Roger Jenkins Storyteller
I am delighted to return to the Aliance Francaise with a new story-theatre show with my French collaborator, Justine Devisse. WHEN THE WORLD DANCES features 3 traditional folktales from India, Zimbabwe and Panama, all involving dance. As a result, I’m excited to be working with 3 dancers from Apsaras Arts, led and choreographed by Soumee De, with Ragha (who also performed in my 2024 show at the Alliance) on flute & percussion. (June 6/7 @ 3pm)
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.
What am I doing in 2026?
It has been a busy first half, with exciting projects in schools (at Bukit View Primary and the Australian International School – my 15th consecutive year of providing story or poetry programmes at AIS!)
In Febraury I was invited to perform at the Kukuduku Festival in Ahmedabad (and spent my birthday there visiting the Gandhi ashram!)
I am proud to be working with Jade Aw, one of the two Singaporean Rhodes Scholars this year, directing her play, CUT-OFF POINT which we’re bringing to upper secondary/JC/ITE and even NUS audiences from July – mid Sept, before she flies off to Oxford University for two years. A remarkable yuong woman who identifies as deaf, I believe Jade’s story will resonate with an audience that is at most only six years younger than herself.
January had a fun project thanks to EYE-YAH, who commissioned me to write a story on the theme of financial literacy for 8 yr olds (!) to be shared at POSB’s Adventure playground in the Curiosity Cove at the Mandai Zoo. Based on their mascot, Smiley Squirrel, it explores the need for identifying wants vs needs and celbrated the benefits of saving – nits for Squirrels in winter, and cash for kids on rainy days! i also spent an afternoon training the Cove’s eager rangers in the art of telling (and manipulating Smiley the puppet!)
In September I’m excitedly looking forward to FEAST’s 5th STORYTELLER’S CONFERENCE to be held in Chennai. As one of its Founding directors. it obviously entails a massive amount of prepartuiion and co-ordination with our local partners, Springboard Tales. I’m going ot present a workshkop, From story to Drama, drawing on myt love and experience of both art forms!
What did I most enjoy in 2024?
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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September: along with my five fellow Directors at FEAST (Federation of Asian Storytellers) hosted our 4th Storytellers’ Conference in Suwon, South Korea.
- November: I helped the Republic of Singapore Navy celebrate Navy Day by sharing – at the fascinating Navy Museum in Changi – the story of the RSN from the days in 1965 wehen it had only wooden ships(!) so its exciting modern fleet of locally deesigned and built Littoral Mission Vessels, as well as its suubmarines and plethora of unmanned vessels
- December”: I helped to audio-describe Wild Rice’s joyful pantomime version of The Wizard of Oz
WORLD STORYTELLING DAY 2025
The theme is Deep Waters, so firstly there’s possibly one of the oldest – and probably the very deepest – of deep water stories. do you know-a Noah story? Mine is not rleigious but has a modern twist to the tale, written and told in verse. Enjoy!
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!