Beyond Words - Emerson School for Storytelling

Anna Robinson

Stories from the Wheel of Life - Tales of heartache and transformation

Anna shares a poignant, yet humorous weave of traditional Buddhist symbols, myths and autobiographical stories.
She invites us to journey with her through the depths of the hell realms and up to the seductive pleasures of the world of the gods and to see where that inevitably leads.
The ”Wheel of Life” is an ancient Buddhist symbol. More than an image, it acts as a magical mirror that we can gaze into and see our true selves reflected back.
The wheel describes the human condition and our individual, ever changing mental states.
Thankfully and most importantly, “The Wheel of Life” teaches a path to freedom and through Anna’s tales, we may even catch a glimpse of that.———————————Anna has found her way, through blood, sweat, tears and laughter, to becoming a (mostly) happy, healthy human being. Hallelujah!

She is passionate about sharing what she has learned on life’s adventure thus far – in the hope that it may be of use to others. Storytelling is her current medium of choice.

Joseph Heywood

Wounded Swans

“Don’t go up The Shannon River like those soldiers after the war. You might find a woman there, fall in love, and never come back…” This storytelling is a tribute to Celtic songs and swan stories, with a few personal tales along the way.
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Joseph has traveled the world as a mental health consultant for the United States Military for 15 years, helping people overcome conflicts and reach difficult goals. The stories he shares may transport you, often weaved with poetry and song, to a place of healing, hope, and survival.

Ariane Barua

Ugly Old Crone (In Training)

Going through the fire of midlife left Ariane feeling invisible, impotent, voiceless, misunderstood and angry…until she rediscovered stories.

Ancient wisdom prompted her to take another look.

Then came the questions:
Is menopause less about disintegration and more about initiation?
Could it be a call to action?
What does it mean to embrace the power and wisdom of the Crone?
How does one earn such a title?
What responsibilities come with the crown?
Why does the most powerful chapter unfold just as energy levels fall away?
Shouldn’t Crones be left in peace to retreat into the forest for a well-earned break?
How might the world change if they were invited to bring their wisdom & insight back into the centre of society?
What does Crone leadership look like?
What if Crone work/life balance was dictated by moon cycles instead of HR?
Do Crones have the patience to be public facing?
Would anyone even listen to the voice of a Crone?
Truthfully, Ariane’s project is more about questions than answers.
You see, she’s still in training.———————————Ariane Barua gave up a career in journalism & broadcasting to do something else. She’s not sure what that is yet but since graduating from Storytelling Beyond Words at Emerson College, she’s been hearing whispers of what the next chapter might be.

Dawn Casey

Holy Well

Myth and legend, golden threads of folklore and silver stands of true tales - woven together in honour of the Holy Well of British lands and Celtic imagination.

The boyhood adventures of legendry hero Finn Mac Cool, the birth of an Irish river-goddess, the seasonal cycle of Brigit and the Cailleach...

A selection of stories from the lands beneath our feet - each shining tale has at its heart the sacred waters of the well of life.
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Ever since I was a girl, I’ve been under the spell of the Old Stories, and in love with the natural world. I’m inspired by my own ancestry, in the north of England and in south-west Ireland – both places where land and legend unite.

María Serrano

The I Can Sea

Suddenly I can see all my ocean days at once and I know the journey could not have been different.

This is a heroine’s journey, and a journey through mothering seen from an empty home. A myth of the Goddess of the Ocean and biography weave together like rivers meandering towards the one big sea. This performance is about taking a step back in order to step forward into sovereignty, honouring and reflecting upon the ebb and flow of life: about mothering and responsibilities, loving and tiring, striving and trusting. About waves that carry and waves that throw you over. Unexpected undercurrents that require all your strength and focus so you can keep anchored in the present.
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María Serrano (Spain/Finland) is a multilingual storyteller. Being of mixed heritage she has always had a passion for cultures meeting and has arranged several international storytelling events. She has chaired ALBA SuomiFinland, part of the Nordic ALBA Alliance of Healing Storytelling and worked with Tellers Without Borders.

Lu Orza

The Cave of Dreams

A young woman stood on a beach, holding a white dove in her hand. Her lover handed her his bird, and the two merged, lost form and began to dissolve. The young woman carried the birds to the sea, in whose healing water they became whole again. In this sharing of folk- and biographical tales, I explore the relationship between our older and younger selves, the gift of ageing, and the role of older women as weavers of dreams into story.
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Lu is a feminist storyteller, writer, workshop facilitator and Quietude® practitioner based in Bridport, in West Dorset. Her work centres on making connection, finding voice, and building community.

