Off-Broadway Debut Season at Lincoln Center in New York Read the Reviews!

"Odds has performed at Taft for the past two years, once in a short evening performance and once as an artist-in-residence over the course of three days. In a nutshell, he visited in the depths of winter and transformed the school, holding 550 adolescents spellbound for more than an hour each day in workshops, performances, and small gatherings. His dynamic personality and infectious charisma animated the community.  He is without question the most accomplished modern-day bard we have ever heard.  He does more than spin a tale, he weaves the sorrow, the surprise, and the joy of human experience into his characters, and the listeners are transformed for the better."
--Rev. Michael Spencer, School Chaplain
Head, Humanities Department
The Taft School

"I heard one of your tapes for the first time this month, The Wise Little Girl. My children loved it, but it moved me so deeply I had to pull my van over to sob, and weep, and gush. For the only time in my life, I felt that I was in the presence of a true Bard. At the same time, I experienced deja vu--as if I had experienced storytelling like this many times, and had been waiting for it all my life."
--Michelle Tate

"Yarrow (my 4 year old daughter) and myself are two of your biggest fans. We not only love your storytelling but are frankly amazed at your musicianship. You seem to have almost single-handedly reinvented guitar as a tool for storytelling. After all, rock and blues have just about run out of interesting ideas and all of a sudden you come along with what seems to be a whole new slant on music as a medium of creative exchange."
--Richard Voss

"In eight and a half years a Madeira, I can't remember any visiting speaker or performance artist who provoked such an enthusiastic, nay lyrical, response as you. From the point of view of the English Department, nothing could have afforded a better introduction to our curriculum than your rendition of The Odyssey. The freshmen can't wait to begin reading the text itself, the sophomores are so pleased with themselves for having read such a cool poem, and the juniors are tickled to have had their memories of it revived in such a unique way. As for the seniors, well, your vitality and spirit--your obvious passion for what you do, and the artistry with which you do it--have cast a new light on their assumptions about how best to spend their lives. Advisors tell me that their students are still excited, and I can't cross campus without being stopped by your fans."
--Sandra Bernstein
Head, English Department
The Madeira School

"Odds, you are an amazing artist. My husband and I listen as raptly to the Little Proto CDs as do our children. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
--Nicole Mountain

"I am simply writing to thank you after all these years for bringing infinite joy and bonding moments to my family and friends over the years. You are a blessing to the human race."
--Elie de Cassis

"I ordered two of your CDs--Little Proto's T-Rex Adventure and Evergreens for a 6 hour car ride with my 3 kids ages 4, 6 and 8 (and my husband). Needless to say we were all awestruck by your incredible performances. The car ride, usually an horrific ordeal, was totally painless--even enjoyable--thanks to your stories. You are truly an artist. That level of quality is rarely seen anymore."
--Julie Palmer

"My five year old is wild about dinosaurs and we bought Little Proto's T-Rex Adventure. After just one listen we were all hooked. I ordered everything you have on CD and we've been listening to them ever since. So you can imagine that I was very excited to have the chance to see you perform live. I can't even find words to aptly describe your performance. You were brilliant. You were captivating. You were enchanting. You were entertaining. I was completely impressed that you managed so flawlessly to hold the attention of all the children there regardless of age. Yours was the most professional and enjoyable performance I've seen in a very long time--maybe even ever!"
--Denise Di Stefano

"Prior to your arrival, I remember sharing with teachers that they did not need to worry about their students' behavior or attention spans. I assured them that one of your gifts was to grab an audience and hold it in the palm of your hand. As I noted in our follow-up conversation, the entire audience of four hundred 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders sat spellbound for the (three days) of the performance. Listening to the journey, told through the capable voice of a master storyteller is a wonderful way to entice the students to read and complement the literary experience."
--Dan Schauben-Fuerst
Director of Curriculum

"You performed at my son's school when he was in kindergarten. I remember your soft, gentle voice, as does he and the wonder and magic of the evening. I remember the harp, the voices, the wind, the whispers, and most of all the teacup fairy voice that I told you was pure perfection! I am so glad that every one of us experienced you that evening. The memories are still rich and full. My little kindergartener is a freshman in high school now, and remembers you and the stories. Thank you for still bringing the "little ones" something tender and gentle and pure.
--Susan Gannon

Teaching Artists at Lincoln Center Institute respond to Odds Bodkin's A Pocketful of Wonders in The Clark Theater at Lincoln Center:

Christine: I can remember all the stories by heart, just because all of my senses were being used. It was like I came alive.

Patrick: I was also overwhelmed by the experience.

Rachel: It's really interesting, the idea that your response encompassed the totality of your senses…It was striking how transporting, how transformative his voice could be.

Katie: Well, first I saw three instruments: a Celtic harp and two guitars.

Margaret: Then he walked on stage. He has this dynamic face. As soon as he sat down and started to speak, the audience was immediately engaged.

Katie: His facial expressions, the harp--everything he was doing was magical. You could almost see the fairy dust in the air…
--Teaching Artists at Lincoln Center Institute

"What is inarguable: Odds Bodkin is a fabulous musician. He plays throughout the telling, and his music is wondrous. It's engaging, expressive, mesmerizing. Though the CD continues for a full hour, you'll never tire of hearing him play.

