Roger Jenkins Storyteller
I am a Singaporean storyteller who discovered oral telling 25 years ago, after two decades of drama teaching, theatre production and creating written stories as a poet and playwright.
UPDATE 2024:
As I continue my storytelling journey through my 71st year, life, though slower-paced, continues to be kindly rewarding, with a variety of fascinating and emotionally-rewarding projects, which I’ve highlighted below.
My (volunteer) work as one of the three Founding Directors of FEAST (the Federation of Asian Storytellers) keeps me very busy and the strong sense of community which it has fostered helps provide some balance as much of one’s work as a storyteller is solitary. PLOT LUCK, FEAST’s improv-story Special Interest Group, which I co-ordinate with Oshima Hideko in Japan, is a particular source of joy, creative comedy and companionship.
What have I done in 2024?
-
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 adult audiences at the Singapore Art Museum (one with my good friend & 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 clowns from Thailand, KL, Japan; puppeteers from Hong Kong, India & Malaysia; and tellers from UK, KL and Sibu.
-
September: along with my five fellow Directors at FEAST (Federation of Asian Storytellers) hosted our 4th Storytellers’ Conference in Suwon, South Korea.
What’s next for me in 2024?
I am looking forward to a very busy October & November with three hour-long story performances 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 return to the Australian International School to work with both their Yr 3 (storytelling) amd Yr 6 (Poetry – do see the bog I made sharing work created during my incursion last year.)
- I will help the Singapore Navy celebrate Navy Day (9 November) by telling their stories (for youth/adults) at the Changi Naval Museum.
- October/November also marks the 10th 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 the Festival on-line or at the Central Library (9/10 November)
- December 8th: I’m excited to be audio-describing the WILD RICE pantomime, which is always a fabulous challenge, as it is such a spectacular spectacle. But the pre-show TOUCH TOUR, with its chance to handle costumes and interact with some of the cast, is always great fun for all vision-impaired users of the service.
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, weddings and anniversaries.
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 live onsite or online)
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)
Recent Projects
- AUDIO-DESCRIBING Snow White for Wild Rice – why AD is so rewarding for all participants
- 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 6 @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 Yogyakarta – where I also performed in their annual Storytelling Festival! See the story below
i was in Yogyakarta in central Java on the 18/19 November performing in their Story Festival alonside my friends and fellow-FEAST members, Alla (from Moscow) and Ptiyanka (Kolkotta). the setting of the hutan pinus (pine-tree forest) was magnificent and there was a huge crowd of almost a 1000, parents with young vociferous kids!.
A story from Bali
So I thought it appropriate I share this story – recorded after heavy rain (hence the incessant croaking chorus that accompanies the telling!) – of Princess Dewi Ratih and the monster Kala Rahu.
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.
STORY OF THE MONTH – November
This is a traditional folktale from THAILAND that I recorded while in Bangkok for a festival in 21017 I believe.
Why is it that some people, it seems, do all the work, yet other people get paid all the money? If you feel overworked and underpaid, perhaps this story is for you?!
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!