Photograph by Josh Monken
Bobby Norfolk has been a storyteller nearly as long as there’s been a St. Louis Storytelling Festival. The St. Louis native and the event each mark their 30th anniversary of telling tales this year, with the festival taking place April 29 to May 2 (visit stlstorytellingfestival.org for details). Norfolk, who’s on the road 10 months of the year, performs stories from the lives of Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Abraham Lincoln, Scott Joplin, a slave named York who assisted Lewis and Clark, African folk heroes, and many more.
The former stand-up comedian, theater performer, and National Park Service ranger—who worked at the Old Courthouse and Arch for a decade—says the first thing a good storyteller needs “is to have material. Then you work on your delivery and timing, and relate with the audience. A lot of storytellers make the mistake of doing the same stories and styles for all ages—that’s deadly.” Norfolk, who cites Bill Cosby as an influence, can bring his stories to life with music, singing, poetry, rhythm and rhyme, onomatopoeia, and dancing.
“It’s been an excellent journey, traveling all over the world, finding out we all love stories,” says the three-time Emmy Award winner. “We all learn our history from stories. We’re all basically the same.”
