Halloween Storytime with Máire Clerkin (Zoom)

Here’s a Halloween treat for you! Round up the little ones and start your Halloween weekend off with some fantastic online storytelling to get everyone in the Halloween spirit. No stranger to the UICC programming line-up and eager to make her return to our community, Máire derives the stories she shares from Celtic Mythology and Irish Seanchaí (storytelling) traditions and told in theatrical form. She begins with a book, and the words ‘Once Upon a Time in Ireland…’. Using a vivid assortment of costumes and props, and a variety of accents and voices, Máire switches characters in tales full of atmosphere, laughter and mystery. Fear not: the darkest elements of folk tales are adapted for tender young ears. Ghouls, ghosts, and jack o’lanterns crop up in unexpected ways. Máire invites audience participation with rhymes, body percussion – and cracking dance routines – give it a go! Each story is an adventure. Using music recordings, Máire draws on her teaching and acting expertise to bring it all to life. Her popular “Once Upon a Time in Ireland” is entertaining and educational, with a feast of fun, magic, and Halloween spirit!

Free Event! Please register so you may receive the Zoom link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/halloween-storytime-tickets-427622639827

BIOGRAPHY: Máire Clerkin, a Londoner of Irish parents, lives in Los Angeles. She has a background in theatre, education, journalism, and Irish dance. A certified teacher and adjudicator with the Irish Dancing Commission in Dublin, Máire trained in the Performing Arts and founded her own dance theatre companies which toured the UK and Ireland extensively. Specializing in comedy and choreography, she has created work for the West End, for Broadway and for TV and radio, and she trained with the BBC as a broadcast journalist. Máire’s teaching credits include University of Limerick, Loyola Marymount, Santa Monica College, LAUSD, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Los Angeles Music Center and LA Arts Group. Since moving to California, she developed programs in Irish dance drama and literacy, and founded A Gaelic Gathering ensemble. She created eight title-winning Irish Dance Drama productions for Irish Dance schools in USA. Máire’s TV storytelling debut was in Telling LA on PBS; and she has toured her award-winning solo show, The Bad Arm – Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer across North America, Ireland and the UK. She is currently co-running Irish Camp for the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco. Working as a voice actor, Máire developed her storytelling repertoire, specializing in Irish folk tales for children.