Legendary Storyteller Odds Bodkin Visits CYT for TWO April Vacation Shows

CONCORD, MA: April school vacation is right around the corner, so you may be looking for something fun to do with the family to spend some fun, quality time.  Well, when you’re thinking “fun,” “quality” and “kids,” one name should pop right into your brain – Odds Bodkin.  "A consummate storyteller," describes The New York Times of Bodkin, who is coming to Concord Youth Theatre (CYT) for two shows on April 24, 2014 at 9:30am and 12:30pm.  CYT is hosting this sure-to-be a favorite event at 51 Walden Street in an effort to seat more families than their 358 Baker Avenue home can accommodate.  Tickets are $10, with a family cap of $40 for families 4-7 in number.  For information and tickets, visit CYT online at www.concordyouththeatre.org, or call (978) 371-1482.

 

Odds Bodkin is a well-known and well-loved American storyteller, musician, and author.  The New Hampshire-based performance artist has published a number of spoken and/or musical interpretations of traditional tales, as well as a number of original tales and children's books.  His Little Proto's T-Rex Adventure was awarded the Parents' Choice Gold Award.

Since 1982, Odds Bodkin has made his living as a master storyteller, author, creative musician and educator.  He is renowned for his renditions of epic tales for universities and high schools (The Iliad & The Odyssey). Bodkin tours both nationally and internationally, appearing at storytelling festivals, schools, universities, theaters and museums. Twice the subject of Lincoln Center Institute’s ‘Window on the Work’, he has also performed twice at The White House, at the National Storytelling Festival.  Bodkin carries a large repertoire of folk tales from cultures around the world, an extensive collection of Greek Myths, American and New England folklore, ghost stories and teaching fables, all performed with live original music, character voices, vocal effects and narration. His stories are engaging to all, fascinating for some, and amusing to the rest. 

For CYT, Bodkin’s two shows – though both 100% age-neutral, family-friendly and welcoming – will cater to different age groups at different times.  At 9:30am, Odds will focus on families with children ages 3 to 7.  This performance, With a Twinkle in Your Eye, includes Odds favorites such as “The Name of the Tree,” an African tale performed with thumb piano; “The Wind and the Sun,” an Aesop's Fable performed on Celtic harp; and “The Tale of the Kittens,” an Italian fairytale with an unforgettable sing-a-long song, performed on 12-string guitar.  At Odds 2:30pm show, Awesome Tales for Older Kids, the stories are geared more to children ages 8 and up, including “The Stonecutter,” a Japanese folk tale performed on 12-string guitar; “The Boys and the Frogs,” an Aesop's fable performed on Celtic harp; and “Finn MacCool and the Big Man,” an Irish folk tale performed on 12-string guitar, with a hilarious sing-a-long refrain.  Each performance lasts approximately one hour, and tickets for each are sold individually.

A versatile artist and “modern day Orpheus” (Billboard Magazine), Odds Bodkin spellbinds audiences, yet creates an atmosphere so warm for young children that he routinely holds them happily engaged with a wide variety of world tales. He has performed or taught nationwide at Harvard, Michigan State, Syracuse, Dartmouth, Colorado College, Loyola University Maryland, Boston University, Ohio Dominican University, Wofford College, College of the Atlantic, Arizona State, Purdue, St. Anselm College, Nichols College, East Tennessee State and others, as well as for the New England Classical Association.  He earned rave reviews from the New York press for his Off-Broadway series, Art of the Tale, at Lincoln Center.  For seven years Odds taught storytelling, imagination and mythology at Antioch New England Graduate School (now University).  His recordings and books have won Indie awards, Parents’ Choice Gold and Silver awards, Storytelling World awards, the Dove Foundation award, Booklist’s Editors’ Choice, the New York Public Library’s “100 Best Titles for Reading and Sharing” award, The Children’s Music Web Award and AudioWorld’s Golden Headset Award, among others.  Recent Bodkin projects include The Vanishers: The App that Brings Objects to Life, a story-based Alternative Reality Game (ARG) for museums and outdoor places, and Young Hercules: The Legendary Bully, an empathy-awareness program for middle, high school and college students.  Under the pseudonym "McKenzie Bodkin," Odds’ epic The Water Mage’s Daughter: A Novel of Love, Magic and War in Verse, a high-fantasy tale of love and adventure for adults told in 13,000 lines of original symphonic verse, was published as an ebook by Telemachus Press in 2013. Written in iambic tetrameter, the novel features hidden verse games and mathematical structures. To learn more about Odds Bodkin, visit him online at www.oddsbodkin.net.

Concord Youth Theatre (CYT) brings Master Storyteller Odds Bodkin to 51 Walden Street for an April School Vacation treat - TWO shows on April 24, 2014 at 9:30am and 12:30pm.  Tickets are $10, with a family cap of $40 for families 4-7 in number.  For information and tickets, visit CYT online at www.concordyouththeatre.org, or call (978) 371-1482.