Activated Stories

Saving the Snake is a Middle Eastern fable about trickery and gratitude and learning from mistakes. It's similar to a story from the Arabian Nights, as well as to our earlier story Anansi and the Story Box; it even has some similarities to the “Brer Rabbit” stories.

We come to you from the Bay Area city of Fremont, CA., where we're in the middle of a busy April performing in several Northern California schools and libraries. While in the area, we paid a visit to our old stomping grounds in San Francisco, where we hiked across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time.

Prior to that, we were in Southern California, where we visited some later stomping grounds in the Los Angeles area. We made this trip even more special by picking up Kimberly's birth mother and giving her a tour of La-La-Land; and we secretly arranged for our son Zephyr to fly in from the East Coast to meet his grandmother for the first time. There's only one way to celebrate such an occasion as this: we all spent a day at Disneyland.

Happy Listening,
Dennis (Narrator, Man, Tree) and Kimberly (Snake, Cow, Fox, Narrator)

The Drum and the Tree is a Nigerian fable featuring talking lions and tortoises about the dangers of keeping the wrong secrets from the wrong people, and the problems that curiosity can cause. It's thematically similar to Bluebeard, Lohengrin and Pandora.

This month finds us is Nipomo, CA., having just driven across half the country from Texas. Along the way, we stopped to explore the underground marvels of Carlsbad Caverns and the desert splendor of Joshua Tree. We also visited Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Arizona, where we were able to feed not only ostriches, but bunnies, goats, exotic birds, stingrays, and many other critters. (But no talking lions or tortoises.) If there's one thing funnier than feeling them lick food out of your hand, it's having a goat take food from your lips.

Now we're gearing up for our annual whirlwind tour of California and then getting another new show ready for our 32nd summer season. Hope to see you there!

Happy Listening,
Dennis (Lion King, Tortoise, Tortoise Son) and Kimberly (Narrator, Lion Queen, Cub, Mrs. Tortoise) 

How The Tiger Got Its Stripes is an "origin" story, a fable about bullying, and a trickster tale all rolled into one.

We're bringing it to you from Texas, having just driven across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after having a great couple of weeks in Florida. We went snorkeling with manatees at Crystal River, took a a glass-bottom boat tour at Silver Springs State Park, and watched hundreds of thousands of bats take off at twilight in Gainesville.

Now we're heading west, and soon we'll be back at familiar haunts in California.

Happy Listening!
Dennis (Narrator, Tiger) and Kimberly (Narrator, Monkey, Goat, Rabbit)

Hina and the Moon is a nature origin myth from what is now called Hawaii. It is one of many stories about Hina, who in some cases is a goddess and in others an ordinary woman. Sometimes she is married to Maui, and others not. Sometimes she goes to the moon, and other times she doesn't. We decided to have her take a trip to the moon, because this year is the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, and libraries will be celebrating it this summer. Accordingly, we'll be having Hina take a trip to the moon on stage when we perform.

We come to you from Charleston, SC, having just performed at the Charleston Museum, the oldest museum in the country, for its 246th birthday. We've also been touring Myrtle Beach, where we learned to do an old dance called the Carolina shag. And in the town of Bishopville, we visited the amazing topiary garden that has been maintained for nearly 4 decades by a man named Pearl Fryar.

Our 2019 is off to a great start. Hope yours is too.

Happy listening,

Dennis (Narrator, Man, Maui, Moon) and Kimberly (Hina, Woman, Narrator) 

How a Bundle of Straw Became a Fortune is the Japanese take on the “exchange” type of story, which we could also call the “pay it forward” type. In it, an individual does a good deed by giving away something, and receives a gift in return; this gift is then given to someone else who needs it, and the hero then receives another “white elephant” in return, which is then passed on to someone else, etc. Finally, our hero receives his ultimate good fortune. We are currently performing a story of this type, The Boy Who Wanted a Drum (India) in our live stage production. It seems like a rather appropriate choice for a holiday season in which so many people give gifts and think about those less fortunate.

By the way, we named the character in our version of the story Keisuke, after a young man we know in Japan. And you may catch the subtle reference to the classic Japanese animated film, Kiki's Delivery Service.

We come to you from Simpsonville, SC, near Greenville. We are taking a bit of a holiday break between our stage performances and our offstage explorations that provide the fodder for our Act!vated Adventures videos. Have a peek at them!

Happy holidays and happy listening,
Dennis (Narrator, Charcoal Maker, Blacksmith, Samurai) and Kimberly (Keisuke, Narrator)

Tug Of War comes from the Island of Andros in The Bahamas, and continues the tradition of a clever trickster animal getting the best of bigger and brawnier bully beasts. Our monkey is named Timmy, thanks to a listener and Patreon named Caleb.

