Adult Programs

Whether creating stories set in history for all ages, or singing old-time songs with senior citizens, Kate delights in seeing joy and understanding on the faces of her audiences.

Kate is well trained in storytelling (see the many storytelling workshops and conferences she has attended), and experienced in storytelling to adults at many venues in the Northeast,including storytelling festivals, museums, The Egg, Caffe Lena, Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion, several Tellabrations: Evenings of Storytelling for Adults, professional meetings, and senior citizen centers.

While Kate is happy to create a program to match your needs, here is a list of some of her existing programs for adult audiences:

• Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers
• Broadway's Music Men: Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter
• Painters and Friends: Stories of Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent
• Sweaters and Mittens and Hats, Oh My! Stories about Knitting
• Tales of New Yorkers
• The Lilt of Irish Laughter: Stories and Songs from Ireland
• Growing Ups and Downs: Stories of Families
• Remember When: Stories and Songs from World War II
• Stories Your Mother Never Told You
• Laugh Yourself Silly: Tales to Tickle Your Funny Bone
• Leaving the Old Country: Immigration Stories

Here's a sampling of some of stories she has told to adults:

My Mother's Hands	Rachel's Story: Leaving Egypt	My Father's Daughter
My Parents' First House	My Third Paid Storytelling Gig	Hiking
Adirondack Outhouse	The Cottage at Lake Winnipesaukee	Rindercella
Circle of Love	Every Quilt They Make	Shaun Kiley and the White Stag

Comments About Kate Dudding’s Adult Programs

" Kate Dudding told an amazing story about 'A Witness to the Truth.' Everyone's ears were glued to each word flowing from her mouth. What started out as just a story about a man trying to tell his story to whoever would listen, ended up bringing a few gasps from the audience. " Jeannette Jordan, The Saratogian, Saratoga Springs, NY

" Kate Dudding has presented several storytelling programs for our organization. Her creativity, enthusiasm and ability to bring the listener into her stories have made her a favorite of our members. Her programs are the best attended of our lunch and learn offerings, filling the classroom and requiring extra seats to be brought in. If you choose to invite Kate to present a storytelling program to your group, I guarantee you an enjoyable and educational experience. " Jo-Ellen Unger, Executive Director, Academy for Learning in Retirement, Saratoga Springs, NY

" Once again, thank you for giving such an absorbing program on Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. You had the audience, as they say, in the palm of your hand! They loved it. " Gail Winters, Head of Reference and Adult Services, Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, NY

"What a wonderful job you have done with your CD "Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers." There is a great mix of material on the CD. I really like the first person account from the lighthouse's point of view. An unexpected treat. I was also delighted that you were able to include a ghost story in the line up. Ending that tale with the warning in Portuguese was eerie and very effective. In short, you have done a great job. The tales are well chosen, well crafted and well told. Hats off! A job well done!" Elizabeth Ellis, renowned international storyteller

"Thank you for participating in the Great Hudson River Revival, the Clearwater Festival 2006! And what an amazing festival it was! We could not have a festival without the wonderful performances that bring the audience back each year. Your participation is a gift to us and the Clearwater Community. Thank you again. " Ron Aja, Festival Director

"You’re a helluva storyteller! " Jack Turner, 347th Infantry, Company H, 87th Division, US Army, WWII

" I have a long-running adult English class, here at the kibbutz - some of my pupils have been coming to the group for over twelve years. What I've been doing for the last five years is this: I give them a story, plus an English - Hebrew glossary, typed out and printed in a large clear font. They have a week to read it, and then in the next lesson we discuss the text and read part of it aloud.

As you can imagine, a story a week - forty five a year - adds up to a stack of papers; so usually they give me back the texts when we have finished with them. They have the option of keeping the texts, but they never do. Well, ALMOST never.

I gave them your story, My Mother's Hands to read, and when we'd finished the lesson one woman said, "I'm going to keep this one, is that all right?" And the rest of the pupils (aged 70 to 90) all breathed a sigh and said, "Me, too." That had never happened before, and it has never happened since. " Lois Tsur, Israel

" Thank you for your fascinating program on lighthouses and their keepers. You packed the house! We all thoroughly enjoyed and learned from your presentation " Marji Dickinson, Co-chair of the Social and Special Programs Committee, Academy for Learning in Retirement, Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, NY

" Thank you so much for the wonderful presentation yesterday and the remembrances of World War II. It was awesome how you held everyone in rapt attention.

Your expertise deserves so much praise. " Don Harmande , one of the seven seniors interviewed for Remember When: Stories and Songs from World War II

" Thank you for coming to the Ilium Literary Club and presenting such a great and interesting program. Everyone was so pleased with it and enjoyed it so much. " Marion Cook, Ilium Literary Club, Troy, NY

" Thanks for all the great stories! The evening was a "keeper" for sure. " Joe Doolittle, Producer, Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion

"Very entertaining! We were all able to relate to your family story. Good choice of details to prompt memories -- you evoked the forties for us. It'll cause us to look at our own photos." Susan

" My parents never married. A few years after I was born, my mother married another man. He and his family always treated me like an outsider. As a child, I spent many hours in the attic, poring over my mother's family photo albums, searching for someone who looked like me. Until I heard your story, I never realized that I have my mother’s hands. " Martha

"What an absolutely wonderful evening! Those were great Adirondack stories. Your rather wry sense of humor and the twinkle in your eye appeared when you told the outhouse and the moose turd pie stories!!" Fran Yardley, Storyteller

" My Father's Daughter could have been written by me about my relationship with my father! My father passed away in 1971 when I was 20 - just 4 months before my husband and I were married. I, too, have just one picture of my father and I together where he is looking at me, and I'm forever searching for ways in which I resemble him. I could go on and on, but my intent was to let you know that your stories made ME think. Thanks so much. " Beth