Standupanddeliver.docVIP

 PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 4 Stand-up and deliver By Wang Ying/cndy/2007-08/07/content_5448781.htm Eric Shepherd enhances his storytelling with vivid expressions.Courtesy of Eric Shepherd Dressed in a gray, traditional Chinese robe, and drumming up a click-clack beat of the Mandarin duck brass plates, or yuanyang ban, a young American speaks rapid Chinese to the delight of the crowd. The Chinese crowd is impressed by the foreigners ability to talk in fluent Shandong dialect, but more amazed by what he is saying. The yarn he is spinning is hilarious. Eric Shepherd is a Chinese lecturer at Ohio State University and has been amazing audiences both in China and the United States in recent years with his performance of Shandong kuaishu, a traditional Chinese story-telling art originated in East Chinas Shandong Province more than 200 years ago. And locals say Shepherds Shandong dialect is so convincing, that if they closed their eyes, they would not know he was American. Shepherd says he has Wu Yanguo, the third-generation master storyteller of Gao (Yuanjun) School Shandong kuaishu, to thank. My master told me that the ban (the rhythm-keeping instrument) is the rice bowl of we folk art performers, so I keep them with me all the time, Shepherd says. With skillful use of the flat, half-moon discs sandwiched between the fingers, Shepherd often begins his performance with a shumao, or story hat. It is kind of an introduction or appetizer that builds audience interest and allows the performer to warm up before the main course. Shi Kun, a US educator who saw Shepherds performance of Wu Song Kills the Tiger (Wu Song Da Hu) earlier this year, says the audience was hypnotized by the musical quality of Shepherds storytelling and the flashing of the brass discs as he kept the rapid beat easily. By the final bow, the audience seemed to release a collective sigh as they came back to reality, Shi says. Although the story was told entirely in Chines