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The King & The Thrush-- tales of goodness and greed
a program of traditional folk storytelling, with harp and concertina
by Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder
THE SHOW
The King and the Thrush is a funny and involving program for adults, teens, and children 6-12. The show's timely theme of goodness vs. greed, together with its riotous good humor, ageless appeal, and exuberant audience involvement, makes it an especially appropriate piece of holiday entertainment and a hit with audiences at any time of year. The tales are from India, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe; the music is from Ireland and Scotland. But the folktale is a universal form, and these veteran performers make sure that everyone in the audience feels thoroughly at home.
THE PERFORMERS
Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder are two of New England’s foremost interpreters of the traditional oral tale. Their previous recordings have received high awards from the American Library Association and the Parents’ Choice Foundation. As they perform together, their voices intertwine and overlap in a kind of narrative counterpoint, a compelling alloy of technique and soul. Harp and concertina weave music into the tale-spinning.
Tim and Leanne's recordings have received high awards from the American Library Association and the Parents’ Choice Foundation. They have performed in major venues across North America, including the National Storytelling Festival and the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough TN, Hudson Clearwater Revival Festival, and the Toronto Storytelling Festival, Their favorite audiences continue to be the ones that have shaped them over the last thirty years of professional performance, in the theaters, schools, colleges, festivals, resorts and libraries of New England, and especially Vermont.
THE GRANT
Earlier this year, against a very competitive field, Jennings and Ponder won a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant to help them put together this new program of relatively little-known (but classic!) traditional material. They've performed portions of it during the past summer and fall in a number of locations, including SolarFest, Green Mountain College, MoonDance festival in Windsor, Rumney School, St. Johnsbury’s Fuller Hall, and the Lake Champlain Quad Festivals in Burlington and Crown Point.
THE CD & THE TOUR
In September, as part of the grant, the couple recorded the show for a live-audience CD, in their home town of Montpelier, and they are releasing the CD with a series of performances all around Vermont
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