With nothing more than his guitar and voice, he manages to paint a scene more captivating than much of what you see on the big screen. Even if you know the story of King David, he brings you right in and keeps you the entire journey."
--Elizabeth Applebaum
Apple Tree Editor
Detroit Jewish News 2004

After Odds' 30-performance tour in Michigan this past October-November, Bryan Zocher, playwright and Associate Executive at KRESA writes:

"Odds is not simply a storyteller, he is a medium through which audiences create vivid visual images. Odds' voice, sound effects, and musical interludes and exclamation points created multiple layers of meaning and infinite opportunities for imagination through the telling of cultural folktales with seemingly simple plots.

Odds does not pander to his audience or merely entertain. He challenges them to unleash their imagination and stretch their attention spans through twenty-plus minute tales for lower elementary students. Students are so taken by the creative platform that Odds evokes that a child does not even need to watch him to be under his spell. In fact, Odds invites students to go with their own "personal motion picture" rather than sit in rigid attention--eyes straight front, arms at the side. With this invitation and his mastery of story and song, students can be seen swaying to their own inner story and painting pictures in the air as they listen.

Odds' command of his stories and trust in his abilities allows students to interact with the stories in unique and challenging ways. One minute the audience can be stomping up a storm and the next utterly silent simply through Odds' performance of the story's arc. Odds doesn't need to tell his audience when to start and stop their interaction; his audience become co-conspirators and go with the ebb and flow of the plot.

All of the cultural, educational and fiduciary partners that came together to bring Odds to Kalamazoo are beaming. We look forward to having him as our honored guest in the near future."
--Bryan Zocher

A 75-minute Odyssey: Belly of the Beast performance at Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, elicited this article (excerpted) printed in The Vermont Standard, December 9, 2004, written by Harriet Worrell:

"My now adult children saw the storyteller perform here in the early years of our taking up residence in Vermont. They were so enchanted that we bought a pair of tapes of his ancient tales to listen to in the car as we traveled as far away as the Badlands or back to Tejas. Some parts of the stories were so loved they were known by memory. Odds Bodkin struck the imaginations of my children like a lightning bolt flung by one of the gods he tells abut in his Homeric epics.

This week, the master returned. Like the entertainers of old who sat before kings and emperors, Mr. Bodkin was the contemporary personification of all those that have come before him. He poured out his special history of man through the same heroic legends that ages of predecessors had. He sat on a wooden chair, wore a simple black knit shirt and black trousers of soft velour, and his hair, now gray-tipped, was smoothed back so that not a hair would jostle and tempt you to stray away from the story he was telling. He held a 12-string acoustical guitar, and the only trappings of the present were a standing microphone at the mouth of the guitar and one at his own.

He began his remarkable time with us by talking about allowing our imaginations to fill out the story. As he told of the Lotus Eaters and Odysseus being in the belly of the horse and finally about the battle with the great Cyclops--as he strummed, plucked, and punctuated with his fingers flying over the guitar--a seamless story emerged that joined man, passion, great voices, great language, and heroic stories with running stringed sounds. Amazing it was. Exciting. Fiery and tender. From second to second, changing rapidly, he spit out the sounds of waves and wind and the motion of the intruding gods--and we were there.

Student after student that I quizzed about their take on the performance began with the word "Amazing." The next most common comment was about the many voices he created. Vicki Garcia was aware of the contrast of his stories that began with more introspective and personal awareness of the character of Odysseus before moving on to the high action of the Cyclops tale.

Colby Hatt and Kevin Gieske both spoke at length about the work on the guitar. They explained that Bodkin's playing was nothing short of terrific. Kevin knew that singing and playing was a good trick, but talking and playing was another thing entirely different. "Really hard," he described it.

Simon Verkaik liked the voices the storyteller created and the complete commitment to the story that was so intense that his face would turn red. Pat Cushing and K.T. Kirby were aware that Bodkin did all the things an actor needs to do well. Nick Martin had seen Mr. Bodkin perform six years ago and loved it. According to Nick and the look on his face as he spoke, he loved it all over again.

In the cafeteria line, the ladies behind the counter were talking about the performance, and in the faculty room, teachers were talking about it. Students in the hall chatted about one story or the other--they were quite smitten with the wild escape from the cave of the Cyclops. Madame Hawkes, however, spoke about the warrior Odysseus in the belly of the Trojan horse when his thoughts vacillated between the physical tension of being alert to the imminent danger he and his men were in and the emotional tension of imagining his son on a faraway ocean's edge practicing spear hurls into the waves without a father there to help him. Such was the explosive and tender word performance given by Mr. Bodkin.

I was watching not from the audience, but from the stairwell beside the orchestra pit. I could see every breath, the adjustment of his shoulder, the tap of his foot, the twisted mouth or clenched jaw for one voice, the perched mouth and soft lidded eye for the next. With every character and transition in the narrative there were subtle physical adjustments and tempo changes. He flipped in and out of voices, characters, and led us to places we had never been. He spoke of bloody actions, storming horses, wars, monsters, and men with honor and life. His guitar-loving fingers matched facial and body tension as a story soared toward a climax. A beautiful silence would happen while we waited with awe and anticipation for what would come next. Ah yes, a master at work. He held us in the pleasant life of his--and our--imaginations mixing them together with words and sounds and nothing more.

When I think of the millions of dollars spent to create spectacle on the stage and screen, and then I remember Bodkin alone on the stage with his stories and his skill, I wonder at the excess of one and the classical beauty of the other. More is not more. If image is the communication of our day, let it spring from words and the passion of man. Let warm hearts beat beneath it. Let our images stay rooted in language and not grow cold and sterile from losing touch with humanity. Let Odds Bodkin speak forever."
--Harriet Worrell