Guy Peartree:

Guy Peartree has been telling stories since 1989. He performs historical characterizations of Frederick Douglass, William Brown and George Washington Carver; as well as folktales from around the world. Guy Peartree also writes his own tales and believes the task of the writer and the storyteller is the same: "To let the voices of our culture and imagination speak."

Guy Peartree has performed in museums, colleges, schools, churches and libraries throughout New England and the country. He brings a love of folklore, writing, and history to the craft of storytelling and employs storytelling to motivate children to write creatively.

His storytelling is signatured by engaging characterizations evoked through voice, pantomime and dialogue. His historical portrayals are faithful to the folkloric elements that broaden and enliven history.

Born in North Carolina, Mr. Peartree is African-American with a mix of Cherokee. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology and Linguistics from University of Massachusetts and a Masters in Religious Education from Andover Newton Theological School.

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Presentations and Fees:

Performances (Subject to Adjustment)

$1,000-$4,000 for first 60 minute performance

$500-$750 for 45 minute library performance

$300-$600 for additional performances/same day

$2,000-$4,000 and up for theater performances with lighting, costumes and props

Plus site specific researched references and play adaptations.

School Assemblies & Residencies

$500-$1000/ first assembly

$300-$600 for additional performances same day

$1,200-$2,000/day for residencies

Teacher Workshops

$500-$1,000 for first teacher workshop

$300-$600 for additional workshops same day

Programs:

• Frederick Douglass: Stories Are Tellin'

  Performance and workshop is for elementary school, middle school students and adults.

  Set in 1859, when Frederick Douglass, a relentless anti-slavery orator, was being sought for arrest by the state of Virginia for his alleged activity in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Peartree's one-man play encompasses Douglass' life from his birth into slavery, his relationships and experiences on the slave plantation, his education, escape from slavery, and ascendancy as America's foremost black abolitionist. For additional details and play summary click here

  

• The Abolitionists, Frederick Douglass and the Slave Narrative

  Performance and workshop for high school, college students and adults.

  The antislavery personalities, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and John Brown represent three compelling models of Activism in the Abolitionist movement. Because the Abolitionist movement represents a quintessential moment in the historical landscape of America and because Douglass' life reflects a brilliant and successful narrative activism; a writer and orator who displayed enormous wisdom, insight and power, Mr. Peartree culminates his narrative selection with a dramatic reflection on two of Douglass' Lectures; "Self Made Men," and "The Negro, Ethnologically Considered."

  For additional details click here

• Martin Luther King

  His legacy, speeches and role in the larger mosaic of civil rights issues.

• George Washington Carver: Wizard of Tuskegee

  Wizard of Tuskegee is a one man play by Guy Peartree about George Washington Carver, a gifted plant doctor when he was young boy, who became a famous scientist for extracting chemicals from plants to make new foods and medicines. The story of Carver is an absorbing history of science, folklore, religion and African-American life between America's Civil War and World War II. For additional details click here

  

• Thomas Morris Chester

  Civil war corresspondent for the Black  Regiment of Virginia during the fall of Richmond in 1865.  Story of the historical times of the end of the Cilvil War and the assination of the President Lincoln and highlighting the conflict of race in the redefined union.
  

• Native American, and Southern Folktales and Folklore:

  Cherokee Tale of Star Woman, Cherokee Tale of Wild Boy, Peanut Butter-The Goat and the Jitter Bug, Gullah Tale-Bro Rabbi, Lickin Stick (A conjure tale)

• Africa and Caribbean Folktales and Folklore:

  Iron Man, Ananse Tales, Miss Flame

• African-American Poetry and Story:

  The Voices of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar and author Langston Hughes woven in a Tapestry of Tales. Paul Lawrence Dunbar is a major and well loved black poet from the 1900s. Langston Hughes is the eminent "Harlem Renaissance poet," novelist, columnist, playwright, and essayist.

• Letting Children Write Workshop:
• Creative Writing Through Storytelling Residency:

Quotes:

"You did a real service for your audience and for the cause of American history. You enthralled us all with your recreation and dramatization of Douglass' life." -- Dennis O'Tool, Director, Strawberry Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH

"Wonderful!... the presentation was professional. I want my students to have the opportunity to hear Mr. Peartree."" -- Teacher, at conference performance and workshop

"He is wonderful storyteller, and he had his audience spellbound from the start." -- Mary Johnson-Lally, Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell, MA

Selected Appearances:

LIBRARIES & SCHOOLS

• Abington Middle School
• Bellamy Middle School
• Bellingham Public Library
• Boston Public Libraries
• Brown School Medford, MA
• Carney Academy, New Bedford, MA
• Curly Boston Public School, Jamaica Plain, MA
• East Providence Public Library, RI
• East Somerville School
• John Eliot School Needham, MA
• Ethel Walker School
• Hamden Middle School
• Hillside Middle School
• Marshall Boston Public School
• Michael Smith Middle School, South Hadley MA
• Memorial Spaulding School, Newton, MA
• Natchaug School, CT
• Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell, MA
• Pomfret Community School, CT
• Quincy Public Library, MA
• Schofield School, Wellesley, MA
• Sedgewick Middle School
• Springfield Public Library
• Trotter Boston Public School
• Very Special Arts Residency
• White Mountain School, NH
• Williams Middle School

UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES

• Cape Cod Community College, MA
• Carl Sandburg College, IL
• Lesley College, MA
• Tufts University, MA

MUSEUMS & HISTORICAL SITES

• African Meeting House
• Boston Children's Museum
• Boston Museum of Fine Arts
• Gore Place
• Lowell National Historic Park
• Mattatuck Museum
• Old South Meeting House
• Old Sturbridge Village
• Harriet Beecher Stowe House
• Strawbery Banke Museum

CONFERENCES & FESTIVALS

• Cambridge Center for Adult Education
• Central Congregational Church, Boston
• Community Church of Boston
• Connecticut Storytelling Festival
• First Baptist Church Nashua, NH
• Jamaica Plain Performing Arts Series
• Litchfield Historical Society
• Multicultural Leadership Institute, Hamden, CT
• Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference
• US Postal Service

MEDIA

• WGBH "Living on Earth"
• WGBH "Open Source" with Christopher Lydon
  • Proto-Blogger: William Lloyd Garrison, August 30th, 2005
  • Recorded Frederick Douglass' eulogy of Garrison and other parts for the broadcast.
• PBS national broadcast
• WCVB TV "City Line"
• Brookline Access TV "Try It"
• CNN Community Church of Boston
• Bay State Banner, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Lowell Sun, Middlesex News, New Bedford Standard Times, Providence Journal.

Programs Description

Frederick Douglass -- one man play by Guy Peartree

Teacher Guide, Links and Resources

George Washington Carver -- one man play by Guy Peartree

Photographs and Press Kit

Resume