Storytellers May Enliven Cape May Experience

CAPE MAY – There may be a million stories in New York, so said an old police television show, but there are at least 21 stories in Cape May.
On Aug. 12, Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) Director Michael Zuckerman paid a visit to City Council. He pitched an idea that would put storytellers in a number of locations here including the Promenade, Washington Street Mall, Welcome Center, Physick Estate and Cape May Lighthouse.
The storytelling project is about eight months away from being launched, said Zuckerman. He approached council since the storytellers would be standing on city property.
MAC has applied for a grant to the New Jersey Cultural Trust to fund the services of Sandra Mackenzie Lloyd, who would write scripts for the stories and Geoffrey Berwind who would audition, train and rehearse the storytellers.
Open auditions would be held for the storyteller positions with preference given to veteran MAC Museum Educators and local actors.
What sort of stories would be told?
* Pirates in the Cape May area in the 18th century.
* The Revolutionary War story of a local woman’s efforts to free her husband from captivity aboard a prison ship in New York Harbor.
* The War of 1812 story about how Sarah Hughes saved Cape May from a British bombardment.
* Harriet Tubman’s work in Cape May hotels in the 1850s that helped her fund Underground Railroad missions.
* How local Civil War hero Col. Henry Sawyer escaped the “lottery of death” at Libby Prison.
* The role of the pearl diver in starting the fire of 1869 in Cape May.
* John Phillip Sousa’s performances on the lawn of Congress Hall in the 1880s.
* Jeannie Wales and the battle to impose prohibition on Cape May in the 1890s.
* The 1905 auto race on the Cape May beachfront in which Henry Ford and Louis Chevrolet lost to Walter Christie.
* The battle against and the surrender of German U-Boats off Cape May and Jersey shore during World War II.
Zuckerman said the storytellers would not be in costume other than perhaps a candy striped vest and sleeve guards. He said they would be trained in five different stories.
He suggested a portable beach umbrella to provide shade and identify the storyteller’s spot.
City Solicitor Tony Monzo said he would research what permits may be needed by MAC.