When Cris Riedel tells stories, folks love to listen.
She says, “Everyone wants to hear stories. Stories make us – and keep us – human. It’s more and more important for us to understand and appreciate others. Stories connect all people to each other, and to the past, and to future people, relationships all coming from the shared experience of a story.”
Cris’s background is in theater; she holds a BA and MFA in acting. When disability required her to leave that art, she completed an MLS with a concentration in school library. Much to her joy, storytelling was a part of those studies, and she has been now telling professionally for over thirty years. She has been awarded numerous grants from her local arts council to tell stories in her home county’s summer activity programs . She’s now a retired librarian, and continues to perform for audiences of all ages.
Places she’s been:
- Genesee Country Village and Museum
- National Storytelling Network showcase performer
- Stone Soup Storytelling Festival New Voice
- Hammondsport Storytelling Festival
- New York Storytellers Gathering
- Genesee Valley Storytelling Festival
- Rochester Area Young Scholars at Geneseo
- Sharing the Fire Olio
- The Fredonia Storytelling Festival
- Buffalo Museum of Science
- Burchfield-Penney Art Museum
- Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum
Her workshops have been offered at:
- Ohio Storytelling Network (formerly OOPS)
- The Chautauqua Institution
- Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference 2006, 2008, and 2025
- Little Finger Lakes Center, Hemlock NY
- The Fredonia Storytelling Festival
- The New York State Association for the Education of Young Children
- Library Development Day for Genesee Valley BOCES School Library System.
She is the co-founder of the Worldwide Virtual storytelling Guild, and served six years on the Board of Northeast Storytelling.
Click here for her professional resume and her complete CV: