Word Smith: Pat Nease, Storyteller

By Laura Roesch, Photography by Savannah Jane

“A storyteller?” There’s that happy, booming laugh of hers, as she describes the typical reaction when people hear she’s a storyteller. Pat Nease says she gets that “look” and then the usual comment “Huh; so you read books to kids.” She then patiently explains, “No, I’m a story TELLER.”  “Oh. You sit in the library and tell stories to kids?” Nease acknowledges that is sometimes true but storytelling may also occur in a senior center, before a group of business people, or at a gathering of thousands of folks at storytelling festivals throughout the Southeastern United States. Her reputation as an energetic and demonstrative storyteller earned her a coveted invitation to the 2017 Taiwan/China Storytelling Carnival Roadshow, an English immersion project for youngsters.

Pat says she never feels more alive than when she is telling a story and connecting with her listeners of all ages. How she engages her audience, especially children, is magical. She describes it as a euphoric feeling, almost an out-of-body experience. “It is a bit hard to describe,” she admits. How ironic that she is at a loss for words. Because this lady can really tell a story!

PC Living: You have such a huge personality; when you walk into a room you really light it up. It seems like you have been telling stories a very long time. When did you begin telling stories?

Pat: I grew up on St. Augustine Beach at a time when few people lived on the beach. So when my sister, nearly two years my senior, abandoned me and started school, I was on my own, and began living in a pretend world inhabited with creatures from childhood stories. There were fairies, princesses, kings, castles, witches, giants, and me, playing whatever part I dreamed up. Then my little brother came along and I started telling him stories. But I only knew two “real” stories. One was an awful one called “Bloody Bones.” I don’t even know where I learned it. It was a “jump” story; every time I told it, he would jump. My mother was not happy about this and told me, “Don’t let me catch you telling him scary stories.” So I thought, okay, you won’t catch me!

PC Living: So you always wanted to be a storyteller?

Pat: I didn’t grow up saying, “I am going to be a storyteller.” I didn’t even know there was such a thing. In fact, I was a painfully shy child and I had great difficulty reading. I couldn’t track the words across the page. These days I’d be diagnosed as dyslexic.  My wonderful second grade teacher saved me. Once the reading hurdle was crossed, I became a voracious reader, devouring books and loving words. I became a teacher. As an educator, I rediscovered the joy of storytelling and the enrichment it brought to the classroom. I don’t think there is any more powerful tool in a teacher’s toolbox. I wanted to give my students a good reason to get out of bed every day and come to school. Storytelling helped me do that. I told stories.  My students told stories.  You know, if you want something to be remembered, if you want to build lasting connections, put it in story form. Research shows that the human brain is wired to learn through stories. This is what we humans do. This is why we get on the phone and tell our friend about our day, or our pets, or what a spouse did this time. Stories help us make sense of our lives and sense of the world. Consider the fact that all great religions teach through story, passing these stories down through generations. For a long time, the storyteller was revered as the keeper of history. All cultures are rich in story: fables, myths, legends, or folklore.

PC Living: I saw you at the Shells and Tales Storytelling Festival in Port St. Joe this summer. The audience was captivated; it was standing room only. I also saw you tell stories to elementary students and, within minutes, the children were completely engaged. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Can anyone be a storyteller?

Pat:  If you can talk, you can tell a story. Storytelling naturally occurs around the dinner table, when sharing a cup of coffee or a drink with someone, when visiting an old friend, at family get-togethers, or any gathering of friends and neighbors, whether it is a church group, a civic club, or a party. Not everyone aspires to tell on the stage, but we are all, by nature, storytellers.

PC Living: When did you first realize storytelling was something you would pursue on a larger scale?

Pat: I often told stories to my students and other teachers began asking me to come tell stories in their classrooms. At first it was just my school and then it caught on with other schools in the district. In the early 90s, I attended my first Florida Story Camp, a meeting of storytellers from and near Florida. It was magical.  I didn’t KNOW there were people doing what I was doing. I didn’t know they were called “Storytellers.” I remember calling my husband and saying, “I don’t think I’m coming home; I feel like I’ve run away and joined the circus. I’ve found my people!”

PC Living: Did you step right up on stage, in front of the crowd, and begin telling?

Pat: Actually, I did. Absolutely petrified I was telling stories to folks who told stories professionally! It went amazingly well and I was inspired. This first camp was the beginning of my training: workshops on puppetry, crafting, mime, voice, timing, music, props, movement, and more. A beginning storyteller is much like a beginning musician; you emulate those you admire.
You tell another teller’s story, not because you think you can steal it and do it better, but because you want to tell it like them; like singing someone else’s song. But if you are going to seriously pursue storytelling, you have to find your own voice, find the kind of stories that resonate with you. Two suggestions: You never tell a story you don’t love, and you never memorize. It’s like a movie in your head and the story, if you’re living it as you’re telling it, never comes out exactly the same way twice. The story takes over, moving beyond the teller. Because it’s the story that’s important.

PC Living: Did you have any personal experience storytelling or speaking to large groups of people before?

Pat: In a roundabout way, I guess you could say I did. When I graduated from FSU, I wanted to travel so I volunteered for a year with the American Red Cross in its Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas program in Vietnam. A pair of us would hop on a chopper, fly to a remote firebase, and present a program, often a large group game, to 50 to 80 tired and lonely GIs. Our job was to boost morale, bring a touch of home, and entertain through a structured activity. In WWII, such volunteers were called “Donut Dollies.” We were more like the “Kool-Aid Cuties.” So I’d say, if you can get up in front of combat troops, day after day, kid around, engage them in laughter and story, and know you’ve connected with most of them, there’s not much left in life to scare you.