Emilya Ali

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere in the city of Omelas, a boy is locked in a basement. Somewhere in Baku, a girl is raised in an abusive, dysfunctional world. What, if anything, does life hold for these children? What might they become?

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, this story asks: Can light exist in silence and shadow?

Through absurd memories, fierce rebellion, and flashes of strange beauty, it explores what it means to grow up in a world that often doesn’t make sense—and how joy and pain can walk hand in hand. With humour and tenderness, it asks: What are we willing to see, and what do we choose to look away from?
———————————Emilya, born in Baku and based in the Netherlands, left a corporate career to chase her dream of performing. She's a poet, storyteller, trail runner, and mother to a fierce 8-year-old girl. Between meditation and self-mockery, she’s still figuring life out—with humour, grit, and a touch of chaos.

Ewa

The King of the Forest

The Prince of the Forest hears a calling from the stone men. A heaviness lies in the forest. With the help from his old friend dragon, he follows the tug of his intuition, flies over over forest and comes to a hollow in the trees. In the darkness stands an old stone buried among the bracken and bramble. A gravestone that reads...
'Here lies the King.'

This story is a weaving of biography and fantasy.———————————Ewa is inspired by magic and connection to the earth. Ewa, also known as Jordan, found his true name about 6 years ago under a beech tree in the New Forest. Alongside an inner journey he has also worked outwardly as a gardener and carpenter. He feels that his ancestors and an angel have guided him to storytelling.

Rebecca Chipping

The Song of Before and Beyond

Lilith says; “I am the voice that says No, the truth that cant be contained, the surge in your belly telling you – its time. I am the movement without doubt, I am the courage to overcome fear, I am the flame that never goes out.”
I am the underbelly, the great blossoming of your unruly becoming. Don't you recognise me, when I call you by your true name, Wild One?
This is a journey of reclamation. What parts of the self have been lost, forgotten, abandoned? Join me as I attempt to unravel the mystery of reclaiming the wild, ancient and sovereign self. Journeying into The Song of Before and Beyond, all that was and ever will be, that is always available, if only we dare to go looking.———————————My first word was “No”. When I was a child I had wild and outrageous temper tantrums. I would tell people what I really thought and felt...Time has passed and apparently I've grown up. I used to think these expressions signalled me as “wrong” or “bad”. But I'm starting to think differently.

Len Biran and Ruth Steinberg

Two Old :Too Old?

We are 158 years old!
Once we were young, now we are old.
If you are young now, one day you too
will be old.
Our story is about two people in their
old age falling in love.
Can older people fall in love?
Can lives blossom as a result?
What is old?
What is too old?
We are Jewish, so our stories happen
against a backdrop of Jewish culture
and of World War 2 and its aftermath.
Our stories are full of surprises.
There is a wedding, songs in Yiddish,
Hebrew and Russian, travels, adventure, silliness,
witches, promises, grief and love.
———————————Len Biran
Jew, born in Poland 1937
An escapee, a deportee, a refugee, an emigrant, an immigrant.
Age 88, still on the go, but slowly falling to bits, a process both interesting and ominous.
Once a GP now savouring storytelling.

Ruth Steinberg
A story weaver, with several storytelling productions
A Geordie Jewish woman born not long after Second World War.
Married to Len Biran.

Francine de Graaf

Snake of Dreams

A king
A farmer
A snake
Three dreams

And a parrot…

I invite you to meet them all in the storytelling feast I have prepared for you. The first dish is an old folktale from Georgia, called The Snake of Dreams. A curious tale about troubling nightmares, treachery and wisdom. The second dish is a true-life story, about my grandfather who joined a resistance group in World War II. There is also a parrot. But that will only be revealed, if you can keep a secret.
The story dishes are delicious, nutritious and well-seasoned.
So, join me for some food for thought.
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I was born in Scheveningen, a fisherman’s village on the coast of The Netherlands.
Twelve years ago I started my storytelling journey. I tell stories in schools, theatres, on the beach and in a local museum that was once a medieval prison.

Eleanor Adams

Becoming the Fool

This storytelling is the meeting place between the wonder tale 'The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship' and Eleanor's biographical reflections of transition, and the search for belonging. It's a piece about the cycle of being lost, found, and lost again.

The fool of this journey embarks on a journey without a clear path, full of new faces and challenges that sometimes leave him feeling adrift. Alongside this, fragments of Eleanor's own life- being lost both physically and emotionally-are threaded into the tale. Offering a personal perspective to a universal theme.

