Monkey King Marathon, 2009

3 days: 18 hours: 2200 Pages

Enjoying the Performance

Eli Rarey

Opening Ceremony

Linda Humes with Junling Wang, Zither

Gioia Timpanelli

Diane Wolkstein

Justin Jaron Lewis

Fellow Travelers

Introducing the Chapters

The Ritual Table

The Storytellers Gather

Ellen Shapiro, Terese Folkes-Plair, Joy Kelly, Ron Sopyla

Sat Hon Illuminates the Text

Storytelling Magazine | November/December 2009

“It was an unforgettable event. I was moved by the story, by the quality of the telling, but perhaps most of all by the great generosity of the storytellers. All were there for the sheer pleasure and love of the work, all had put in long hours struggling mightily with a complex text, and delivered the goods with passion, energy, humor and love. Thanks to all for a great experience, to Diane for the dream and to all for the effort.”

— Ron Sopyla

“. . . an amazing community ritual telling that became vipassana practice in action."

— Mark Horn

“Surfacing... wild dreams... blinking at being back in the NY cement reality... seeing mountains to climb and demons to smack down lurking in odd corners and behind pleasant masks... wondering if I can avoid the subway fare increase by somersaulting to a fast moving cloud...”

— Regina Ress

“It was a great blessing... a joyous, spiritual story practice.”

— Gioia Timpanelli

Event Photos:

Article from Storytelling Magazine:

A warm thank you to everyone who joined us on the Silk Road March 20th-22nd for the marathon telling of this wonderful story. What an amazing experience to journey through the entire epic! Many thanks as well to our friends at Beggars Group for donating the beautiful posters and comic booklets. You may purchase the album of their musical version of Journey to the West by clicking here.

From the Storytellers:

Thank you!