GREAT FALLS — The Storytellers are putting their name to good use, with online storytelling. The Great Falls theater group began two years ago when Keely Ronish decided children needed a place to explore their creative side through theater.
Due to the city’s restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of The Storytellers aren’t able to meet in person at this time, leaving Ronish with extra time to put her theatrical talents to good use.
“I’m not working right now because everything’s shut down. So I called up one of my management team members, Cody Tucker, and I said ‘Hey, what would you think about reading a story? And he was like, 'Yes! I love it,'” Ronish said.
For the past few days she and Tucker have shared online book readings on The Storytellers Facebook page.
Ronish tries to share two stories per day - a picture book for younger children and a selection from a chapter book for older kids.
Ronish believes these daily readings are a good escape for kids during this unusual time. “I figured there's a lot of kids who are stuck at home right now. and it would be nice just to lose themselves in a story versus focusing on all the scary things in the real world right now,” Ronish said.
Ronish said she will continue to share two stories every day on Facebook, for as long as school closures last.
As of Saturday morning (March 28), there are 129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Montana, and one death. There are no confirmed reports at this time about the number of patients who have recovered. Public health officials know that the number of cases is likely substantially higher than the number of confirmed cases. As of Saturday morning, the public health laboratory in Helena has completed 3,385 tests.
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