METAPHOR (Denise McCormack): 2022 Fringe review

Denise McCormack is the creative director of the Lehigh Valley Family Storytelling Series, president of the Patchwork Storytelling Guild, liaison for the National Storytelling Network, and an active member of several local and national storytelling communities. In short, Denise loves stories and has built a life around sharing them and imparting the deep significance they hold in our lives—whether we know it or not. Her profound love of storytelling is not only apparent by her extensive list of accolades but also by her stream of conscious, love letter to storytelling, Metaphor.

In Metaphor Denise walks us down the primrose lined path of such classic tales as Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man to illumine the surprisingly hidden and all too often misunderstood significance of these fanciful childhood tales. Between her retelling of these familiar stories Denise interjects with anecdotes from her own life. She shared how these at times simple fairy tales acted like signposts in her life and helped her through hardships that otherwise may have swallowed her whole. 

Denise encourages us to be the hero of our own story and to acknowledge where others are in their story. Afterall, it is much easier to forgive someone or help them when you realize they too are attempting to outwit a clever fox or evade some wicked stepmother. Denise reminded us all that at times we must be the “Obi Wan to someone’s Luke,” and in turn allow ourselves to be Luke—naïve yet determined to set out on our own version of the hero’s journey. 

[The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street] September 25, 2022; fringearts.com

You can learn more about Denise’s unique take on the oral tradition of storytelling at  denisemccormack.live

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.