DOVIE THOMASON

artist website: https://www.doviethomasonstoryteller.com

Dovie Thomason is an award-winning storyteller of Native and Scot Traveller descent, who has spent nearly forty years weaving the traditional tales she was taught growing up with stories from her own life. Through her storytelling, she shares her culture with listeners of all ages in schools, festivals, museums and libraries around the world. These are the old stories that preserve and share values over the generations to not only delight, but to gently and memorably teach proper lessons about behavior. A former teacher and artist-in-education in several states, she is a strong advocate of using storytelling in families and classrooms to affirm identity and values, as well as enhancing literacy and supporting oral language development from birth throughout life.

Dovie presents performances, lectures, workshops, residencies, keynotes, and a variety of programs for schools, families, and communities. Content can be tailored to suit a wide variety of audiences and participants and may be presented in-person or virtually.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES

Engaging, educational performances, workshops, and residencies for schools, libraries, and other community settings. Programs may be presented in-person or virtually and may be tailored to students in grades preK-12, families, college students, and adults.

PERFORMANCES

Lessons from the Animal People
This program offers an intertribal sampling of the animal stories which often explain the “what” and “why” questions about the Earth and her animal children – why bear hibernates, why rabbit has no tail, etc. They are also used, as all stories are, to teach proper behavior and values.

Monsters and Courage
Here are stories of monsters and the brave men, women, and children who overcame them. Although they can be scary, they are always life-affirming and teach how to overcome fear, deal with evil, and look at the “monstrous” mistakes we can all make.

Native Voices
First told to her by her grandmother, these traditional stories about animals and hero/tricksters provide a clearer understanding of the values and cultures of the diverse First Nations of North America. Whether a talkative Turtle or overbearing Buffalo, the characters face the importance of choices as listeners are held spellbound by Dovie’s animated style and character voices.

Stories of the Four Directions
This program offers a sampling of stories from the diverse Native cultures from different regions of North America – these regions are also available individually, for a more focused program of stories:

· Northeastern Woodlands includes Iroquois and various Algonquian stories

· Southeastern Woodlands includes Cherokee and other Southeastern stories

· Plains includes Lakota stories

· Southwestern includes Apache and Pueblo stories

Storytelling and Science
Dovie explores how the spirit of inquiry drives both storytellers and scientists to discover and explain the roots of natural phenomena like night and day, lightning and thunder, and the changing of the seasons. Engaging traditional stories blend with observations of the natural world to inspire curiosity, creativity, and learning.

The Trickster, He was Going Along
Trickster stories are part of all Native cultures. The stories of tricksters like Iktomi, Turtle, Raccoon, and Coyote show the similarities and differences among different Native peoples and their stories.

We Call the Earth Our Mother: Stories of Thanks
Stories of many cultures are the original way the “whys” of the physical world were explained, as science does now. The imagery and values in the stories from Dovie’s Native ancestry pair the “whys” of science with the very contemporary “hows” of living in balance on our shared Earth.

The Circle of the Family
This program takes a more serious look at problems which can affect our families and communities – anger, prejudice, and violence towards women. It is suitable for older students (mature middle school and above) and should include time for discussion.

The Spirit Survives: The Boarding School Experience Then and Now
This original 90-minute story explores a tragic chapter in our nation’s history. For decades, the First Nations of North America suffered the loss of their children to government boarding schools, where they were forcibly “re-educated” to assimilation and “civilization” at the cost of culture and identity. Dovie introduces her listeners to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania and its profound and broad-reaching impact on Indian and non-Indian people since its inception in 1879 and far beyond its closing in 1918. She shades this history with personal memoir, biography of indigenous activists and culture keepers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the impact of the boarding schools on Indian people today. Her story explores the inner resources that enabled the spirit and identity of Native peoples to survive and raises provocative questions for all contemporary Americans: Why does this matter to Americans in the 21st century? Can we learn from this? What must be done that we can move on? With honor, compassion and imagination, Thomason helps her audience become “comfortable with discomfort,” in a journey of respect and reconciliation.

WORKSHOPS & RESIDENCIES

Interactive workshops may include Native stories, including retelling of folktales and fables, storytelling techniques, as ways to increase student confidence and skill in oral presentations, and review/feedback processes for student writing. Workshops may be scheduled individually, in a series, or as part of an artist residency, and are tailored to each unique audience. Options available upon request.