Storyteller Donna Washington
Amazes Students with Vocal Pyrotechnics


When she is telling a story, Donna Washington likes to use what she calls “vocal pyrotechnics,” and she provided plenty of fireworks for local middle school students in September.

Washington ’s pyrotechnics are sound effects, such as voices for characters, wind blowing, creeks rushing, horses galloping – whatever she needs to convey the action in the story.  Coupled with a dazzling array of theatrical facial expressions and animated movements, the sound effects brought stories about exploding frogs, tricky snakes and handsome princes to life. 

She performed for some 4,000 local sixth and eighth graders – 15 performances in all -- as part of the Cabarrus Arts Council’s Students Take pART in the ARTs! sponsored by The Independent Tribune, First Charter and CT Communications.

While she was here, Washington also led a teacher workshop for 25 local educators focusing on using storytelling to increase students’ vocabularies, performed for the Cabarrus Senior Center ’s Lunch and Learn program and presented a public program for people of all ages co-sponsored by the Concord Friends of the Library.  She provided a study guide to help educators incorporate her performance into the curriculum.

Since Washington has a repertoire of hundreds of stories from many different cultures, each local performance was different. Performances for sixth graders as well as a performance at Cannon School for Cannon and First Assembly students focused on self-esteem.

One of the favorite stories was “The Exploding Frog.”  He was the biggest frog the little frogs had ever seen, but he wasn’t happy because he wasn’t the biggest animal.  He was so determined to be the biggest that he blew himself up until he exploded.  The moral of the story was to be happy with who you are.

Eighth graders heard stories told in North Carolina and many were also treated to one of the Canterbury Tales.  Upon hearing that Kannapolis eighth graders would soon be beginning a study unit on “things that go bump in the night,” she incorporated a spooky Irish story into that performance.

Washington is a multicultural folklorist and author of three children’s books as well as a storyteller.  She has performed all across the United States and in Europe .