Jeff Gere tells tall tales. Not only tells them, but for 20 years now, he’s been helping other folks tell ‘em, too.

Not surprisingly, the world listens.

Gere has the enviable job of being the drama specialist for the Parks Department of the City and County of Honolulu. He is also the founder, producer and host of the Talk Story Festival, a freebie event held three days every fall at the McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park. This marks the festival’s 20th year of bringing great stories to the public.

According to Gere, this year’s fest will be especially exciting, not just because of the anniversary, but also because of the number and quality of the performers attending. Visiting artists include Seattle’s Cathy Spagnoli, Ottawa’s Jennifer Cayley, and Virginia’s Baba Jamal Koram, as well as a host of local performers. They’ll be joined by interpreters for the deaf, four camera operators, a director, a sound operator and one pianist.

Kathy “Tita” Collins

“It’s not a show, it’s an event,” Gere says. The big event begins this Friday, October 10, with eight of the storytellers giving their listeners chicken skin with “Spooky Stories.” These tales of ghosts, gore and gotcha are, Gere points out, not necessarily for kids. In fact, these tales are designed for adults.

“It’s a pervasive assumption that storytelling is good for kids, you know, like taking them to the library or giving them medicine. Well, it is, but this stuff is a lot more sophisticated than that,” Gere explains.

Does the stuff cross certain, shall we say, blue lines?

“We’re not going to hold back,” he replies, although it’s the content of the tales more than the language used that might spook the little’uns.

Gere remembers when, 11 years ago, he held the event at the Bishop Museum. At that time, there were children in the crowd–and the crowd was huge. “We totally packed the Hawai’i Hall, all three levels,” Gere recalls. “Used every chair in the museum, and there was thunder and lightning! The guard complained–kids peed on the floor in three places. [The guard said,] ‘Either you scared ‘em or they didn’t wanna go to the lua and miss the stories.’ “

Jennifer Cayley

Be sure to catch the final event Sunday for Maui’s Kathy Collins (aka “Tita”) Obake tale, sure to frighten the kid within you. Wear some Depends.

On Saturday, 10 storytellers riff on the theme of “Milestones” in honor of the festival’s platinum anniversary. A highlight will be the story (”Ancestors Speak!”) told by Koram, a griot and a past president of the National Association of Black Storytellers. (”Griot” is the term for storytellers following the oral history tradition of West Africa.)

“Storytelling is a very high, sophisticated art,” Gere says. “Every culture does it differently. They pour out all of our hopes and dreams, our fears and our humor–that’s what goes into the stories.” He pauses to reflect, then adds, “After all of our buildings have rotted away, the stories remain.”

Sunday’s theme is “Imagine That!,” a show featuring famed island storyteller Makia Malo. Malo, a resident of Kalaupapa, will be telling a personal story called “I Can’t Remember.” Gere calls him a living legend. “It’s phenomenal that someone who has survived so much suffering is so curious about life and willing to enjoy it and telling stories that can move one so deeply,” Gere says.

It’s not surprising, though, that stories and storytelling resonate with adults. After all, stories have been around as long as humans have been able to tell them.

“We are genetically programmed to ask for them,” Gere says. “People can live a long time without food, but they can’t live a long time without a reason for living.”

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