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<p>TUNKHANNOCK &#8212; Taking their cues from a grandmotherly storyteller, dozens of preschoolers clutched imaginary hats to their heads and made the sounds of a wild wind.</p><p>&#8220;Whoo, whoo!&#8221; they called as they fought their way through an imaginary snowstorm.</p><p>Moments earlier, they&#8217;d crossed an imaginary river, following Fiona Siobhan Powell&#8217;s gestures as she held her nose and pretended to jump into the water, then pantomimed the breaststroke, the crawl and the doggy paddle.</p><p>&#8220;Shake yourself off like a doggy does,&#8221; Powell, 61, of Lewisburg, told her audience of children who had accompanied parents and teachers to the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock on a recent Thursday morning.</p><p>The kids participated with gusto, casting imaginary droplets from their hair as Powell related all the obstacles the narrator faces in &#8220;Going on a Bear Hunt.&#8221; Then they jumped up and down and ran in place as they pretended to be like the faster animal in Powell&#8217;s version of &#8220;The Tortoise and the Hare.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;She magically transports you,&#8221; Dietrich Theater executive director Erica Rogler said after Powell had presented four or five stories to the preschoolers.</p><p>&#8220;She really tells a story in a way that gets your imagination going, and she does that for young and old,&#8221; Rogler said.</p><p>For her appearance at the theater, Powell sat onstage and set her customary spinning wheel in motion.</p><p>&#8220;Does anyone know what I&#8217;m doing?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;I&#8217;m turning wool into yarn.&#8221;</p><p>She was spinning stories, too, using her voice to create such sound effects as the &#8220;sloop, sloop&#8221; of mud squishing between toes or to illustrate how slowly &#8220;Mis &#8230; ter &#8230; Tur &#8230; tle&#8221; moved; using her hands and feet to hint she was putting on socks and shoes; letting her chin quiver to show just how scared she was at the point where one story beckoned listeners into a bear&#8217;s cave.</p><p>&#8220;The one about the bear&#8221; was his favorite story, a 4-year-old boy named Darrick said after the program as he and his mom, Jessica Allen, of Tunkhannock, got ready to leave.</p><p>Lots of kids responded to that tale, shouting out that they liked mud, too, raising their hands to indicate they knew how to swim and quieting when Powell pantomimed it was time to tiptoe during the search for the bruin.</p><p>Powell, who is a radio announcer for WVIA-FM, has eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild of her own. She enjoys telling stories to children but noted her specialty is sharing stories with adults during festivals, library programs and other events.</p><p>Daughter of a Welsh-American lawyer and a British actress, she has committed to memory a wide collection of folk tales, many from the British Isles where her ancestors lived and where she often visits. &#8220;I just got back&#8221; from the most recent trip, she said.</p><p>The Dietrich Theater intends to have Powell return for future engagements and to sponsor appearances by other storytellers as well, Rogler said.</p><p>&#8220;In our society,&#8221; the theater director added, &#8220;we don&#8217;t always get to experience this art form of hearing a story instead of watching it or reading it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Preschoolers from the Tunkhannock area have varied reactions to the story Fiona Siobhan Powell is sharing with them. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Preschoolers from the Tunkhannock area have varied reactions to the story Fiona Siobhan Powell is sharing with them. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Storyteller Fiona Siobhan Powell from Lewisburg spins her spinning wheel and spins a tale at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona5.jpg</photo1><caption1>Storyteller Fiona Siobhan Powell from Lewisburg spins her spinning wheel and spins a tale at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hadley McCoy, Meadow McCoy and Annistyn Grundmann from the Lake Winola Preschool listen to a story told by Fiona Siobhan Powell at the Dietrich Theater. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hadley McCoy, Meadow McCoy and Annistyn Grundmann from the Lake Winola Preschool listen to a story told by Fiona Siobhan Powell at the Dietrich Theater. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader photos </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Preschoolers from the Tunkhannock area interact with storyteller Fiona Powell as she tells them about a famous race between a tortoise and a hare. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Preschoolers from the Tunkhannock area interact with storyteller Fiona Powell as she tells them about a famous race between a tortoise and a hare. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader photos </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Does anyone know what I&#8217;m doing?&#8217; Fiona Powell asked her young audience. &#8216;I&#8217;m turning wool into yarn.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016fiona4.jpg</photo4><caption4>&#8216;Does anyone know what I&#8217;m doing?&#8217; Fiona Powell asked her young audience. &#8216;I&#8217;m turning wool into yarn.&#8217; </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader photos </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Fiona Powell tells folk tales from her international collection</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> 0MWeBrwh3hE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MWeBrwh3hE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/0MWeBrwh3hE&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Fiona Powell Storyteller</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Aimee Dilger</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Storyteller Fiona Siobhan Powell shares folk tales in Tunkhannock