PORT ANGELES — Whether it’s a Bible story or a barroom joke, tales tend to find their way into Billie Mazzei’s heart.
She’s been a storyteller for some decades now, traveling around the Northwest from her Olympia home, and her next stop is the Story Swap at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Raymond Carver Room at the Port Angeles Library.
The Story People of Clallam County, the group holding monthly Story Swaps at the library, will present Mazzei as featured teller at the library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
It’ll be an evening of words and play, promises Mazzei.
In her set, this teller likes to share personal stories, fairy tales and beyond, and Tuesday, she’ll include some audience participation in a Hopi Native American story, a Jewish folk tale, a personal story or two and her dad’s favorite joke told at the bar.
When asked to share her sources, she has a ready list: “Seventy-five years of living life fully, three children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren,” Mazzei said, along with “books, friends, other storytellers and a gift of looking for the story in everything.”
The teller also will talk a bit about InterPlay, an international group of people who share movement, voice, story and stillness, all with the purpose of living with ease and creating peace in the world.
Mazzei leads a small community of InterPlayers in Olympia.
After Mazzei, listeners are invited to take a break for refreshments.
Then they might stay for the open-mic section, in which anyone in the audience can come up and tell a story. This wraps up by about 9 p.m.
For more information about Tuesday’s swap as well as the Liars Contest, a Saturday, June 7, event the Story People will host at the Sons of Norway Hall, 131 W. Fifth St. in Port Angeles, phone Chris at 360-452-8092 or visit www.clallamstorypeople.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
