ROGER JENKINS STORYTELLER
I am a Singaporean storyteller who discovered oral telling 25 years ago, after a 20 year career spent drama teaching, theatre production and creating written storytelling as a poet and playwright. I love telling stories and also helping others (adults and kids0 discover or develop the teller in themselves.
2024: As I continue my storytelling journey through my 71st year, life has been as rewarding as I had hoped, with a variety of fascinating and emotionally-rewarding projects:
- March: I conducted a workshop with my MASKS at Jeff Gere’s storytelling camp in HAWAII (and did a solo show in the Honolulu Downtown Arts Centre)
- June/July: two performances to largely audult audiences at the Singapore Art Museum (one with my good friend and story partner, Gophi Nathan) inspired by their excellent Olafur Eliasson exhibition
- July: audio-described a heartfelt documentary by two NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information students on the talented and irrepressible vision-impaired Singaporean athlete, Joan Hung.
- August: Performed in the Borneo Puppet, Clown & Story Festival (held in Sibu, Sarawak) alongside clownns from thaqiland, KL, Japan, puppeteers from Hong Kong, India and Malaysia) and rtellers from UK, KL and Sibu.
- September: along with my fellow directorsw at FEAST (Federation of Asian Storytellers) hosted our 4th Storytellers’ Conference in Suwon, South Korea
I am looking forward to a very busy October & November with a series of 60 minute story shows for years 3/4/5 at CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel Primary (plus a personaql storytelling workshop for each of their P6 classes. I shall be returning to the Australian International School to work with their Yr 3 (storytelling) amd Yr 6 (Poetry – do see the bog I made sharing work created during my incursion last year.)
I will be helping the Singapore Navy to celebrate Navy Day (9 November) by telling their stories (for youth/adults) at the Changi Naval Museum.
And October/November also marks the tenth anniversary of the 398.2 Storytelling Festival which I founded back in 2015 , so of course I will be telling both on line and live at a kidsRead centre. The Festival is now run by the Storytelling association Singapore and I do hope you willl support it!
Let me tell you a story!
I have a large repertoire of stories to suit audience from pre-school through teens to adults. you tell me a theme and I am confident I can share a story related to it.
I’ve told in schools, museums, galleries, parks, Community Clubs, libraries, malls, offices, birthday parties, wedding anniversaires (and weddings!)
Whatever you do, you’ll do it better if you tell a story!
Are you a teacher, parent, counsellor, librarian, leader, politician, an entrepreneur in need of funding, selling something?
Let me help you develop your skills and confidence as a storyteller.
I run a variety of courses designed to stimulate creativity in written form (short story & poetry) orally (in story telling and inprovisation) Stories with Stuff is one such course
Audio Description
I have audio described more than 12 productions for WILD RICE, SRT & Gateway Theatre.
AudioBook Narration
i have narrated 9 books for Storytel
These programmes are endorsed
as part of the NAC AEP
SCHOOL PERFORMANCES
A-To-See Storytelling
(pre-school)
Timeless tales
content tailored to Pri / Sec / ITE / JC)
Stories for Ourselves
(secondary)
SCHOOL WORKSHOPS
Stories With Stuff
(primary)
Writing Rivetting Stories
(primary / secondary)
Stories For Success
(SEC / ITE / JC)
Current Projects
- Stories with Stuff – Zhenghua Primary – 40 P6 (2 classes) creating and telling stories using household objects
- Punggol Green Primary : post PSLE P6 drama incursion for all 8 classes (3.5 hrs each)
- Timeless Tales @ Henry Park Primary for P3’s
- Poetry incursion for Yr 3 @Australian International School
FEAST CONFERENCE
This trailer is for my MASK WORKSHOP which i’m facilitating in Jakarta (Nov23/24.) all the Masks come from Indonesia – the plain wooden ones by the late pak Ledjar from yoygyakarta
HEAVEN OR HELL?
A short story I heard some 60 years ago. The teacher said it was from Korea – though as the Korean War had been recently ‘truced’, that may have been a convenient topical reference. The only story I remember from my dire school days!
The most frequent descripters I hear about my telling are that I’m conversational, comical, engaging.
Thanks to my background in theatre and improvised comedy (Singapore’s first professional improv group, The Madhatters) I’m comfortable playing with my audience, relating to them and using their response to the story as I tell it.
I like to animate my telling when appropriate – with puppets and props (such as fans with cloth attached to represent fire or storms) or sound (to summon, excite or soothe an audience).
I founded/directed Singapore’s Theatre of the Deaf (Hi! Theatre, 1985-1994) and that (plus my work with deaf story partners) has made me more visually aware in my telling.
HALLOWE’EN IS COMING! Are ye lookin’ for company? The Strange Visitor is a deliciously spooky tale for kids (those that like a little chill down their spine) – but there’s also a wee bit of comedy in this old Scottish tale! hold on to your sweat – rocking back-and-forth by candlelight optional!
I am a Singaporean storyteller who discovered oral telling 25 years ago, after a 20 year career spent drama teaching, theatre production and creating written storytelling as a poet and playwright. I love telling stories and also helping others – adults – and kids – discover or develop the teller in themselves.
