by KYW's Karin Phillips
Beginning Memorial Day weekend, storytellers will descend on park benches throughout Philadelphia's historic district, to tell the stories of America's past.
Training sessions are now being run by the "Benstitute," part of the nonprofit Philadelphia group Once Upon A Nation.
On Tuesday, Benstitute students gathered at the Independence Living History Center, at 3rd and Chestnut Streets, for a workshop with Charlotte Blake Alston (in top photo), a Philadelphia-based national storyteller, narrator, and singer:
"We are telling stories all the time without thinking of it. One of the things I want to do in this center is tap into that natural affinity we have for storytelling."
The Benstitute teaches both colonial-garbed "interpreters" and modern-dressed storytellers who, each summer in Philadelphia, tell the untold and undertold stories of America.
Ken Sandberg is originally from Minnesota. But he can't wait to tell Philadelphia's story:
"All of this stuff happened right here, and it wasn't that long ago."
(Photo #1 by KYW's Karin Phillips; photo #2 courtesy Once Upon A Nation)
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