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Ellen Bland

Pittsboro

NC

 

Member profile details

Membership level
INDIVIDUAL, or Organization or Library NON-AUTO-RENEWING
First name
Ellen
Last name
Bland
Phone
9195484811
City
Pittsboro
State
NC
Zip Code
27312
Biography
As of 2024, I became curator of the fall/winter performance series "Mill Town Yarns" for the nonprofit Bynum Front Porch in Bynum, NC.
All shows are inside the 90 yr. old Bynum General Store.

I am a retired communication professor (public speaking/interpersonal communication), and for 35 years or so have directed grassroots theatre productions, mostly in non-theatre spaces, and often incorporating oral history and/or techniques I learned by training with the International Institute of Readers Theatre in London. Favorite productions include "Kudzu, a Southern Musical," "Love, Loss, & What I Wore," "For Colored Girls who....," Smoke on the Mountain," " Dreamland" (a 1920s musical adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), and "Millworker," an original musical based on The Southern Oral History Project's collection, "Like A Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World." "Millworker" traveled to mill towns across NC, received the state award for community theatre, and played to over 5000 people.



2024-25 Season was a good success, and included:
Sept. Michael Reno Harrell
Oct. Chatham County Stories & Music
Nov. Lipbone Redding
Jan. Bynum Stories & Music
Feb. Carolina folk tales,including Carolina Haints' Dan Sellers, Liz Pardue,& Musician Al McCanless
Mar. Authors Rebecca Newton (of musical group Rebecca & the Hightones) & Cedric Tillman, gospel singer/storyteller Connie Steadman
Apr. Donna Washington
May Lona Bartlett, Chris Wise, and Andy Russell

2025-26 season of Mill Town Yarns:
Sept. 13 “Sing Me a Story” acoustic showcase
Oct. 11 Lipbone Redding
Nov. 15 Local NC Storytelling Guild Tellers Showcase
Jan. 17 Chatham County Stories & Songs
Feb.7 Michael Reno Harrell & Josh Goforth
Mar. 7 & 14 Afternoon Storytelling Class
Mar.14 Bil Lepp
Apr. 11 First Annual Story Jam

www.Bynumfrontporch.org
Photo or Avatar
Audience Age Groups
  • Adults
  • Families
Story Types
  • Personal Narrative, Family
  • Ghost, Scary
  • Humor
  • Literary
  • Historical
  • Character
  • Original
  • Multicultural
  • With Music
  • With Song
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