NORWICH — Activist and puppeteer Pati Hernández has always seen the power of storytelling.

Originally from Chile, she grew up under the military dictatorship that began in 1973, “so for me, voice is really important,” she said.

That conviction is part of what prompted her to develop Telling My Story, a nonprofit that encourages disenfranchised groups to share their life experiences through collaborative workshops that culminate in a public presentation.

One such presentation, focused on housing insecurity, is scheduled for next Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley in Norwich, following a three-day workshop.

Participants, who experience different levels of housing insecurity, will create a group manifesto and personal testimonies  for the June 28 presentation.

In the past, participants have also played in drumming circles and constructed a wall of cardboard boxes to symbolize different forms of social stigma.

“The doing is what enables those little stories to come out,” said Marta Ceroni, a workshop facilitator.

Hernández taught Telling My Story as a class at Dartmouth for 17 years, before moving to Portland, Maine in 2022, where she continues to train workshop facilitators while working with Church of Safe Injection, a harm-reduction organization that holds fundraisers for safe use centers and sources clean supplies.

Hernández would take her classes to correctional facilities and rehabilitation centers in the Twin States, where, alongside inmates and patients, students would develop a narrative that would culminate in a final performance.

“The idea of Telling My Story is always to bring unlike groups together,” Hernández said, though she acknowledged that the program can be “aggravating to people” at first blush.

“I don’t want to do this foolish stuff,” Kathy Treem thought when Telling My Story came to Valley Vista, a drug rehabilitation center, in 2013 while she was recovering from opiate addiction, which she’d developed while managing pain from multiple sclerosis.

Treem decided to give it a go anyway, participating in a skit where she played the devil tempting someone to use drugs. “I got so into it,” she said in a phone interview. “I was hooked from that point forward.”

Telling My Story “got me out of myself,” said Treem, who had been dealing with loneliness for a long time. The workshops gave her a new network of friends. Participants “were all different ages, but we all felt the same,” she said.

Since that first workshop, Treem has participated in over 20 programs. “If you talked to me 12 years ago, before I went into Telling My Story, I was a very angry person, and if I wasn’t angry, I was very quiet,” she said.

Telling My Story made her realize she “needed to start a new chapter” and gave her the confidence to relocate in 2023 to Cape Cod, where she forged a new support network.

“Best thing I ever did. Only thing is I miss Telling My Story,” she said.

Telling My Story’s workshop presentation will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 28 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley. Participation is free. The performance involves adult themes and is not recommended for children. Admission is free and open to the public. 

The blocks dissent

In Randolph, the White River Craft Center is exploring a different form of social activism.

The center’s new exhibit “Knowing Score — Political Posters in Lino & Block Print,” which went on view last Thursday, highlights how 11 New England printmakers incorporate activist messaging into their work.

Curated by Kate Branstetter, who joined the craft center’s board this year, the show fits a lot under the umbrella of political art, with work that addresses modern anxieties such as climate change and international tariffs as well as personal struggles like addiction.

“There’s so many things to make art about, and there’s so much to be angry about,” said Branstetter, who co-owns Black Meadow, a tattoo shop in Randolph.

Branstetter built the exhibit around the work of their friend Tim Tanker, a Maine-based artist whose woodblock prints are rendered with thick lines and often feature a skull — sometimes forlorn, other times enraged — in the center of the piece.

“Knowing Score” also includes some of Branstetter’s prints alongside other people’s work from a recent political poster workshop at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction.

Branstetter, who lives in Braintree, Vt., first dabbled with printmaking during the coronavirus pandemic when they took a virtual printmaking workshop run by Janet Cathey, the studio manager at Two Rivers, whose work will feature in the exhibit. 

Something about “having an idea and having to physically use your body to carve it out and then print it for the masses,” resonated with them, they said.

Branstetter was also drawn to the notion of printmaking as an “ancient practice” that’s been a tool in political activism for centuries, they said.

With that legacy in mind, a small assortment of books about the history of political printmaking will be on display for visitors to peruse.

But more than anything, Branstetter hopes viewers walk away “inspired to create art in any way they can,” they said. “I want people to think about political expression.” 

“Knowing Score” is on view through Sept. 6 at the White River Craft Center Gallery in Randolph. Materials will be available during the show for visitors to make their own posters. For more information, visit whiterivercraftcenter.org. 

Music-making marathon

Saturday is International Make Music Day, which means it’s time for Randolph’s sixth town-wide music festival, which kicks off at 9 a.m. and stretches late into the evening. Daytime acts include a four-hour set by one-man band Michael Stridsgberg Music at Randolph Farmers’ Market on Gifford Green and a performance by Royalton native and indie pop singer-songwriter Ali T at Merchants Row restaurant Wit & Grit.

Headliner and Grammy Award-winning Mexican violin trio the Villalobos Brothers will round off the day’s festivities with a 7:30 p.m. performance at Chandler Music Hall, followed by a dance party with Randolph’s DJ Denisova.

Raised an hour outside the port city of Veracruz, Ernesto, Alberto and Luis Villalobos’ music weaves together the sonic threads of Mexican and Latin jazz styles. Past performances include recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Montreal Jazz Festival.

All Make Music Day performances are free and open to the public. To reserve tickets, visit chandler-arts.org.

Music at Main Street Museum

Miss Maybell and Her Ragtime Romeos, an outfit that sources music from a century ago from old 78 records and sheet music from the era, rolls into White River Junction’s Main Street Museum at 8 p.m. on Friday evening, June 20.

Miss Maybell, her partner, Charlie Judkins and the rest of the ragtime ensemble are fresh off dates at Birdland, in New York City, last weekend.

The museum’s player piano will be cranking out tunes starting at 6 p.m. Friday. There’s a $10 to $20 suggested donation, but no one is ever turned away for lack of funds.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.