PC Living:  Have you told any stories from this experience in Vietnam?

Pat:  No. I don’t know if I ever will. If you haven’t been there, it is hard to tell about it. And I don’t know if it’s what people want to hear.

PC Living: Do you remember telling your first story at a festival?  How did you get the gumption to finally do it?

Pat: Yes! I was still fairly new, just finding my niche. It was the Cracker Storytelling Festival, one of the oldest festivals in the United States, and it’s still going strong in Bartow, Florida. It took some coaxing and I was scared to death and a nervous wreck the first time. You may know a thousand stories and then can’t think of one when you are on stage in front of all those people. It was a terrific learning experience and I’m delighted to say I’ve been invited back every year since!

PC Living: So you learned by watching and observing other storytellers?

Pat: Yes. You learn so much by watching and listening to other tellers, or talking with other tellers. David Novak, a brilliant storyteller I admire greatly, tells a story he calls “Silver.” It is about a sugar bowl, a salt and peppershaker, and a creamer. They are having a conversation. The saltshaker has fallen in love with the sugar bowl. The mother (creamer) says, “Oh, ignore her, you know she’s just empty calories.” The entire story is a wonderful play on words! I loved the story, and the way David told it. One day, I was pondering that story as I was doing laundry. I had lost one of my husband’s socks for the umpteenth time. I’m thinking, “There’s a story here; what’s happening to these socks?” So I worked on it and worked on it, and told it for the first time at a festival in Mississippi. We call this process “birthing a story.” A guy comes up to me afterward and says, “I’ve got a name for your story.” “Oh, yeah?” I say, thinking, “YOU’RE gonna’ name my baby story?” “Yeah,” he says. “Safe Sox.” I loved that. Yet another brilliant play on words! David Novak would be proud.

PC Living:  Do you always know what story you are going to tell in advance?

Pat: I am often asked that question. I’ll have a list of possibilities but don’t know which stories I’ll tell until I get to the venue. I need to get a feel for the audience and find out what the other tellers are telling. But sometimes I do know. Once I spoke to a local association of builders at their annual dinner meeting. I pondered and pondered the possibilities, and came up with the Three Little Pigs. Of course, I reworked it, using realtor names, local building supply stores, construction outfits.  And it worked!

PC Living:  Do you have a favorite kind of audience? In this day and age of technology and video games, the way children respond to your storytelling is magical.

Pat: Nope. It doesn’t matter to me whether the audience consists of children or adults – though I do shy away from the teeny-tiny tots. Often when I tell to youngsters, I have them physically involved, sometimes using props, sometimes movement. Storytelling strengthens imagination, something that does not happen with watching TV or playing a video game. And if I do my job well, it sticks. An example: A few years ago I was invited to a local high school as part of their International Day celebration. As I was getting out of my car, a tall, lanky boy across the parking lot called out to me, “Hey!  I remember you! You used to come to my school and tell stories.” “Yes, I did!” The child then recounted the story about a bear that gobbled up everybody but the squirrel. People won’t remember your name, but they’ll remember the story. I consider that success.

PC Living: What suggestions would you offer someone interested in becoming a storyteller?

Pat: Read. Listen. Observe. Attend storytelling events. Go to the library. Take workshops. There are some great storytelling how-to books. Find a welcoming place to experiment, such as a local storytelling guild, where you can practice and get supportive feedback. We have a wonderful local guild, the Bay Storytellers. Sometimes we offer storytelling classes as part of Education Encore at Gulf Coast State College. Story possibilities are everywhere. Even joke books can inspire and offer a wealth of usable material.  For instance, I’ve a story where I’m describing my sister, and it’s a funny bit, part of which includes: “she’s single by choice,” …pause, then, “…well, not her choice.” I took that right out of a joke book. And jokes are great icebreakers to engage your audience.

Humor is a vital part of my storytelling style. There’s no faster way to connect with your audience and build a community of listeners.  And did I mention? Practice, practice, practice! Tell, tell, tell! Many a time I have talked out loud, waving my arms, working on a story. You get some strange looks but that’s the price you pay for your art. You craft your story, tell it, revise it, and tell it again. And when it’s ready, you will take your listeners on a marvelous journey and bring them safely home.

PC Living: Where are you telling stories next?

Pat: Many wonderful festivals are coming up and I will be at several of them. The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee is probably the best known. It’s now in its 47^th year and, Ta-daa! I get to tell stories there this year. Check YouTube, (which is another great resource for storytellers) for videos from this festival.  Another is the Florida Storytelling Association’s Florida Festival in Mount Dora. I feel so honored to be a featured teller there in 2017. The Tampa Festival, Shells and Tales in Port St. Joe, St. Simons Island Festival, and one where I’ll be telling this October, the Alabama Storytelling Festival in Selma.  Festivals are everywhere!
Pat Nease is a force to be reckoned with. Her joyous laugh happens naturally and often. Petite at just 5’2” tall, her personal presence in front of an audience is huge. Nease is a second-degree black belt in Shorin-Ryu karate, a world traveler, and a gym rat. She admits that whatever she gets into, she embraces completely, and at least tries to make a contribution. Retired after 35 years as an educator, she now pursues what began in childhood and remains a passion – being a professional storyteller.

You don’t have to be a storyteller to enjoy a storytelling festival.  Go one time, and you’ll be hooked. Storytelling is as old as time.  Stories feed our souls.