Bob Thompson has been intrigued by stories all his life. He grew up next door to his grandmother’s country grocery store in Western Kentucky, listening to the stories told on the front porch in the summer and around the pot-bellied stove in the winter. For the last 20 years, he has been involved in perpetuating the art of storytelling both locally and nationally as a writer, a storyteller, and chairman of the board and programming director for the Louisville-based Corn Island Storytelling Festival. The largest such festival in the U.S., Corn Island celebrated its 29th anniversary in 2003.

Bob is also active with other arts organizations, including the Kentucky Theatre Project, and is a regular on local National Public Radio station WFPK’s weekly Kentucky Home Front program.

A graduate of the University of Kentucky with a degree in engineering, Bob says he’s built a career knowing that both sides of his brain work. “Understanding technology and having the communication skills to translate scientific concepts into everyday language is evidently not a common commodity,” he says. His only famous relative, as far as he knows, is his cousin Lily Tomlin. Maybe storytelling runs in the family.

The Halloween Show

A celebration of Halloween featuring a hair-raising ghost story; a look at the Corn Island Storytelling Festival; and a preview of Walden Theatre’s production of The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s play set during the Salem witch trials. (#605)