A BOOK OF SPELLS
A Storytelling Concert in Two Voices

Told by Jan Andrews & Jennifer Cayley

Feb 27 at Peterborough Arts Umbrella

Click here for the complete tour schedule.

INFORMATION:
Erika Rueter, Publicist, STAF
416 703 2773 x202
erika@theatreadmin.com

TWO WOMEN'S LIVES CHANGED

Once upon a time there was a book that came into the lives of two women -
A Book of Spells by English writer Sara Maitland.

Jan loved the story of the fierce old woman, waiting always for Gretel to find her in her gingerbread house.  Gretel who came first as a small girl seeking shelter; Gretel who returned – over and over through the ages -- as a young woman bearing in her belly an unwanted child; Gretel who goes there now looking for a more modern gift – a gift that requires a donation of a special kind.

Jennifer was drawn to the tale about a nursing mother who conjures up a time of kindness by two old women when she was trapped in family turmoil as a girl. "You can make things and break things, you can call storms, you can heal people and hurt people. You just have to say, 'I am a witch' and you will be one," they tell her.

Through giving voice both to the spell-stories and their own experience, Jan Andrews and Jennifer Cayley produce an interweaving of life and literature that leaves audiences touched, shaken, and deeply appreciative. The mood is quiet but intensely powerful.

Launched at the National Storytelling Network Fringe Festival in St. Louis in 2007, then reworked in early 2008, A Book of Spells is touring Ontario in early 2009 and in the United Kingdom in May 2009.

Jan and Jennifer are grateful to Sara Maitland ( www.saramaitland.com) for permission to tell the stories from A Book of Spells (now re-issued as Angel Maker) also to Michelene Wandor (www.michelenewandor.co.uk) for permission to quote from Gardens of Eden: Poems for Eve and Lilith.

BIOGRAPHIES

JAN ANDREWS www.janandrews.ca

Widely-recognized as a storyteller who touches her audiences with the depth and power of her work, Jan has traveled extensively, telling stories at festivals and in concerts across Canada, in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Always compelled by the way the worlds of life and literature collude and collide, Jan is particularly happy to be working on A Book of Spells  and to have this chance to tour with her life partner.  Jan is also the author of books for young people.  You might know Very Last First Time or Stories at the Door. 

JENNIFER CAYLEY

Jennifer has been telling stories professionally for nearly two decades. She believes passionately that stories are powerfully important to all of us as we struggle to understand the shape and meaning of our lives.  Her aim is always to make the profoundly simple contact between teller, story and listener richly alive in the moment. She sees A Book of Spells as a vivid expression of this commitment. Jennifer also performs with Prologue to the Performing Arts (www.prologue.org) and undertakes projects through the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Education Program, bringing traditional stories to young people in schools.

For more information about Storytelling, visit
Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada

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