Video Link(s)
Audio Link(s)
First Name
Arnold
Middle Name
J
Last Name
Pritchard
Stage Name
Privacy
Phone
2036242520
Region
Northeast
Street Address
19 Colony Road
City
New Haven
State/Province
CT
Country
United States
Postal Code
Primary type of performance
Historical Stories
Stories
Now focusing mainly on historical stories, based on my father>s letters home from World War II. Also tell some folk, personal, and literary tails.
Suitable for teenagers as well as adults. The age bracket question on this form only allows you to choose one age group.
Bi or Multi Lingual
Bio
A few years ago I inherited the Army footlocker of my father, Tony Pritchard. It turned out to contain hundreds of letters and other documents from his service in World War II, and in the U. N.>s displaced persons program in postwar Europe.
The letters are vivid, thoughtful, and insightful. From a small selection of them I have created a story focusing on Tony>s time in the front lines in Europe in 1944-45. The story portrays a young man encountering a world wider, more varied, and far more brutal than anything he had ever known. He coped with raw fear, with his role as a leader, and with doubts about himself and others. In writing home, he often struggled to convey his experiences to those who remained in the world he had lived in before Pearl Harbor. He struggled particularly with balancing his intense desire to have his parents understand what he was going through with his desire not to scare the daylights out of them.
I was drawn to this project not only for the family connection, but because much of my previous experience prepared me for it. I have been telling stories as an avocation since the mid-1990>s, and before that I got a Ph.D. in history from Yale and published a book on Elizabethan England. In presenting this story I am a historian, a storyteller, and a son. It has been very interesting to try to balance the three roles.
The letters are vivid, thoughtful, and insightful. From a small selection of them I have created a story focusing on Tony>s time in the front lines in Europe in 1944-45. The story portrays a young man encountering a world wider, more varied, and far more brutal than anything he had ever known. He coped with raw fear, with his role as a leader, and with doubts about himself and others. In writing home, he often struggled to convey his experiences to those who remained in the world he had lived in before Pearl Harbor. He struggled particularly with balancing his intense desire to have his parents understand what he was going through with his desire not to scare the daylights out of them.
I was drawn to this project not only for the family connection, but because much of my previous experience prepared me for it. I have been telling stories as an avocation since the mid-1990>s, and before that I got a Ph.D. in history from Yale and published a book on Elizabethan England. In presenting this story I am a historian, a storyteller, and a son. It has been very interesting to try to balance the three roles.
Ages
Adult
School Districts
Workshops
No
Requirements
Fees are negotiable. Will generally ask for reimbursement of travel expenses beyond 75 miles from home.
Mentor
No
Cost
Travel
Yes