Japanese Story Telling

This morning we loaded in April's stand and small stage at the Museum of the American Quilters. April was representing the the Market House Theatre as part of Kids Day in the Arts. She began promptly at 9 am and began to tell stories. Jade and I were the first to hear some of her new stories. The stage is a small wooden box with sides that open out to create a miniature frame for the artwork to appear inside. Almost like a tiny stage or television box with ornate cut wooden sides. The form of story telling April presents is called Kamishibai. It is based on the Japanese story tellers who used to bring their bicycle to an area and then clap together wooden blocks to alert the kids in the neighborhood. All of the children would run to the story teller when they heard the noise. The story teller was in reality a candy maker. The back of his bicycle had a box with delicious candies the children could buy. If a child bought candy they got a front row seat for the story. If they did not they could still stay to hear the story but had to stand in the back. With a flair for story telling and colorful story boards illustrated with artwork about the story it was easy to see how this would delight children and adults of all ages.

April told stories with lots of audience participation until about 2 pm today when her voice finally gave out from exertion. Kids Day in the Arts had puppet making, flag coloring and lots of craft activities provided by the Museum, a hands on display of musical instruments kids could try out from the Paducah Symphony, and a puppet show by Loretta Folsom. Lots of activities and inflatables were on the lawn outside the museum. All of it was free to the public and lots of kids seemed to be having a great time! It was across from the Farmers Market as well so we got to stroll over to get some just picked vegetables and a hot dog from Louie Kirchhoff's hot dog cart. The only thing that was a little disappointing was the hot air balloon was unable to setup because of the strong winds. Over all the day was a great way for kids to experience the arts as something they could participate in.