Suzie Shaeffer and Terry Deer are the Kaleidoscope Storytellers. With similar backgrounds as librarians and performers, we have known each other for a number of years and have often worked and performed together as members of our local storytelling guild, Sandcastle Storytellers, Inc. After a number of successful tandem appearances, in 1999 we decided to establish a formal collaboration, choosing the kaleidoscope image for our name since we feel that stories, like kaleidoscopes, reflect and reveal the patterns of life and because we enjoy using a kaleidoscopic variety of techniques to share stories with our audience. While both of us still perform as individuals and as part of other teams and ensembles, we especially enjoy appearing together as the Kaleidoscope Storytellers. In addition to numerous school and library shows, our tandem performances have been featured at the following annual events: the Cracker Storytelling Festival, the Orlando StoryFest, the Ocala Storytelling Festival, Sandcastle Storytellers' Tellabration and Stories from the Heart, and the Pioneer Art Settlement's Jamboree (Barberville, Florida).    Meet Terry Deer My performing career began when I was six and saw real theater (well, "Toad of Toad Hall" - does that count?) for the first time. My wise and generous parents followed pantomime with Shaw and Shakespeare, a revelation. I would be an actress! That conviction lasted until I graduated from The College of William and Mary with a degree in Theater and Speech, having spent four wonderful years as the third chorus person from the left. Not prepared to starve in a New York City garret (do they exist?) for my art, I did the next best thing and went to work in a bookstore.     Bookstores are among the finest places in the world, and I quickly found the finest place in a bookstore: the children's section. Four wonderful years later, I was tired of telling parents, "This is a delightful picture book. Your child will love it. That will be ten dollars and forty cents, please." A library degree seemed the ideal solution, and I shifted ground once again. I entered the Master's degree program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and graduated into a world in which I could tell parents, "This is a wonderful picture book. Your child will love it." Period.     Becoming a children's librarian was a fateful step. In my first job I was blessed with a supervisor who told me, "You will learn to tell stories." Piece of cake, I thought - but nothing had prepared me for looking out at all those eyes looking back at me. It was terrifying. And exhilarating. In short, I was hooked. I was a storyteller, disguised as a children's librarian.     The disguises have varied over the intervening years, now including puppeteer and writer rather than librarian, but I'm still a storyteller. Working with Suzie Shaeffer to create Kaleidoscope Storytellers has been a deeply satisfying complement to my unaccompanied storytelling work; long may the collaboration continue.     For anyone out there who was hoping for a list of qualifications, they are:     Children's librarian for ten years, first in Charleston SC and then in Daytona Beach FL, including extensive practice in planning and presenting puppet shows and story programs to preschool and elementary age audiences   Storyteller since 1980, including performances at elementary and middle schools, day care centers, conferences and festivals such as Tellabration!, the Florida Citrus Festival, the Stephen Foster Storytelling Festival, the Cracker Storytelling Festival (all in Florida) and the Great Oaks Storytelling Festival in Ocean Springs, Mississippi   Training highlights include several intensive seminars hosted by the organization now known as the National Storytelling Network; thirteen years of annual attendance at the Florida Storytelling Camp with its workshops led by nationally known tellers; a series of workshops offered by Augusta Baker of blessed memory   Member of the Sandcastle Storytellers, Inc. of Volusia County, FL, the Florida Storytelling Association, the National Storytelling Network and the International Women's Writing Guild     For more information, email me at tdeer@earthlink.net Top of Page Meet Suzie Shaeffer Stories were a part of my growing up: listening to family anecdotes; laughing at my father's shaggy dog jokes; watching a Japanese street teller; being mesmerized by a ship purser's personalized series of tall tales; reading, reading and reading; and leading informal dramatizations of favorite stories. This love of stories, books and drama led me at first not to performing, but to library school.     The responsibilities of running a branch library from 1971 to 1974 included acting as the children's librarian and learning perforce how to tell stories and produce puppet shows. My interest in puppetry grew and my husband became a puppeteer as well. We attended regional and national puppet festivals and workshops and in a couple of years formed our own part-time puppet company - Jim still performs with me when I do full-stage puppet shows. Our plays and puppet characters have appeared in a number of venues, including television commercials for the local chapter of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness.     A ten-year stint as coordinator of children's services for the Volusia County (Florida) library system intensified my involvement (and training) in storytelling and puppetry. I planned and presented touring programs to thousands of children at libraries, child cares and schools and inaugurated a county-wide children's storytelling festival. Both as a librarian and as an individual I developed and taught numerous workshops for librarians, educators, parents and children on sharing literature through storytelling and puppetry.     I "retired" from library work with the birth of my daughter Katie (now graduating from college) and eventually became a full-time storyteller and puppeteer - known to a whole generation of local kids, it seems, as The StoryHat Lady. Besides performing in homes, schools and libraries, I have been featured at the Florida Storytelling Camp, the Cracker Storytelling Festival, and the Stephen Foster Storytelling Festival. For years I co-produced and performed in the annual Tellabration! A Night of Storytelling for Grown-ups presented by Sandcastle Storytellers, Inc.     I've continued to lead how-to workshops on storytelling and puppetry and, as an outgrowth of these workshops, I have authored two books - Bring Trash to Life: How to Make Puppets Out of Throwaways and Puppets Can Be Storytelling Partners. In 1996 I founded StoryHat, Inc., which is dedicated to: promoting entertainment and education through storytelling, puppetry and family games; producing newsletters and other media for educational organizations; and publishing books and pamphlets on storytelling and puppetry.     Why am I a storyteller? I love the direct connection with the audience (children or adults!) and seeing their enjoyment of the stories that I love. For me there's a special resonance in a line from the Native American tale called The Storytelling Stone: "It is time for the stories to be kept not in the stones, but in the hearts of the people." That's my "mission" as a storyteller - to use all of my skills as a teller, puppeteer and performer to bring the old tales to life once more in people's hearts.     Founding member and past officer of Sandcastle Storytellers, Inc. of Volusia County, FL; member of the Florida Storytelling Association and the National Storytelling Network (formerly NSA/NAPPS).     For more information, e-mail me at storyhat@aol.com.   Top of Page  Home - About Us - Programs - Activities - Resources - Contact Us  Copyright ©2006 Terry Deer & Suzie Shaeffer