Eleanor invites you to travel with herself and the fool, singing through uncertainty, embracing the discomfort of change, and finding the openness required to move forward!
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Eleanor is on a new venture into the world of Storytelling and into taking up space and being seen! In this price she aims to embrace the playfulness, creativity and passion that storytelling and 'The Fool' bring.

Marlen Robyn

Baukis & Erinna – Becoming the space between words

When you spend all your words in praise of your beloved one, wanting to hold, to define them - when they die, then, what happens with your words?
How far can words go after them, can words be stepping stones into the intangible?
Or do you have to become the empty space yourself for the unspeakable to sing through you?

Based on sparse historical facts about Erinna, the ancient Greek poet, and Baukis, the woman her one surviving fragmentary poem addresses, I listen into the gaps between words and wonder how to travel between worlds when words become too small a vessel.
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With my background in music and movement, I tell stories with body, voice and words, always looking for the exiled and lost to find expression.
Born in Zurich, I am currently creating a sense of home between Switzerland, Greece and other places yet to discover.

Susie Miller

Llyn Barfog

A moral story about greed and trust and the consequences———————————
I went to Emerson in 2021. I love to tell stories with otherworldly themes that inspire imagination and create perceptual change.

Lori Toader

The Real Grail: A Journey Through Anger, Longing, and the Truth Beneath

"The Real Grail" is a powerful storytelling performance that weaves the ancient myth of Parsifal’s search for the Holy Grail with one woman’s modern-day quest for real love. Set against the backdrop of grief, longing, and emotional awakening, this deeply personal tale explores the tension between anger and love, shame and worthiness, illusion and truth. Through myth, memory, and vulnerability, the story invites those who have ever been told they are 'too much' to reclaim the sacredness of their longing—and the fierce wisdom of their rage. If you’ve ever searched for love that doesn’t require shrinking, silencing, or chasing, this story is for you. Honest, intimate, and soul-stirring, it’s a journey into the heart’s deepest questions."
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A passionate storyteller and truth-seeker, Lori Toader weaves myth and personal experience into emotionally raw, soul-stirring performances. Her work explores inner transformation, longing and the underground life of emotions — the rage we hide, the love we crave, and the truth that waits in the dark. She believes stories can crack us open, heal us, and bring us home to ourselves.

Oliver J Perry

Babel

Without our voices, we cannot be heard and I wouldn't be telling you these tales...

Two stories about the power of voice.

An original story based on the Bible myth of the Tower of Babel. The tower drew people from across the plains of Shinar, eager to rebuild their shattered lives, it offered hope but was shrouded in mystery. What was its purpose?

The voice thief: a man receives the magical gift of a voice that gives him great power and wealth only to have it stolen from him, losing everything. He then undertakes an arduous physical, emotional and spiritual journey in order to find his voice but this time a voice of truth and real power.
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Oliver Perry is a writer, storyteller, musician, and gardener living in Dorset.

Neha Verma

Gathri - “Gathri” - गठरी - an ode to the journeys of all my mothers before me and all my mothers after me

Traditionally, a gathri is a cloth bundle used to carry one’s belongings for a journey or move.

Welcome to my gathri of stories passed through three generations of mothers—tales woven with resilience, gratitude, courage, faith, divine grace under fire, and love.

The art of tying a gathri:
1. Lay out a cloth.
2. Gather what matters.
3. Pack with care so essentials are accessible without spilling the “guts of the gathri”
4. Tie opposite ends securely—three knots each.
5. If leaving home forever: still your heart, wipe your tears, grieve what is to be left behind, invoke divine blessings for the path ahead.
6. Chant your mantra—your japp जप.

This is both a practice of packing and of passage.
Ready?
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I am an Indian, from Norway. Searching for my roots, yearning to build bridges between east and west, earth and sky, past and present.
Born of a Sindhi-Sufi-water-soul mother and Rajasthani-warrior-fire-soul father, I am an ever-evolving being, in love with all that is in this timeless eternal journey of life.

Hannah Moore

The Wonder Night Cafe

A late night wander into the dream realm of wondertales. Stories, cake and conversation - come and listen to two wondertales of dark and wild things, with time to talk about the mystery and meanings in these stories over cake and invitations for creative exploration.
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Hannah is a storyteller/facilitator with a background in theatre, dance and restorative justice. She tells stories here and in Europe, and runs workshops, retreats and events rooted in exploring the fresh ideas that old tales offer for our world now. She is also a ceilidh caller and runs the Fairy Tale Ceilidh event faciliating people to dance their way through wondertales.