Artist:
Nyla Fujii-Babb
For Children age 5 and up
Sky Tales, participatory stories and songs from around the world
FOR Adults :
Ancient Stargazers, a slide show and world myths about the constellations
Of Asian and Native Hawaiian ancestry, Nyla (Ching) Fujii-Babb has been a professional storyteller, artistic director, voiceover talent, teacher, and actress for over 30 years in Hawai‘i. She has produced shows, performed in, and directed concerts for numerous organizations in Hawai‘i, including several of the campuses in the University of Hawai‘i System, the Volcano Art Center on the Big Island, the Hawai‘i State Public Library System, and the Lana‘i Art Center. She is on the Board of Monkey Waterfall a non-profit dance/theatre company. A retired librarian, Nyla is also adjunct faculty for the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
She has appeared on stage with Kumu Kahua Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and the Hawai‘i Pono‘i Coalition’s annual Mai Poina performances. On the mainland she has performed at the Aratani Japan America Theater in Los Angeles, and the Emerson Majestic in Boston. She has appeared in a few locally produced movies and has been a voice-over talent for a number of Hawai‘i Public Television specials. She has been a featured teller at several mainland storytelling festivals including: the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the San Juan Capistrano “Once Upon a Story Festival”, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, the Oregon Multi-Cultural Storytelling Festival, and the St. Louis Storytelling Festival at the Arch. She is the only storyteller from Hawai‘i to be both an “Exchange Place Teller” and an invited “Featured Performer” at the prestigious National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
PROGRAM DETAIL
Talespinners and Word Weavers
Performances for all ages crafted from international folktales and folksongs; and/or featuring literary, historical, family, and original stories.
For Moppets and Poppets
Interactive stories and songs that delight preschoolers and their families.
Stories from My Island Home
celebrates our islands’ cultural roots with emphasis on Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian folklore and historical stories. Literary and original stories in “Pidgin-English” may also be requested. Adaptable to various audiences from Elementary school age to senior citizens.
McDermott in Motion; Bringing to Life the Picture Book Art of Gerald McDermott
with Nyla Fujii-Babb and Yukie Shiroma
Dedicated to the late Caldecott Award-Winning Children’s Picture Book Artist, Gerald McDermott, for his permission and enthusiastic support of McDermott in Motion. Choreographer/dancer, Yukie Shiroma, and storyteller, Nyla Fujii-Babb, create a performance of “living picture books” melding modern dance, music, masks, costumes, and storytelling. Featuring “The Stonecutter,” “Anansi the Spider; A Tale from the Ashanti,” and other works by Gerald McDermott, these performances introduce audiences to literature, folklore, cultural studies, and the visual and performing arts in an exciting multi-disciplinary form. For ages 3 and up.
* Residencies and workshops are available on storytelling and on collecting family stories.
