My name is Vicki Chaney, and back in the days when they were still carving theatre programs on the side of cave walls, I toured for the Missoula Children’s Theatre (1993-1995) with The Pied Piper and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and can still sing every word of “The Bat Song”. (I loved playing that Evil Queen. I was usually much shorter than most of the Dwarfs. This never failed to amuse the cast).
This love of storytelling and working with young people would take me on a lifelong journey. I taught drama and directed theatre for 14 years in Bellingham, WA at Sehome High School. My husband Ross, who is also a teacher, and I enjoyed the Pacific Northwest, but we craved international travel. We were the parents of twins who at the time were 6 years old when we were offered a job teaching for Saudi Aramco, in Ras Tanura Middle School in Saudi Arabia. For 9 years we taught the children of expats. My classrooms were bustling with kids from more than 85 countries. Living and working in an international community like that was one of my greatest joys. My Drama classes turned into storytelling classes. Students loved seeing themselves and their story in their education. While living abroad we traveled with family to multiple countries, absorbing music, art, and theatre practices wherever we went. The more we traveled the more I felt like a sponge, absorbing the stories, art, and music from so many amazing corners of the earth. Storytelling became my passion.
As the years passed, my commitment to this work grew. As a teaching artist, I strive to make space for every story, so that we can change, from the inside, the narrative that students carry with them when they go outside. As an artist in the performing arts, my work is driven by the mission of holding space for the stories of others. I hold the belief that the only hopes we have exist not by what is possible but rather by what is imagined.
As a storyteller, I believe that no story lives unless someone wants to listen. The world will not heal on its own. It will do so in the power of telling and retelling our stories. Several months ago, I was offered a job as host of The Pea Green Boat and Children’s Programmer for Montana Public Radio. I was excited and humbled to accept this position for one of the longest running radio shows in the country. We returned to Missoula, embracing the next part of the journey. I always tell my students: Your story + My story = OUR story. Stories bring us together. They build bridges. So honored and happy to be in this work!