Barbara McBride-Smith wears many hats – simultaneously! For more than 40 years, she has worked as a teacher, a school library media specialist, a theological seminary instructor, a writer, and a traveling storyteller. In each of these professions, she has employed storytelling as an integral educational tool and a compelling art form.
From the varied places she has lived – from Texas to Massachusetts to New Jersey to Oklahoma and now Tennessee – she has absorbed wit, wisdom, and wonder. She weaves it all into stories and brings them to the stage with humor and poignancy. She credits her skill as a storyteller to her parents, who were natural-born down-home wordsmiths, and to her two deaf sisters, who “communicated with their entire beings.”
Barbara is a recipient of both the John Henry Faulk Award for outstanding contributions to storytelling and the Circle of Excellence Award for stage performance. She has been a headliner fourteen times at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and has frequently served as a teller-in-residence at the Timpanogos Storytelling Institute and the International Storytelling Center.
Workshops
Story-crafting: Start in the Middle, Work Toward the Edges
Every storyteller who writes his/her own stories knows the importance of structure. Stories tend toward certain shapes, moving through a narrative arc in a linear fashion. But creativity is rarely linear. Memories from our lives don’t always come to us in chronological order. Is it possible to begin a story in the middle, then work forward and backward? Can techniques such as foreshadowing, flashbacks, in medias res, and framing give depth or humor or affirmation to a story? How do we get the ending right? This workshop will explore some ideas for polishing our work as story-crafters.
Re-imagining Biblical Stories: Everything Old is New Again
The goal of this workshop is to acquaint participants with a process called “modern midrash” — a way to re-tell Biblical stories so that they reflect the lives and times of today’s listeners. Re-imagining and interpreting material considered sacred may open up the Bible to those who usually avoid it, and offer new insights to those who know it well.
Plotting with Kids
Children are often asked to write or tell a story before they actually understand what elements are needed to shape a story. This workshop will explore a method for teaching plot structure using contemporary children’s literature and folklore. Participants will then consider how to apply this method to developing original personal narratives.
Tell it Together! Creating Your Own Story Theater
Story Theater, a spin-off of Readers Theater, is an interactive opportunity for groups — young, old, or in-between — to perform a story together in a variety of venues. This workshop will provide tips on finding stories, creating scripts, presentation techniques, and curriculum integration. Both eager and reticent storytellers alike will be empowered by this ensemble style of performance in a collaborative, non-threatening environment.
Concerts
Greek or Whut?
Barbara grew up in Texas, thinking the myths of Mount Olympus were her own family stories, so that’s how she tells them. Perhaps you’ll recognize a few of your own relatives in these ancient tales.
Daddy: Undercover Hero
Barbara remembers the moments in life that taught her who her father really was — an unsung hero. He sometimes needed to hold her hand, but her always had her back.
The Button Box
Barbara’s mother saved buttons, and for every button there was a story. Family history was passed down through the hundreds of buttons preserved in an old fruitcake tin.
Aging Dis-Gracefully
A light-hearted look at life when you realize that old is better than young and you’re past the age of caring what anybody else thinks.
Do I Know the Bible?
Thanks to one Sunday School teacher who made Bible lessons painless, her Mama who found comfort and humor in religion, and a seminary of scholars from whom she learned to re-imagine scripture, Barbara tells the stories that probably happened but never got written down.
Hello Ricky Nelson, Goodbye Heart
Even though Rock n’ Roll was considered scandalous in the mainstream of the 1950’s, “that nice Nelson boy” smuggled it into American living rooms and made it acceptable to parents. For teens of that era, Ricky was a sweet, blue-eyed boy who could have lived right next door.
Ladies Cuttin' Loose
A joyful reunion of bodacious women from Greek mythology, the Bible, and deep in the heart of Texas.