Spinning Honey —Harvesting Stories, at the Ice House
Spinning Honey — Harvesting Stoires
Thursday, November 13• 7 PM | The Ice House, Bethlehem, PA
Patchwork Storytelling Guild celebrates Tellabration™ 2025 with Spinning Honey — Harvesting Stories, a hallmark celebration of storytelling honoring the artistry, essence, and revelatory impact of stories.
Hosted by Denise McCormack, president of Patchwork and masterful storyteller, this showcase brings together a resplendent gathering of voices:
Ingrid Bohn, Jim Cyr, Ray Gray, Charles Kiernan, Denise McCormack, Darrell Parry, Mark Schlawin, and Christy Yerk-Smith.
“Spinning Honey — Harvesting Stories showcases the deliberate and finely spun artistry of storytelling. We welcome the teller and audience alike to share interpretations of lived and reimagined experiences in a communal and welcoming exchange of life’s bounty—sweet, joyful, and bittersweet moments— highlighting the magical and enveloping magnitude of storytelling.” — Denise McCormack, Patchwork Storytelling Guild
Set in The Charles A. Brown Ice House, a beloved arts venue in the heart of Bethlehem, the event celebrates storytelling as a living, communal craft. Audiences will enjoy narratives that are warm, approachable, and rich with the textures of personal, folk, poetic, and mythic stories — tales harvested with care and offered generously.
Our Tellers
Ingrid Bohn
Ingrid Bohn, an Interactive Theater and Storytelling performance artist, engages audiences through story, song, dance, and poetry. She wields a vast repertoire of stories to suite any age. Performing in PA & NJ, and on the virtual stage, her career spans over a decade. Ingrid's passionate and deliberate delivery style is sure to capture your imagination and heart.
Jim Cyr
Jim Cyr is a retired minister who is a spiritual companion and storyteller. Jim has told stories at community organizations, jails, libraries, first night festivals, and churches. His repertoire of stories includes folk tales, fairy tales, sacred and biblical stories. Jim specializes in stories of healing, wisdom, and faith. www.jimcyr.com is Jim’s website.
Ray Gray
Ray has worked professionally as a storyteller for more than forty years. For the first thirty-five years he traveled the Mid-Atlantic States telling stories to more than a million school children. For the past eight years he has focused his energies on stories for the last third of life. His one-person performance, Imagining The World of Carl Jung, has been performed from London England to Boulder, Colorado." More information available at: www.raygray.com
Charles Kiernan
Charles takes great pleasure in telling traditional fairy tales to audiences of all ages. He focuses on the German, English, and Irish stories collected during the nineteenth century, such as The White Snake, Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh, and The Horned Women.
In addition, Charles is a fantasy writer, author of A Vacant Throne, and Sword of Trueterra. He is also known for his blog “Fairy Tale of the Month.” www. chaztales.net
Darrell Parry
Darrell Parry loves to create and curate everything under the sun. As a bookseller, artist, poet, crafter, event host and proponent of all things indie, you can find him in and around Easton, PA. shopping at punk rock flea markets and local small businesses, selling books at the Lafayette College Store and attending a slew of online and in-person poetry events including the Lehigh Valley Poetry Virtual Salon (which he cohosts quarterly with E. Lynn Alexander) and the Easton Book Festival held every October. His book Twists: Gathered Ephemera is available from the usual sources, Bookshop.org, Amazon, B&N etc.
Denise McCormack
Denise McCormack is a dynamic storyteller and creative professional whose talents transcend mediums, crafting meaningful narratives that truly connect with audiences.
Her extensive involvement in cultural, educational, and artistic initiatives reflects her dedication to nurturing the art form and building storytelling communities. As president of Patchwork, she coordinates a variety of storytelling events each year, providing opportunities for others to share their stories and storytelling strategies—both as tellers and listeners.
In essence, Denise is fueled by her passion for the transformative power of stories. She believes that there is a story for every time and purpose under heaven, each carrying the potential to inspire, educate, and unite.
Step into Denise’s world of storytelling, where powerful stories, meaningful messages, and vibrant communities come together to spark imagination and stir the soul. www.DeniseMcCormack.live
Mark Schlawin
Mark crafts original stories that start anchored in reality and then lift off into the surreal.
Mark has told stories for adult and family audiences at the Princeton and Crosswicks Tellebrations, at retirement communities, school events, and charity functions. He has conducted multiple workshops for the Garden State Story League. Mark has also told stories at Café Improv at the Princeton Arts Council and has twice been a teller at the New Jersey Storytelling Festival. Mark has organized and presented storytelling events benefiting the Princeton Charter School. Mr. Schlawin spent twenty wonderful years teaching middle-school math and science. In teaching, Mr. Schlawin used storytelling techniques to help the command the attention and interest of his students.
Christy Yerk-Smith
Christy has a strong background in theatre, having performed in multiple productions since junior high school. She also taught English, Speech, and Theatre to junior high-schoolers in a past iteration of her life. She recently reconnected with a college friend who introduced her to the art of storytelling.
Christy is a mental health counselor with her own private counseling practice in Allentown and knows how transformative and healing telling your own stories can be. She is honored to have this be her very first introduction to telling one of her own stories and hopes that you will be kind to her. http://awareness2change.org/
About Patchwork Storytelling Guild
About Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild
Patchwork Storytelling Guild is a member-supported 501c3 non-profit organization serving the needs of the Philadelphia Metro area, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Delaware Valley, and beyond.
Its mission is to provide a forum for storytellers and to promote the art of storytelling through community outreach related to the practice, performance, and value of storytelling. Patchwork offers: monthly story swaps, coaching sessions, performance opportunities... and more.
About The Ice House
About the Ice House
The IceHouse Performing Arts Collaborative (IPAC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. IPAC believes in the power of the arts to serve community needs, grow our resident artist community, and establish an accessible stage for our richly diverse population. | In the coming year, over 800 local artists - poets. songwriters, musicians, comedians, magicians, actors, dancers, and storytellers from over 40 arts organizations - will take the IceHouse stage.
IceHouse artists directly impact the cultural and economic life of our community in many ways.
ACCESSIBILITY
- Storytelling events will take place in the upstairs stage area. The IceHouse is equipped with an elevator for easier access. For other information regarding accessibility, please contact the IceHouse.