Louisiana storyteller entertains residents during special show
“People may remember some of what you say, more of what you do, but they will always remember how you make them feel,” said Diane Ferlatte, a nationally recognized storyteller.
Ferlatte recently performed for more than 2,300 elementary school students in Cache Valley.
Her visit to Cache Valley was part of National Black History Month and was part of a language arts event called “A Festival of Words.” Ferlatte’s Saturday evening storytelling marked her final performance in the Caine Lyric Theatre.
“Storytelling is for everyone,” said David Sidwell, emcee for Saturday’s event.
The storytelling program featured Ferlatte and her musical accompanist Erik Pearson.
Ferlatte has performed in at least eight countries, including the United States, Australia, Sweden, France, Austria, Holland, Bermuda and New Zealand. Ferlatte tells many kinds of tales, ranging from folk and ghost tales to multicultural tales. Most of her stories stem from her African heritage and Southern background.
“The stories that are told in a culture do much to determine the character of that culture,” Ferlatte said.
Pearson said he has been working with Ferlatte for about five years.
“I like being an accompanist, because it gives me the ability to be creative with the words and to kind of paint the picture behind the story to help those kind of mental visions become more real,” he said. “It’s great fun.”
Ferlatte said she has the most fun with the stories where the audience joins her.
“Once the audience is with me and they’re giving something, and I’m giving something, then — pow. That’s when the magic happens,” she said.
Ferlatte said she likes all her stories, because they’re told differently, depending on her audience.
Sidwell said telling stories is different than a play.
“You really need to establish a relationship with the audience, and both Diane and Erik do that so well,” he said.
Sidwell said, as the emcee, he tried to get the audience in the mood for hearing stories by first telling a few stories of his own. This included his story of how the beaver first got its tail, along with other short tales.
He said he felt the show went really well, because there was a connection and a bond between the audience and the performers. He said a bonding feeling existed when the audience actively interacted with Ferlatte by mimicking some of her sign language.
Ferlatte said her life background molded and shaped her initial storytelling interest. The interest first started during her early childhood memories in Louisiana, where she remembers observing relatives and neighbors tell each other stories, lies and tales. After growing up, Ferlatte moved to California, where she played the piano and sang during church choir performances and stage productions.
“I was mainly doing it [storytelling] at home for my children, because a child of mine was adopted when he was 3-and-a-half years old, and he was totally a TV brain,” Ferlatte said. “He would not listen to stories being read.”
Ferlatte said she decided to use her heritage tradition by reading to her child a little differently by becoming the characters rather than just reading about them. She used dramatic storytelling pauses, sound effects and facial expressions when storytelling to her boy. She said her adopted son soon started looking at storytelling like it was the television.
Ferlatte said she then started storytelling outside of her house.
“I did it at my church at that time for all these kids who came from shelters for a Christmas party, and I said I would tell stories,” she said. “When I did, somebody in the audience heard me and said, ‘You’re kinda good.’ They asked me to come to the school. So I went to the school, and somebody else heard me and said, ‘Can you come to my school?'”
Ferlatte said she eventually started getting booked with more and more storytelling requests than she originally thought she would, and she eventually said to herself, “You know, I think I’m going to try this.”
She quit her office job of 17 years and started a new career in storytelling.
“I saw the need for it [storytelling],” she said. “I saw the kids whose faces were starving for stories,” she said.
Ferlatte said she knew the career was going to be tough, but she enjoyed it.
“I did stuff free, for very little, $50 or $75, or whatever. Then, as my name got out more, it just got better and better and better, and I also got better and better and better,” she said.
Ferlatte and Pearson performed several award-winning stories during Saturday’s program, including Brer Rabbit and Friends, which Ferlatte said is a story that helped them survive because it came “from the mouths of slaves.”
They also performed a true Southern story involving the non-fiction tale of Martin Luther King, Jr. teaching one of his children the importance of doing something right by teaching his child to return a candy bar the child had stolen from a store.
Hehley Williams attended the performance and said she was amazed by Ferlatte’s and Pearson’s team performance.
“You never get sick of their performances,” Williams said. “Even if it’s the same performance, they still always do it differently. I loved all of her stories. I especially loved her facial expressions. They always bring the story to life.”
Williams is a daughter of Ho Williams, president of the Cache Valley Storytelling Guild.
To learn more about Diane Ferlatte and her Storytelling Music Theater, visit www.dianeferlatte.com.
–dlboyle@cc.usu.edu