Professional Teller

About the Teller

Brian Rohr is a storyteller, writer, poet and healing arts practitioner who resides in the Pacific Northwest – a land of constant rain, evergreen trees, mountains and the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2007, Brian left his hometown of Chicago and moved to Port Townsend, WA to study with mythologist and master storyteller Daniel Deardorff.

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For over a year, before his first public performance, Brian went deep within, studying, learning, observing and absorbing all he could about the art. He learned what it meant to be a Story-Carrier – the  ability to live with the stories, letting them grow inside and inform one how to be a human being, i.e. learning through the ways of the oral tradition.

Simultaneously, he also learned the sacred art of calling a ritual fire in an old way using flint and steel. This was to help form a deeper relationship with ‘Fire’, who is said to be the carrier of ALL the stories. The point of these teachings was to learn to have a relationship with the stories and to understand the deep responsibility that relationship is.

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Since that time, Rohr has performed as a featured storyteller for national and international audiences, taught and performed at major conferences, high schools, universities, synagogues and libraries, delighting listeners of all ages, including:

• Tapestry of Jewish Learning in Austin, TX;

• Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle;

• Illinois State University;

• The Mankind Project;

• International Jewish Renewal Aleph Kallah in Redlands, CA;

• Trickster Tales Storytelling Festival in Washington State;

• Tell it Like It Is: Portland’s Jewish Storytelling Festival, Portland, OR;

• Vernon Area Library and Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL 

• and much more.

Rohr is the creator and former host of the monthly First Friday Storynight and Trickster Tales: A Night of Storytelling in Port Townsend, WA.

As a storyteller, Brian focuses on the old stories – the myths, folktales and fairy tales – knowing that these old stories are alive, vital and can inform us on how to live our lives as authentic human beings, helping to make sense and meaning of the living world we are a part of.

Brian has been honored by JT News as a “10 Under 40” recipient by being chosen as one of 10 Jewish people in Washington State under 40 years old who are doing important and inspirational works within the community, specifically as a storyteller. He was also previously honored by the National Storytelling Network by being selected as one of seven finalists for the prestigious J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award in the storytelling community.

Brian is a former Board Member of the Mythsinger Foundation.