OLD LYME — But, how did it all begin?
One of the world’s oldest questions asks how earth, the universe, and everything beyond it came into being. Humankind has been asking the question for thousands of years, and the answers appear in the form of powerful, beautiful, and sometimes puzzling myths.
Storyteller Tom Lee will perform a selection of these creation tales in his one-man play re:creation, on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. at St. Ann’s Church, 82 Shore Rd., Old Lyme, CT 06371. Admission is by donation; the program is intended for adult listeners.
Lee has researched and performed ancient mythology for over 30 years. As a guest artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he encountered creation myths from Babylon, first written on cuneiform tablets more than 3000 years ago. In contrast to the Biblical story of creation, these stories narrate an epic battle among the gods for the powers of sea and sky.
With his appetite for mythology sharpened by these ancient tales, Lee began on a path of research that has never stopped. “Wherever people have told stories,” Lee says, “they have told compelling accounts of how and why the world began; some of them are grand, sweeping, and poetic, others are more intimate and very human-scale. I love sharing ancient stories with modern audiences; the experience of listening to a story is as compelling today as it was 5000 years ago.”
In addition to frequent performances at Connecticut museums, including the Yale Center for British Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art and The Wadsworth Atheneum, Lee performs nationally and internationally. To mark the solar eclipse of 2017, Lee was commissioned by the National Parks Service and NASA to present a program of myths of the sun and moon.
The program on Sunday, Nov. 10, will last approximately one hour; a discussion and reception will follow.
Admission is by donation. Space is limited and registration is requested at 860-434-1621.
For more information, visit www.saintannsoldlyme.com and/or www.tomleestoryteller.net