Saga group emphasizes story power

Las Vegas resident Joe Boyd knows theater audiences flock to big production shows with special effects and elaborate sets, but as creative director of Saga Storytellers, he intends to give his audiences something simpler.

Boyd wants to take people back to the core of storytelling, the days when one person would tell a story by firelight.

"A story is powerful enough to stand on its own," he said. "That's something that often gets lost in our highly technical age. There's something powerful in a story itself. You don't need tricks and special effects. They're just there to make up for weak stories."

Boyd and his friends Ken Parker and Tommy Peterson have combined their efforts to form Saga Storytellers, a group dedicated to bringing back traditional storytelling. Their first production, "The Story of Jesus," opened Monday. Additional shows are set for today and Friday at the Clark County Library Theater at 7 p.m.

For this first production, Boyd occupies the stage alone, and tells the story of the life of Jesus Christ. Though the theme comes from religion, the actor said this is not church.

"I don't want people to feel like this is a religious thing. It's not religious. No matter what religion you are, it's just a fantastic story," he said. "One of the reasons we decided to tackle this story first is that whether you think you know Jesus, whether you hate him or love him, you have to realize the followers of Jesus shape the story of our country. If people come up afterward and say 'I don't believe in Jesus.' I won't be offended. But I hope they leave understanding the story."

Boyd hopes even atheists would feel comfortable at his presentation. Though the story won't be based on religion, the men behind the Saga Storytellers all met at church.

Boyd holds a master's degree in theology and he organizes events for the Apex network of non-denominational Christian churches. That's where he met Parker, who works by day as a production manager for the Desert Passage at the Aladdin, and Peterson, who works as a mortgage broker.

All three shared a love for the performing arts that convinced them to give Saga Storytellers a try.

"We all come from some sort of theatrical background. Our church is very young and sort of nontraditional so there's a lot of freedom to experiment with the arts and acting and writing," he said. "It's always been our desire to fulfill a dream of working together some day. Saga is our first step toward that."

The show began as a short 30-minute presentation Boyd performed for church groups.

"I've done lots of storytelling in religious settings. I've become sort of known for that, so this is a safe place to begin," he said. "In some ways it's what we know and what we were prepared to do."

The next steps for the storytellers will not be as familiar. In June or July the group plans to put on a variety show filled with sketch comedy performances.

Boyd is a second-level student with the Second City comedy troupe at the Flamingo. He hopes to transform that experience into a show that will be a bit more "PG-13" than the Jesus show.

Then in the winter, the group plans to show an original holiday film. For future performances they're considering everything from staged shows and Hebrew-themed events to the story of Darwin. Eventually the group would like to find volunteers willing to teach traditional storytelling to children in local schools.

As a new non-profit group, Boyd said Saga Storytellers is open to volunteers from the community. He said the so far self-funded venture is open to both participants and possible contributors.

For this first performance, the storyteller is looking for an audience to connect with.

"I don't think we spend a lot of time asking ourselves what our story is," he said. "I think Saga will work on many levels. We live in a fact-heavy, data-heavy culture. It's really hard to assimilate all those facts. We can't just be computers that log data. We need a story to understand.

"The hidden purpose for this is, we all learn how to tell a story and we all learn our own stories."

Tickets for the "The Story of Jesus" are $7. Tickets will be sold at the door of the library theater near the intersection of Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway. To learn more about Saga Storytellers, visit the Web site at www.sagastorytellers.com.


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