25 ¢
s e r v I n g tay l or , ol D f or g e , moosIc & surrounDIng areas trIborobanner.com | oct. 27, 2016
Fire Safety Week meant visits from firefighters at local schools |PaGe 3
Snapshots from Riverside’s recent win over Holy Cross |PaGe 6
Learning about weather included a visit from TV’s Tom Clark |PaGe 10
Scary TaleS
Storyteller will weave eerie stories at the library By Josh McAuliffe
Other than maybe dimming the lights, Irvine doesn’t rely on any fancy effects or sPeciAl To The TRiBoRo BANNeR music to supplement his stories. For him, it’s all in the way the story is delivered Alan Irvine loves nothing more than and paced. If the result is “a chill down giving people a good scare. your spine,” he’s succeeded. As you can imagine, his talents come Irvine first got his start as a storytellin extremely handy this time of year. er about 35 years ago when he was workWith Halloween just around the corner, the Pittsburgh-based professional ing as a summer camp counselor. Rather than just hector the kids to go to sleep at storyteller will visit Taylor Community Library on Saturday, Oct. 29, for a night lights out, he decided to tell a scary story that had made an impression on him. of spine-tingling ghost stories. “I said, ‘Do you guys want to hear The age-18-and-over event begins at 6 a ghost story?’ And it just went from p.m. Admission is $2 in advance and $4 there,” he said. at the door. Light refreshments will be Upon discovering he had a knack for included. beguiling and frightening an audience, IrThe library is touting the event as an vine learned more stories, which he told hour of “eerie tales of murder, revenge, at future summer camps and on camping love and longing.” trips with friends. Slowly, he got better “I’m looking forward to coming to and better at it. the library,” said Irvine, who performed Today, storytelling is a “solid partat another Lackawanna County Library time job” for Irvine. He does it yearSystem event a while back. Irvine said attendees can expect a mix round, primarily at libraries, historical sites and Irish festivals in the Pittsburgh of ghost tales tailored to an older audiarea and throughout the state. In addience — longer and scarier than what he tion, he’s performed at events in West would do for a group of kids. Virginia and Canada. He expects to tell about four to six “I like to travel,” said Irvine, who also stories altogether, some about 5 or 6 minutes in length, others lasting 15 to 20 gives walking tours of Pittsburgh. “It gets me to parts of the state that I don’t minutes. regularly get to go to.” “There’s this Bram Stoker story I do While the scary stuff is his bread that is pretty intense. That one goes and butter, Irvine has other specialties, about 20 minutes,” he said. including folklore, Celtic tales, Pennsylvania history and the works of Shakespeare. Of course, right now is his busy season, with the library event one of about TS_CNG/TRIBORO/PAGES [T01] | 10/26/16
11:04 | CORNELLCHR
Storyteller Alan Irivine will present “eerie tales of murder, revenge, love and longing.”
15 scheduled programs for October. Even after all these years, storytelling remains Irvine’s favorite pastime. He consistently adds new ghost stories to his repertoire. While many are adaptations, others are his own creation. “Some stories take more preparation than others. You really have to practice and get the pacing down,” he said. “And a lot of times I will do a lot of shifting and changing as I tell it to see how the audience will react.” Irvine anticipates a shiver or two from those who come out to see him at Taylor Community this weekend.
“We’re going to tell some great stories,” he said. “Hopefully people will come out and we’ll have a great time.” If you go What: Ghost Stories with storyteller Alan Irvine When: Saturday, Oct. 29, 6 p.m. Where: Taylor Community Library, 710 S. Main St., Taylor Details: Admission to the age-18and-over event is $2 in advance and $4 at the door. For more information, call the library at 570-562-1234. For more information on Irvine, visit alanirvine.com or facebook.com/AlanIrvineStoryteller.