Glennis Nagel
Director, Media Communications, 308.865.8454
Two nationally acclaimed storytellers will perform on the UNK campus Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 19-20.
Awele Makeba will present Rage is Not a 1-Day Thing! The Untaught History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1:30-3 p.m. on Wednesday and on Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m. Both presentations, which are free and open to the public, will be in the Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Dan Keding, who grew up surrounded by stories told to him by his Croatian grandmother, will present Stories from Around the World: Traditional Tales that Reflect Our Common Bonds from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Thursday in the Ockinga Seminar Center. There is no admission charge.
Makeba uses documentary theater to examine the untaught history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rage, which is based on oral histories, interviews, court transcripts, memoirs and biographies, is told primarily through the voice of 15-year-old Claudette Colvin. Colvin refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus nine months before Rosa Parks’ arrest for the same act. The performance will conclude with a question and answer session.
Makeba, who holds a M.A. in elementary education from San Francisco State University, has performed for audiences from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to the University of Alaska at Anchorage. She has also performed in Russia, Australia, Taiwan, France and Canada.
Keding has been entertaining audiences for almost 30 years with original and traditional stories. An accomplished ballad singer, he accompanies himself on the guitar, banjo and spoons. He has performed at more than 100 storytelling festivals around the world, including the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., the Sidmouth International Folk Arts Festival in England and the Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival in Ireland.
Keding has received numerous awards for recordings of his stories. In 1998, three of his recordings won the Storytelling World Honor Award, and in 1999, he was given the Notable Recording for Children Award from the American Library Association for his recording Rudy and the Roller Skate. In 2000, Keding recorded In A Dead Man’s Company, which received the Storytelling World Winner Award as one of the best storytelling recordings of the year. In 2004, his book Stories of Hope and Spirit was published by August House.
The performances are brought to UNK by the Kearney Area Storytelling Festival, the UNK Faculty Senate Artists and Lecturers Committee, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
