Florida Storyteller Debra Weller Headed to Morocco

“It is going to be non-stop excitement,” says Debra Weller, FSA board member who will be flying to Marrakech, Morocco this month to share stories at the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival set for Feb.12-19.

She is one of four storytellers from the United States who will join an entourage of 80 international storytellers at this event.

Weller says she was invited because of her online performances with www.worldstorytellingcafe.com during the past three years.

Weller, who is active in the Tale Tellers of St. Augustine, will be performing in local Marrakech venues, city squares and will teach workshops at universities and schools.

She says she has more than 40 stories to choose from in her repertoire, and she plans to wait until she sizes up the audience for each venue.

Weller’s stories range from folk tales, fables, and fairy tales to personal stories. She tells World folktales and original stories accompanied by guitar and song. Debra especially enjoys stories with audience participation.

She says she won’t be taking her guitar, but instruments will be made available if needed. There also will be English translators.

She says Marrakech is the magical, walled Red City where storytelling has been a tradition for 1000 years.   In the past, trade route caravans would gather in the city where they would share stories of travel adventures.

This is the second Marrakech Festival created by the World Storytelling Café and the Storytellers Union for Cultural Innovation and the Art of Storytelling.  The café regularly features storytelling and open mics, and thanks to online sessions during the past three years, it has attracted a worldwide audience.

The mission of the festival is to revive and restore the tradition of storytelling in Marrakech to transform the city into the storytelling capital of the world.

Morocco’s King Mohammad VI is a patron of the festival as well as the city government, tourism board and embassies.  Tellers are coming from Ireland, Africa, India, America, England, and other European cities.

The storytellers will be performing in cafes, museums, historic riads (garden courtyards) universities, schools and theaters. Storytellers will be teaching workshops and hosting discussion panels.

 On Feb. 13, the entourage of storytellers and members of the press will wind through the streets in a parade to the historic square, Jamaa El Fna, to tell stories and dance.

On Sat. Feb. 18 there will be a performance and Gala reception at the Palais de Congress where the storytellers will be honored by government and embassy officials.

Debra is an after school and summer camp leader for storytelling clubs to teach children to perform as storytellers. Training educators in professional development workshops is also a passion. She is current President of Tale Tellers of St. Augustine and serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Storytelling Association.

This blog post was compiled by Walt Belcher. Submit blog ideas, or a blog post to wbelcher47@yahoo.com