We come to you from Jamestown, Virginia, where we've just toured Jamestown Settlement, an amazing museum complex featuring meticulous recreations of a Powhatan Indian village, a colonial fort, and three ships that brought settlers over in 1607 -- among them Captain John Smith.

In recent days, we've also toured Thomas Edison's old laboratories in West Orange, NJ, with tools and equipment still almost as he left them. We took a beautiful helicopter tour over Newport, Rhode Island. And we tried our hand at throwing hatchets at targets at Bury the Hatchet in Cherry Hill, NJ. Just another typical month in the lives of touring thespians.

Follow all of the Activated Adventures on our new site for off stage shenanigans.

We hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Happy listening,
Dennis (Narrator, Elephant) and Kimberly (Timmy, Whale)

Boots and the Troll is a tale that has many elements in common with other folk and fairy tales, including Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as countless others about siblings setting out to find their fortunes.

We come to you from Abington, MA., where we've been performing as ghouls and goblins and other fearsome creatures in a Halloween attraction, which is something we like to do every year about this time. 

Happy listening,
Dennis (Michael, King, Troll) and Kimberly (Narrator, Boots, Lars)

Yes, The Chinese Mirror is indeed a Korean story, a tale about fools and about how the introduction of something new often leads to comical results.

We come to you from Scarsdale, NY, just north of New York City, which we just took a walking tour of. Since our last podcast, we've been to Maine, including Acadia National Park; we've been sailing and taking a high-speed "Eco Adventure Cruise" off the Maine coast; we've been challenging ourselves at Monkey C Monkey D obstacle course; we've been taking a nostalgic stroll (and train ride) at Boothbay Railway Village; we've attended the annual WaterFire event in Providence, RI; and we've even (ho-hum) worked in some skydiving in Connecticut.

Here's hoping your coming month will also be eventful.

Happy Listening,
Dennis (Narrator, Merchant, Mother-in-Law, Neighbor) and Kimberly (Narrator, Vendor, Wife, Daughter)

The Monkey Husband from Japan is one of those many stories about a girl from a poor family marrying a beast of some sort or other -- including, of course, one of the best known, Beauty and the Beast. This one also seems to be related to a legend that Shakespeare borrowed for King Lear: a father with three daughters, of whom the oldest two are selfish and ungrateful, and the youngest is loving and loyal. Our monkey husband's name, Misue, was supplied by Elizabeth McFarland, who is one of our patrons on Patreon.

We come to you from Mashpee, Massachusetts, on beautiful Cape Cod. Since we last spoke to you, we have traveled all the way from North Carolina, and had quite a few adventures along the way. We have documented these in our series of YouTube videos, Gozas on the Go; Act!vated Adventures. They include the Salty Pirate water park and the Wright Brothers flight site in North Carolina; the Virginia Aquarium, the Virginia Musical Museum, Warehouse 29 escape room and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Virginia; Gettysburg, Hershey Chocolate World and Lost River Caverns in Pennsylvania; and Purgatory Chasm State Park, Art's Dune Tours and Hyannis Whale Watching in Massachusetts. Phew!

And during all of that we managed to work in some performances. And we have more coming up. We hope to see you at one of them, if not on a whale watching boat.

Happy Listening,
Dennis (Narrator, Farmer, Middle Daughter) and Kimberly (Misue, Oldest Daughter, Youngest Daughter)

The Magic Pear Tree is a strange little tale about greed, generosity, paying it forward, and poetic justice. It comes from ancient China, showing that these concepts are not just modern. It's somewhat similar to the stories about someone getting three wishes, and becoming so overwhelmed with greed that they end up with nothing.

We come to you from Raleigh, NC. Since we last approached your ears, we went to Memphis, where we stopped by the pop music landmarks of Graceland and Sun Studios. We also visited a considerably older historic locale, Chucalissa Indian Village, an archaeological site that was home to a settlement of Mississippian Culture natives many centuries ago.

From there we went to Chattanooga for the Fourth Of July and then Pigeon Forge, where we rode the thrilling Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster, a hilltop coaster that zooms down and down and around and around and then down some more.

Then we drove through the Smoky Mountains themselves, into North Carolina for our shows at the High Point Library. (A big howdy and thank you to podcast listeners the Singletons for coming to the show again.) While in High Point, we had to pay our respects to the world's largest chest of drawers. 

On to Greensboro, and a repeat visit to Elsewhere, a truly fascinating art museum and play space that features shelves and shelves of old toys, books, appliances, tools and various other items left over from the days when the building was the home of a surplus and knickknack store.

And finally, our travels brought us here to Raleigh, where we went ape at Go Ape, a treetop canopy course with zip lines, tricky bridges, and the really fun Tarzan vine.

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Happy Listening,
Dennis (Farmer, Onlooker) and Kimberly (Narrator, Beggar, Customer, Onlooker)