LEAD Woodbine Partners presents National Storytellers

Yes! Andy Offutt Irwin and Bil Lepp will return to Woodbine on February 13, 2025 at 6 PM. The LEAD Partners will offer a free concert featuring the two nationally recognized storytellers. Please call the Woodbine Public Library at 912-559-2391 to reserve your space for this free concert. We need to hear from you if you plan to attend. Depending on your response, we may need to find a larger venue rather than holding the performance at the library seating only 35.

 

Andy Offutt Irwin, with a silly putty voice, hilarious heart-filled stories, and amazing mouth noises (arguably, the greatest whistler in the world), this one-person-showman is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer. One of the most sought-after performing storytellers in the United States, Andy has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival eleven times and is a perennial favorite at the International Storytelling Center’s Teller-in-Residence series.

A storyteller, theatre director, singer-songwriter, and Shakespearean actor, Andy was Artist-in-Residence at Emory University’s Oxford College from 1991 to 2007. He has performed at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in New York, The Library of Congress, Walt Disney World, and a whole mess of theatres, colleges, and festivals all over the United States. Andy lives in Covington, Georgia. He thinks he is funny.

“You laugh, then you laugh harder, then you sigh, then you listen in awe. Breathing in life.” There may be tears. Andy is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence, and a Special Congressional Recognition – for outstanding and invaluable service to the community – from Rep. John Lewis.

“An incredibly giving soul, Andy wants everyone around him to do well. Then he humbly takes the stage and blows the lid off the joint. For all his audacity he has a giant giant heart… When it comes to originality Andy is a piece of the American storytelling puzzle that is not shaped like any other…” says Kevin Kling, playwright and commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered.

 

Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. He’s also the host of the History Channel’s Man Vs History series, and a contributing columnist to the West Virginia Gazette-Mail. Growing up in a family where the truth was fluid, Bil Lepp became adept at spinning tales and exaggerating circumstances at an early age. A nationally renowned storyteller, featured 19 times at the National Storytelling Festival and five time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest, Bil’s outrageous, humorous tall-tales and witty stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. Though a champion liar, his stories often contain morsels of truth which shed light on universal themes. Lepp explains that while his stories may not be completely true, they are always honest.

Bil is the author of seven books and twenty-one audio collections. His first children’s book, The King of Little Things, won the PEN Steven Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing, received a Kirkus Starred review, and favorable reviews from The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, The School Library Journal and other publications. It also won the Zena Sutherland Award, the Parent’s Choice Gold Award, was a finalist for the Irma Black Award, and was chosen to be West Virginia’s book at the National Book Festival. Bil was awarded the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence Award. Performing at major storytelling festivals around the county, at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, and at corporate events and functions. Lepp has been featured on, and hosted NPR’s internationally syndicated Mountain Stage. He is also the recipient of the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folk honor.

Bil lives in South Charleston, West Virginia with his wife and two children.