Storyteller Marie Ringenberg says tales hold magic for all ages
If Marie Ringenberg of Glen Ellyn were a character in one of the tales she tells, she would be "The Woman Who Could Not Stop Telling Stories."
She tells the Chinese folk tale of "Tikki Tikki Tembo" to explain how she got hooked on the professional art of storytelling.
She uses the story of two women who made their husbands look foolish to make a point about how much the average person dreads speaking before a group.
Then there's the tale that illuminates the power of storytelling even in an age where audiences are more accustomed to computer games and sitcoms.
A man brought a television to a small African village and left it for the people to watch. But when he returned a month later, the villagers were watching the native storyteller instead of the TV. Why, he asked, when the television held many more stories than the storyteller had in his head.
"That only has stories," a villager replied. "That's not my storyteller. My storyteller knows me."
Storytelling is a three-sided triangle that requires the story, the teller and the audience, says Ringenberg, who gives programs in schools, libraries and retirement homes, as well as teaching workshops.
"You're meeting your audience eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart," she said. "It's the power of connection."
Ringenberg, a former children's librarian who holds a teaching degree, knows how to make that connection with song and voice. When she's telling a story that has people eating apples that make their noses grow long and slimy, she's watching body language of the audience.
If the grossness repulses her listeners, she goes light on that part. But in a class of third-graders reveling in all things icky, she plays for all its worth.
"She is just so animated and great with kids that she brings the shyness out of them," said Karen Norville, program coordinator for the EXPLORERS After-School Enrichment Program in Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C in the southwest suburbs.
Ringenberg has led an after-school program for gifted third-graders that teaches them to write and perform fables for several years, Norville said. Ringenberg is a talented and caring teacher.
"She is a phenomenal storyteller. She keeps all ages entertained," Norville said.
For eight years, Ringenberg also has led the Prairie Trail Storytelling Festival that took place recently in the Glen Ellyn Public Library. The week before the event, she teaches a storytelling camp to young people who participate in the festival.
She brings in books for them to choose a story to tell, leads them in breathing exercises, and has them draw up a story outlines until they can picture how they will present their tale. Then she sends them home to practice, practice, practice.
"Everybody always is impressed," said Kate Pierson, director of youth services at the Glen Ellyn Library. "She does an amazing job with these students.' Pierson said the students gain poise and confidence because they know they have the support of their fellow storytellers.
"She really builds a team atmosphere," she said.
Megan Stepniewski of Lombard has been with the camp since the beginning and this year served as a mentor. She and another camp graduate, college student Eric Swanson, auditioned and were accepted in the "New Voices" portion of the Illinois Storytelling Festival Sept. 25 and 26 in Dominican University in River Forest. Ringenberg also will be one of the storytellers at the festival.
Stepniewski, a home-schooled fifth-year high school senior, said she initially went to the storytelling camp at age 10 because her mother made her. But by her second year, she started to enjoy it.
"I built up in myself a confidence in being able to speak before other people," she said.
Being able to express her ideas clearly and do improv has served her well, even on job interviews, Stepniewski said.
"Every since I started storytelling, I've improved in everything I do," she said.
Ringenberg, a native of Springfield, got her own storytelling start while attending Rosary College, now Dominican University. She performed Arlene Mosel's "Tikki Tikki Tembo" for a children's literature class and retold it after she was hired by the Addison Public Library.
"I knew one story," she said. "I was hooked."
She married and moved to Lombard and then Glen Ellyn while continuing to work for libraries. During her years at the Addison Library and later Palatine and Carol Stream public libraries, she learned many more stories and found they left a lasting impression on kids.
When she went into Palatine middle schools to talk about the resources the library had for students working on science fair project, kids who remembered her from several years earlier would walk up and say, "Aren't you going to tell us a story," she said.
Ringenberg believes storytelling holds magic for all ages.
"There aren't nearly enough opportunities to tell stories to adults because everybody thinks storytelling is just for kids," she said.
Ringenberg favors folk and fairy tales, and sometimes adds elements of her own. She uses a Scottish folk tale, for instance, to describe her love for her adopted son, David, who recently died in a car-bicycle accident.
She said good stories have common elements: clear, main characters; concise details; a twist of the unexpected; age-appropriate content; a beginning, middle and end; universality of message; and often a moral.
Her programs include Animal Antics, Food Glorious Food, the Three H's - Humor, Honesty and Humility, Savory Seasons and Holiday Hijinks, and can be customized to the audience. Ringenberg said she is ready to bring her storytelling to even more people.
"That's one of the things, I tell kids," she said. "Aside from being a teacher, I have one of the best jobs in the world. I get to read books and I get to come and tell stories."
Ringenberg can be contacted at (630) 858-6003 or mtringen@juno.com.
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<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p> <p class="News"><b>What: </b>Marie Ringenberg and two of her students from the Prairie Trail Storytelling Festival will perform at the Illinois Storytelling Festival</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> Opening concert, 7:30 to 9 p.m. Sept. 25; festival 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 26; Stone Soup dinner 5:30-7 p.m. Sept. 26; closing concert, 7:30-9 p.m. Sept. 26</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Dominican University, 7200 and 7900 W. Division St., River Forest</p> <p class="News"><b>Cost:</b> $10 each for concerts and supper; $25 festival</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> <a href="http://storytelling.org" target="new">storytelling.org</a></p>