STORY SOCKS is a unique way of presenting folk and fairy tales to children of all ages. Each
sock (left over when the laundry was done) contains an object that will stimulate the telling of a story.
Audience
members are invited to select a sock from the box and discover what is contained inside; then sit back, relax and enjoy the
story.
Our History
STORY SOCKS began, quite without fanfare, in the summer of
2000. What started as "Get rid of this stuff!" has blossomed into successful performances as a storyteller.
For a complete list of performance venues, click on:
Dale Pepin is a teacher, now retired, from the Rainbow District School Board
in Sudbury, Ontario.
For over 33 years, he worked in an elementary school classroom, spending many of them
as a children's librarian. His repertoire is extensive as he calls upon his vast personal files of collected folk and fairy
tales from around the world.
Additionally, Dale has been a Scout and Wolf Cub leader in Sudbury for as long as he has been
teaching. For years, he was known as Iagoo, the story-teller from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book". He
brings with him the games and songs that he has gathered and used around the campfire in the Canadian Scouting and Guiding
programmes.
photo by K. Mailloux -- Sudbury Public Library
Dale is also an accomplished amateur actor having performed numerous roles on Sudbury's
theatre stages. These include Pontius Pilate(Jesus Christ, Superstar - 1992 with Theatre
Cambrian);Herr Schultz(Cabaret - 1992 with Theatre Cambrian);various roles(Evita - 1993 with Theatre Cambrian);Jacob(Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - 1996 with Theatre Cambrian); Sir Joseph
Porter (HMS Pinafore - 1999 with Sudbury Music Theatre);Big Daddy(Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - 2000 with Theatre Cambrian);Major-General Stanley(Pirates of Penzance - 2000 with Sudbury Music Theatre);Tevye(Fiddler
On the Roof - 2001 with Theatre Cambrian);Sir John Falstaff(Merry Wives
of Windsor - 2001 with Thornloe Players);Pooh-Bah(The Mikado - 2002
with Sudbury Music Theatre); Sir Joseph Porter, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko, Major-General Stanley(An
Evening With Gilbert and Sullivan - 2003 with Sudbury Music Theatre); Alfred P. Doolittle(My Fair Lady - 2004 with Theatre Cambrian); Fagin (Oliver - 2005
with Theatre Cambrian); Lord Montague (Romeo and Juliet - 2005 with Sudbury
Theatre Centre (equity house)); Edgar Chisholm (Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii
- 2006 with Theatre Cambrian))); Old Deuteronomy (CATS - 2007 with Theatre
Cambrian); Cameron (The Foursome - 2007 with Theatre Cambrian).
For
the past 30 seasons, Dale has been the featured soloist with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.
Dale is also a six-times Grandpa. As he says,
"What better reason to become a teller of tales!"
Why these stories?
This vast dominion in which we live, this vast dominion which we call Canada, stretching from
sea to sea to sea, has welcomed to its shores the people and cultures from all parts of the world.
It began when Asians crossed on a land bridge thousands of years ago settling the interior
mountains, forests and plains, continued through the European exploration of the "second millenium" and continues today as
we welcome immigrants from foreign lands to become as proud of being Canadian as those born here.
Each family has brought with it countless stories and traditions from the rich cultural backgrounds
in which it began. Each in turns lends that cultural heritage to the Canadian land.
Dale doesn't like the image of Canada as a melting pot. "Picture," he says, "the crayons all
living in the box together, each unique unto itself. Melt them and they become as brown sludge. However, allow
each to colour its own little section and you create a wonderful image. Working together we form a beautiful and
wonderful mosaic in which each culture has become a part of the whole."
Through the stories from various cultures around the world, Dale shares that culture and helps
to promote an understanding of it in the development of this wonderful land we call Canada.
Mark's Cartoon Tells It All
To purchase a Mark Parisi book,
click on image above.
Cartoon by Mark Parisi, posted with special permission.
For many more "off the mark" cartoons, please visit Mark's site at:
"Let us not forget that children's stories are not just for children.
The very good ones teach us where to go when we're young and remind us where we've been when we're older. And the best ones
help to keep us forever young."
