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“font-family: Verdana;”>“It’s a great homecoming for me,” storyteller Bobby Norfolk said of his return to Powell Symphony Hall as the star of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s The Composer is Dead. “I was kind of intimidated when I first walked into this space after all of those years.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>As a young boy, Norfolk got his first taste of captivating performances in the space that now houses one of the world’s most premier orchestras, back when it was the St. Louis Theater.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I saw the Ten Commandments here and Samson and Delilah,” Norfolk said with his welcoming grin.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The performer comes out and just feels the energy of the performances that have gone on here. The energy has vibrated into the floors, the walls and the ceilings and the energy is still here – almost Zen-like.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It was a long journey for Norfolk to the stage as a storyteller.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“From kindergarten to 10th grade, I stuttered,” Norfolk said. “I had these master teachers within the St. Louis Public Schools system – and they kept seeing things in me that I didn’t see in myself.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>These teachers, especially at Sumner High School, changed Norfolk’s life.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They put me in drama class, in poetry recitals, they put me in talent shows and whenever I would perform I wouldn’t stutter,” Norfolk said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“When I left the stage, the stuttering came back. But then I found out that it was the meter, rhythm and rhyme of what I was doing on the stage. Some of my drama teachers said I should study meditation techniques, too. And with the meditation and the theatre, the stuttering stopped. And the career began.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>After graduating from Sumner, a fellowship from the Danforth Foundation enabled him to pursue a career in writing at University Missouri–St. Louis while simultaneously performing in local theatre (he performed in The Black Rep’s 1981 production of A Soldier’s Play).
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The first year of my internship was Proud Magazine, and my second year of internship was with the St. Louis Sentinel, where Howard B. Woods was my mentor,” Norfolk said. “And my third internship was with this obscure newspaper called The St. Louis American. I got my press pass as features writer for The St. Louis American. I still have that press pass.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>He also worked as a stand-up comedian, opening for acts like Lou Rawls, Roberta Flack, B.B. King and Peabo Bryson. To make ends meet, he took a college friend up on an offer to become a park ranger at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which includes the St. Louis Arch – a day job that led to his performance passion.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I didn’t seek storytelling, it sought me,” Norfolk said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“There I am minding my business with my Smokey the Bear outfit on, and the storytellers from all over the United States came. I thought it was new, but it was an ancient art form and it didn’t require anything except imagination.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis Storytellers Festival was being hosted by the national park. Norfolk asked his boss if he could take part.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“He said take an hour and be a part of the festival,” Norfolk said. “Then come back, put your uniform on and be a ranger.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Norfolk
was
discovered by Young Audiences, and soon he hung up his park ranger
uniform to pursue storytelling full-time.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Along the way, he blended his backgrounds from theatre, music and comedy into what he calls “story theatre” – which is what guests of the symphony can expect to see on Sunday at The Composer is Dead, a murder mystery/orchestral combination written by Lemony Snicket and composed by Nathaniel Stookey.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It’s going to bring me back to my early days in theatre,” Norfolk said. “I am not going to be Bobby Norfolk, I am going to be this other persona and that other persona will hopefully light up that spot.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The Composer is Dead will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30 at Powell Symphony Hall (718 N. Grand). For more information, visit
“http://www.stlsymphony.org/”>www.stlsymphony.org 314-534-1700.