As I approach my 70th year (February 2023) I am looking forward to performing in BhuFeSto (Bhubaneswar Storytelling Festival, January), returning to the Nepali contingent Mount Vernon Camp to train the wives in using story to develop language (February) and staging a multi-disciplinary story event at the National Gallery (10/17 March). And celebrating World Storytelling Day (and being a septuagenarian!) at 42 Waterloo Street on 19/20 March.
How Can I Serve You?
Performance
- live on site – by far the most effective
- live on zoom. After 3 years of zooming, I’ve become very comfortable telling to camera, but you lose much of the interaction
- pre-recorded stories on The Story Stream, an online catalogue of mostly wisdom tales grouped by age group from pre-school to teen.
Where I perform
- Schools, Libraries, Galleries & Museums
- Community events
- Corporate events (eg family day)
- International Story Festivals (eg BhuFeSto in Bhubaneswar, Jan 2023)
- Private events (anniversaries, birthday parties)
Looking for story training for Adults?
- Are you a teacher?
- A parent?
- Exploring storytelling within your Organisation?
My School Programmes
I have been involved with a NAC’s Arts Education Programme from the very beginning and I’m delighted to offer a mix of new and established performances and workshops in 2023/24. (all titles link to the AEP Directory)
Performances:
- TIMELESS TALES – live on site storytelling
- A-to-SEE STORYTELLING (live on zoom for pre-school audiences)
- STORY STREAM – a catalogue of pre-recorded story videos suitable for different levels from primary to JC/ITE
- STORY STREAM – preschool
- STORIES FOR OURSELVES
We tell ourselves stories all the time. Unfortunately most of the stories we tell ourselves are negative! Roger demonstrate with Masks & Story, how, while we can’t change what happens to us, we can choose how we respond.
Workshops
- STORIES WITH STUFF! (Desktop Object Theatre) New 2023
- WRITING RIVETTING STORIES
- STORIES FOR SUCCESS (storytelling as a lifeskill) New. What careers are your students considering? Sales, Healthcare, Lawyer, Entrepreneur? A leadership role? Whatever path they follow, the ability to tell a good story, a story that they need their audience to hear and respond to, will make them more effective in their chosen role.
On the road in January
updated 23 Jan 2023
10 Jan: I joined the Year 3’s at Tanglin Trust for their Viking Day and told the dramatic story of Sigurd Slaying the Dragon Fafnir. (eight times during the day = 160 minutes of telling!)
Participating in the second BhuFeSto (13-17) Story Festival in Bhubaneswar was a fabulous experience. We performed in 4 parks daily from 2.30 – 7pm with stories in Hindi, Odia & English (and lots of bi-lingual tandems!) It was great to reunite with Antonio Rocha (US) and Ariyo Zidni (Jakarta) Rohini Viz and Nupur Agrawal (both from India) and to make lots of news friends including Marion Kelly (UK) and Bongiswa (South Africa). I also gave a performance/teacher workshop at the impressive SAI INTERNATIONAL School.
www.storystream.com.sg
is endorsed by the National Arts Council
Arts Education Programme.
Schools booking views of stories on the Story Stream
are eligible for 50% Totalisator Board subsidy
What is the Story Stream?
An online library of mostly traditional stories told by several highly experienced Singaporean storytellers which I created in response to the covid lockdown. The stories are grouped in four age bands (pre-school, lower and upper primary, and secondary) and most last between 7 – 15 minutes. most of the stories also come with suggestions for follow-up activites which parents/teachers are welcome to download.
The Story Stream uses a dedicated server, so there are no distracting ads (unlike youtube) nor any inappropriate content.
- Home viewing packages are at $10/$20/$40 for 10/23/50 views respectively
- School bookings are priced at $10 per class view.
Enjoy a free bilingual English/Mandarin or English/Malay story
The Story Stream gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Arts Council,
How do I tell stories?
The most frequent descripters I hear about my telling are that I’m conversational, comical, engaging.
Thanks to my background in theatre and improvised comedy (Singapore’s first professional improv group, The Madhatters) I’m comfortable playing with my audience, relating to them and using their response to the story as I tell it. I like to animate my telling when its appropriate – with puppets and props (such as fans with cloth attached to represent fire or storms) or sound (to summon, excite or soothe an audience). I founded/directed Singapore’s Theatre of the Deaf (Hi! Theatre, 1985-1994) and that (and my work with deaf story partners) has made me much more visually aware in my telling.
Becoming an audio describer in 2019 has also enriched my telling, making me more precise (and concise!) in my word choice!
World Storytelling Day 18/19 March 2023
Join me for a 75 minute selection of stories celebrating both World Storytelling Day and my turning 70! The theme of this year’s WSD is Together We Can, so I’m delighted to join with friends to present this showcase of my favourite stories relating to teamwork, community and sharing.
Venue: 42 Waterloo St
18/19 March 7.30pm
All ticket sales
donated to FEAST
STORIES WITH STUFF!
a brand new workshop for schools celebrating creativity and imagination by telling stories using everyday objects. Read more
.
Coming soon!