Performances

FRAN STALLINGS tells multicultural traditional tales and original stories. Autoharp accompanies her songs and embellishes many of her stories. She works with adults and all grades from K-12. Lively audience participation suits the age of audience members. Ask about custom-designed programs for your site!

Some Program Titles:

• Stories for a Green Earth Multicultural tales of science, understanding and stewardship.
• Prairie-Tales in Story & Song Folktales and history from pre-European contact through early 1900's.
• Sisters & Brothers All Over the World Multicultural family tales.
• Tales from the Japanese Countryside Wondrous stories from rural Japan. Fran can bring authentic traditional toys, hand games, and even kimonos for big girls and boys to model.
• Our Four-Footed Friends Animal tales teaching science and compassion.
• Ancient Roots of Science Fiction & Fantasy Myths, legends, folktales foreshadowing SF&F plot elements. Our ancestors thrilled each other with tales about runaway robots, sntient animals, and monsters both otherworldly and home-made... long before “science fiction” was invented.
• A Twist in the Tale Wry humor, surprising sardonic wit.
• Stories Disney Didn't Tell Us The original fairytales and wonder tales, before they were cartoonized.
• Honesty Respect Compassion Our ancestors didn’t want dishonest, disrespectful, hard-hearted children, so they told them entertaining tales that showed the consequences of bad behavior and the rewards of acting right. Today’s students respond just as eagerly to fables, legends, and folktales from the world’s cultures — with teaching points about “Virtue of the month” subtly tucked in.
• Science: Tell it Like a Story Our ancestors often “explained” nature by making up memorable tales. Today, even the fanciful stories are valuable for getting students to notice natural phenomena and wonder: How does the moon change phases? What makes the wind really blow? How did turtle get a cracked shell — really? Students will hear a sampling of these multicultural stories, with age-appropriate songs and audience participation. An episode of real science discovery will balance each folktale.
• Sing a Story Sing along with lively stories which include listeners in the tunes, refrains, and sound-effects. Fran plays autoharp and gets listeners participating in the fun with voice, gesture, and sign language.
• Tell a Song, Sing a Story (for teens and adults) Ballads are songs that tell stories: funny, gruesome, romantic, traditional--and science fictional. Hear examples and get pointers about writing your own songs.
• Dinosaurs Among Us Fact and fiction about ancient dinosaurs and their modern descendants who fly among us today -- birds! Silly songs, engaging tales and solid information. Lots of action and audience participation for young listeners.
• Fins and Fables (Tales from the world’s oceans: sharks and whales, seals and eels, fish big & little, with some freshwater critters thrown in.
• Winners and Losers World tales of competition). Stories of perseverance, courage, hard work and wits (sometimes brains outweigh brawn) with lively audience participation and songs.
• Heroes and She-roes The men and women inventors, explorers, scientists and entrepreneurs of the past century come to life in stories and songs. Recommended for Middle School and up.
• Folktale Heroes and She-roes The treasury of world folktales offers a variety of “heroes” besides the muscular hunk with a sword. This multicultural program of traditional legends and tales will show us feisty women and gentle men, underdogs who strike back with peaceful solutions, villians caught in their own evil plans, the triumph of brains over brawn -- a wealth of ancient humor and compassion.