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Recent and Upcoming Events

2:30 p.m. Sunday, September 7
Niles Public Library District
6960 Oakton Street
Niles, IL 60714
The focus is on Americana in these dramatic readings of classic American stories! Share laughs and thrills from authors like Mark Twain and O. Henry, cheer for “Casey at the Bat,” live the “Secret Life” of daydreamer Walter Mitty, and ride along on Paul Revere’s “Midnight Ride.”

6:30 p.m. Monday, October 6
Buckley Homestead Park, Lowell, IN
Returning to tell some more scary stories around a campfire for a meeting of the Lowell Garden Club.

7 p.m. Wednesday, October 22
West Chicago Public Library District
118 West Washington Street
West Chicago, IL 60185
Creepy Classics!

6:30 p.m. Monday, October 27
Lansing Historical Society
at the Lansing Public Library
2750 Indiana Avenue
Lansing, IL 60438
Sharing some tales of true local hauntings, along with urban legends and one or two Creepy Classics, for members of the Historical Society. The program is also open to the general public, so come on by!

7 p.m. Thursday, October 30
Elmhurst Public Library
125 S. Prospect Avenue
Elmhurst, IL 60126
Creepy Classics!

7:30 pm Thursday, November 6
Addison Public Library
235 Kennedy Drive
Addison, IL 60101
Another request, so another first-time story! Performing scenes from the novel “Pay It Forward.”

10 a.m. Thursday, November 13
Exploritorium - Skokie Park District
4701 Oakton Street
Skokie, Illinois 60076
Storytelling for kids and families at the Exploritorium! Awesome!

11 a.m. Saturday, December 13
Dolton Library
14037 Lincoln Avenue
Dolton, IL 60419
“Yuletide Favorites” - For the 25th anniversary of the film “A Christmas Story” (can you believe it?), a dramatic reading of the Jean Shepherd story about asking Santa for a Red Ryder BB gun. PLUS - “Gift of the Magi,” “It's A Wonderful Life,” and “Night Before Christmas”!

Events Archive

If you’re wondering
what else Grant will do, would do, and has done, check out the calendars for 2005 , 2006 and 2007 - Earlier This Year . . .

Wednesday, January 30
Keller Elementary / Regional Gifted Center
3020 W. 108th St.
Chicago, IL
Some of the students are getting ready for a speech arts competition, so I've been invited to talk about dramatic interpretation, and using your voice and body to tell a story ... and of course to demonstrate some storytelling! Should be fun!

Monday, February 4
St. John the Evangelist School
9400 Wicker Avenue
St. John, IN 46373
The 4th graders are working on writing stories, so I'm going to work with them on creating stories that are interesting to write, and interesting to read - both aloud, and on paper. And of course, I'll be doing plenty of storytelling to the whole school while I'm there!

Friday, February 22
Homan Elementary School, Schererville, IN
Performing stories for the whole school (K-4) in several installments, as part of the celebration of Young Authors Week.

7 p.m. Tuesday, February 26
Central Jr. High School
9400 S. Sawyer Ave.
Evergreen Park, IL 60805
Stories for all ages for Family Reading Night!
EDIT:
I was following up the 7th- and 8th-graders' poetry slam, so I mixed in some poetry with my classic stories; and because people kept coming and going from the book sale, the audience was quite different every 10 to 15 minutes (mostly parents and grandparents, then a lot of kids and teens) - so I did a larger variety than I often do: a couple poems, a couple picture books, and a couple long adult tales by classic writers. Great fun!

Poems "Casey at the Bat", "A Bug" by Karla Kuskin, and
"Clock-watching" from Lunch Money and Other Poems About School by Carol Diggory Shields
Picture books "Stephanie's Ponytail" by Robert Munsch and
"The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish" by Neil Gaiman
Plus "What Stumped the Bluejays" by Mark Twain
and "Next Door" by Kurt Vonnegut

Friday, March 7
Westmore Preschool/Daycare, Iowa Community Center
338 N. Iowa Ave., Villa Park, IL 60181
Telling stories to 3- to 5-year-olds. I love them!

Thursday, April 10
Westmore Elementary School
340 S. School St., Lombard, IL
Spending the day back at Westmore, performing stories for the whole school a few classes at a time - then back in the evening to read to kids and parents for Family Reading Night. This is my favorite time of year!

12 noon Sunday, April 27
River Pointe Country Club
Hobart, IN
Stories for a meeting of the ladies of Sigma Alpha Chi, to go (as much as possible) with this year's theme: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Hmmm ... wonder what I'll do with that?
EDIT:
I discovered that the only diamond story I could think of was also the only diamond story I could find anywhere: a tale about a diamond necklace called "The Necklace." A great choice, except for the fact it was kind of a downer. Still a great story - I made it April's Story of the Month on this site - but not the kind of thing to give the ladies a laugh. Instead, I went for two stories about OTHER things that are a girl's best friend: a favorite of my wife's (and mine) that I hadn't done in a while, Kurt Vonnegut's story of romance in small-town Indiana community theatre, "Who Am I This Time?" (which we just found out was a MOVIE? with Christopher Walken? We have to find this ...); and a story I've liked on paper but never really given a chance, Saki's "Fur." Which KILLED! It's even funnier in performance than I thought it was on paper. It's funny how that works sometimes, and how sometimes the opposite is true too. Ah well. I'm definitely doing "Fur" again sometime - just a short scene about two young women and the silver-fox stole that comes between them. Hilarious! Anyway, I had a great time with Sigma Alpha Chi sorority - and they were such fun, I had to take their picture. Here they are!

Tuesday, April 29
Protsman Elementary School
1121 Harrison Avenue
Dyer, IN 46311
Returning to one of my favorite schools, to present a series of storytimes for all the grades. All day at Protsman!

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30
Keller Regional Gifted Center
Chicago, IL
I was at Keller at the end of January, and I’m already going back – to participate in Family Reading Night. They made me feel real welcome last time even before I arrived (see photo), and even more in performance. Can’t wait!

9 a.m. Thursday, May 1
Walker Elementary School
Bedford Park, IL
Returning to Walker for a storytelling assembly in conjunction with this year’s Young Authors Week!

5 p.m. Sunday, May 4
Hope Lutheran Evangelical Church, Portage, IN
Stories for the Mother-Daughter Dinner, including the "Mad-Hatter's Tea Party" from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

12 noon Friday, May 16
Northwest Indiana Literacy Coalition
Presenting stories at a volunteer recognition lunch at the Lake County Public Library – I’m excited!

Wednesday, May 21
George Washington Elementary, Chicago, IL
Returning to George Washington for fun storytelling for K-3 in the morning, and then participating in the Young Authors Presentation in the afternoon – including reading a couple of the students’ original stories!

2 p.m. Thursday, July 10
Glenwood School for Boys and Girls, Glenwood, IL
It's summer, so it's time to visit the kids at Glenwood School!

The local chapter of Sigma Alpha Chi - a great audience! Photo by Brenda Palazolo for LCTG's "The Foreigner" Apropos of nothing: my daughter Natalie and I were both pirates the same Halloween - without talking about it first.
I think her costume is better. Photos by Leona Rusch at Bartlett Library, 2007 "True! Nervous ... very very dreadfully nervous I had been -
and am! But why will you say that I am mad?"