Jeff Gere is one of Hawai`i’s most popular storytellers. He blends talents as a painter, puppeteer, and mime into a performance style that has electrified audiences of every age across Hawaii and internationally for three decades. Jeff’s physical energy, wide range of voices, morphing elastic face and clear characterizations make his performances unforgettable events. Jeff becomes his stories!
Read about his current productions (Collage , College Class, Boy Who Fell In Love With a Star) and past performances ( Biography, Resume and What People are Saying) .
Jeff has produced many series ( Talk Story Festival and Talk Story Radio.) He also Travels and has Toured extensively. His performance series include the Arabian Nights, the Art Off The Wall, stories for Children, and Spooky tales. He is an innovative Puppeteer. Jeff has written many Storytelling articles and many performances are on video. Jeff is an active recording artist. Please follow the links to learn more about Jeff’s work.
LIFE (ONGOING, PENDING) 2016
Jan- March- delightfully home, collage work, yoga, garden, swimming,
April- MAY GUESTS Storytellers Jeeva Raghunath (India) & folklorist/ author/ teller Margaret Read MacDonald in our house during public library tours. Hawaii Book & Music Festival (4/30 & 5/1, perform both days again).
May AUSTRALIA STORY CONFERENCE (Sydney- concert tell & workshop)
before & after visits with storytellers Anne E Stewart (Melbourne), Kiran Shah (Blue Mountains), Jenni Cargill-Strong (Byron Bay) & the Great Barrier Reef!
June 11 Children’s Literature Conference, Honolulu, on ‘DEAF POE‘
Deaf teller Ed Chevy does blistering versions of 3 Edgar Allan Poe tales. I produced & edited hi-def video, national distribution to deaf & sign interpreters.
June & July- 40 SUMMER FUN Storytelling & Puppet Shows & public libraries,
Mid-Summer Night’s Gleam @ Foster Botanical Gardens (as usual.)
September- CHINA SHADOW PUPPET TOUR Teaching & Small Shows via Chinese promoter (we met in Bangalore) committed to reviving Chinese shadow puppetry.
October- ‘COLLAGE MASSAGE’ SOLO ART EXHIBIT (80 images & shadow puppet shows) at The Arts @ Mark’s Garage (gallery/theater space in Honolulu’s Chinatown) https://youtu.be/w0NETYUkP1M
Also THE BOY WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH A STAR at Bishop Museum
(mid-Oct to mid-Nov) ‘Boy/ Star‘ revives a preschool musical written & enacted with Adela Chu 30 years ago (how can I be 8 years old?)
November 17-27- INDIA #2′ Under Banyan Tree storytelling tour (Pune & Bangalore) & sightsee southwest coast for a month.
2017 Jan-May- STORYTELLING AS PERFORMANCE CLASS
(16 weeks at University of Hawaii, Manoa Drama Department)
2017 July- PARIS, with Hula Halau o Manoa (then Ireland, Jerusalem/ Petra)
2017 October- ROMANIA Tour (again.)
LIFE: Lotsa Travels in 2015
DECEMBER 2014: I RETIRED from City & County of Honolulu’s Parks Department, sifted through 28 years of papers & props.
JANUARY 2015: My wife and I did a 3 university Eastern THAILAND Tour (Margaret Read MacDonald, Wajuppa Tossa coordinator, Jeeva (India), Giorgiana (Romania) KK Ng (Lao), Vietnamese dance group and Balinese father-son team were highlights.) I taught another week in Mahasarakham. Then we toured Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai (hiking in hill tribe areas- huge waterfall!)
FEBRUARY: My father died in the home (southern California.) I performed a bit locally after attending to his estate – Valley of Temples (3/28) & Honolulu Book & Music Fest (4/2&3.)
MAY- JUNE- PARIS My wife lead us to France to meet her family and to live a month in Paris (Air B&B apartment.) The area where we lived is where terrorists gunned down people in November.
JULY- Daily SUMMER FUN Park shows in Oahu parks. Our Taiwan Tour translator visited a few weeks (music teacher & serious student of traditional Chinese Kun Opera.)
AUG- SEPT.- SOUTH INDIA TOUR Chennai, Bangalore, Pune via Jeeva Raghunath (with Diane Ferlatte, Antonio Roche, Randall McGee, Sheila Wee, Craig Jenkins, all well-known performers.) Then we toured temples from Madurai to Chennai (Chettinad culture) for two weeks.
SEPT- OCT.- ROMANIA TOUR (with Margaret Read MacDonald, Wajuppa Tossa from Thailand.) Arad and Transylvania! We begin & end in Budapest.
OCTOBER 17 Back in Honolulu to tell at TALK STORY FESTIVAL #27 , a 1 nite event produced by my replacement. Life goes on!
LIFE: Many Endings to 2014,
AUG-SEPT 2014 Tour of TAIWAN three weeks in Taichung & Taipei (Sherry & Bobby Norfolk, Mike Lockett, Mike Anderson.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wfq9a3lErQ
OCTOBER ’14: I produced, hosted & told (as usual) for the last time, the
26th Annual TALK STORY FESTIVAL for the last time (I air Festival videos all year on Olelo Community TV). A Tsunami scare moved it from mid- Oct. (Kuniko Yamamoto, mainland guest, Japanese living in Florida) to early November (Diane Ferlatte filled in). On Saturday night, 7 local tellers (20 minutes each) told the Hawaiian epic of Pele & Hi’iaka in 3 hours.
DECEMBER 2014: I RETIRED from City & County of Honolulu’s Parks Department, sifted through 28 years of papers & props.
FEBRUARY 2015: My father, who visited us in November 2014 ( Emergency Room visit in the middle of the stay) died in the home (southern California.)