with storytelling began in 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, when she worked as a producer for a children's radio program, The Spider's Web distributed by National Public Radio. She produced half-hour segments presenting the storytelling of Jay O'Callahan, Brother Blue, Marshall Dodge, Laura Simms, Ray Hicks, Jackie Torrence, and many others. In 1981, wanting to work more directly with stories, storytellers, and listeners, Lee-Ellen joined the emerging Storytellers in Concert collective, serving as producer for a series of storytelling events for adult listeners which gained respect and recognition for the art form in the Boston area. She was appointed to develop and direct the New England Storytelling Center of Lesley University which resulted in the creation of Sharing the Fire: New England Storytelling Conference (www.nestorytelling.org) and The Three Apples Storytelling Festival. A modest grant from the Folk Arts division of the National Endowment for the Arts enabled her to develop a one year project to train professional storytellers in fieldwork techniques, with the purpose of identifying and documenting traditional storytellers of the region. In 1987, Lee-Ellen earned a Master's of Arts in Storytelling through the Independent Study Program at Lesley University and upon graduation, moved to California to work as a freelance storyteller and teacher. The next five years marked an extremely productive and creative time for her as a performer: her audio recording of stories for children, Animal Tales was published by Yellow Moon Press and she self-published a handbook on storytelling titled Telling the Bones; she adapted two books into full-length storytelling programs (In the Shadow of a Rainbow: The True Story of a Friendship Between Man and Wolf by Robert Franklin Leslie, and The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett). Her work was presented at Storytellers in Concert, Winter Tales of Sierra Nevada, Pasadena Storytellers, and the Monterey Storytelling Series. She performed extensively for elders, adults, families and children in schools, libraries, and community centers throughout the area. She was included on NPR’s “Living on Earth” in 1996 with one of her wolf stories. Starting in 1988, Lee-Ellen taught storytelling for education majors at San Jose State University. The school's multicultural student body inspired Lee-Ellen to look more carefully at how culture shapes storytelling practices. This led her to graduate studies in Philadelphia. She finished her Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. Her dissertation, Once, Twice, Thrice: Gujarati Immigrants and their Storytelling explores the role of grandmothers as storytellers in families from India, and the contrasts "metafolklore" concepts of storytelling with actual practice. Lee-Ellen lives in Ithaca, NY where she taught storytelling for the Department of Speech Communication at Ithaca College from 2000 until 2008. She joined the staff of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service in 2008 as the educator using storytelling and community role playing as tools for opening conversations about difficult topics. Since retiring from her “day jobs” she’s returned to storytelling, ready to explore new topics, especially around themes of sustainability and the environment. |
Examples of My Storytelling
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