Second Week of NHTP's 4th Annual Storytelling Festival Will Celebrate Celtic Stories and Music

In honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, the second weekend of New Hampshire Theatre Project's 4th Annual Storytelling Festival features performances and workshops celebrating Celtic stories and music.

On Saturday, March 14 at 8 pm, featured artist Diane Edgecomb will perform An Irish Rhapsody. Accompanied by Celtic harper Margot Chamberlain, Diane brings to life Ireland's storytelling treasures from the humorous "Legend of Knockgrafton" to the hauntingly beautiful "Deirdre of the Sorrows," the most famous of all Irish romances. This inspiring evening of humor, passion and wit weaves traditional storytelling, Celtic harp, and song, and is recommended for ages 12 to adult.

Diane is one of America's leading storytellers, winner of the only ORACLE award for Storytelling Excellence in the Northeast, the National Circle of Excellence award and five Storytelling World awards. A transformational teller with a rich background in the theatre arts, Diane's dynamic storytelling embraces elements of theatre, movement and song bringing each piece vividly to life. A featured teller on NPR and winner of a Year's Best Performance award for her theater work in Boston, Diane's storytelling has been seen at prestigious venues throughout the country and internationally for over twenty-five years including the National Storytelling Festival, the International Storytelling Center, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, the Kurdish Heritage Library and Museum as well as at numerous theatres, folk houses and universities.

On Sunday, March 15, Sarah Bauhan presents Celtic Music & Stories, accompanied by Kent Allyn. The Boston Globe says "Sarah Bauhan has few equals among American Celtic flutists and whistlers." The music she plays on whistle and flute shares her Celtic and New England roots. Born and raised in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire, Sarah picked up the tin whistle at the age of 10. Within two years she was performing at contra dances with Dudley Laufman's Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. In addition to Laufman, Sarah was influenced by her godfather, Newt Tolman, a flute player and writer, and by Bob McQuillen, a musician and composer who in 2002 was named a National Heritage Fellow. The flood of Irish and Scottish musicians, from The Chieftains and The Boys of the Loch to The Battlefield Band and Silly Wizard, brought exciting new (old) music to the shores of New England, which increased Sarah's passion and expanded her repertoire. She has released five solo albums, including four on her own label, Whistler's Music: Chasing the New Moon (1991), Broad Waters (1999), Lathrop's Waltz (2007, and Elmwood Station (2017). The Untamed Grasses came out in 1993 on the Alcazar label, and was re-released on Alula Records in 2008. Sarah will be accompanied by Kent Allyn on bass and guitar, and Jane Orzechowski on fiddle. This performance is appropriate to all ages.

On the morning of Saturday, March 14, Regina Delaney will host a special workshop on Irish Music & Storytelling. Participants will learn traditional dances, songs and poems, and practice weaving them into Celtic folktales. The $60 registration fee includes the workshop and one Festival performance, and free workshop admittance for one child aged 6-12.

Regina has studied Irish harp in both Ireland and the United States. She is a member of the Hanafin-Cooley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann which awarded her a scholarship to study harp in Ireland as part of their Living Traditions Award. She also performs and teaches hard and soft shoe step dancing, ceili and set dancing.

Tickets for all Saturday 8 pm performances are $25; all Sunday 2 pm performances are $20. All performances and workshops will be held at New Hampshire Theatre Project, 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth NH.

NHTP's 4th Annual Storytelling Festival is sponsored by Heinemann Publishing in Portsmouth, dedicated to teachers for over 50 years, with additional funding from the New England State Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

New Hampshire Theatre Project's

4th Annual Storytelling Festival

Featured Storyteller: Diane Edgecomb

With Anne Jennison, Sarah Bauhan, Regina Delaney, Margot Chamberlain, Kent Allyn,

Pat Spalding and Genevieve Aichele

2nd Weekend WORKSHOP

Irish Music & Storytelling, Saturday, March 14, 9:30am to 12:30pm - Regina Delaney

2nd Weekend PERFORMANCES

Saturday, March 14, 8 pm - An Irish Rhapsody with Diane Edgecomb

Sunday, March 15, 2 pm - Sarah Bauhan in Concert, with Kent Allyn & Jane Orzechowski

Regina Delaney

Margot Chamberlain and Diane Edgecomb

Sarah Bauhan

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