Cajun Storyteller

Patin’s punkins, Elmo and the Poulet Garou live in Tobias E. Taba’s imagination, but he’s
always happy to invite you in for a visit!
Taba has been a storyteller ever since he learned that his mouth could not only get him into trouble but get
him out of it as well.
A native of Acadia Parish in South Louisiana, Taba tells his stories not only with a Cajun accent but seasons
them with healthy helpings of Cajun culture, folklore and legends.
Tobias E. Taba III (aka Tom Coleman) hails from near Mowata, La. in Acadia Parish. Actually, he’s from Rork, or as he likes to say “across the highway in New Rork.”
Coleman grew up in his granny’s farmhouse listening to his uncles’ tales about the strange happenings in the nearby woods. And, of course, he had no trouble relating those same stories with embellishments as he saw fit.
In 1990, Tom responded to an open casting call for storytellers at A.R.T. Station, an arts organization in Stone Mountain, Ga. The call was for Southern storytellers, and he figured it’s harder to go further South than South Louisiana. Coleman became the Old Cajun Storyteller at A.R.T. Station’s Tour of Southern Ghosts in The Plantation at Stone Mountain Park.
He was part of the Tour’s regular tellers for 10 years and still returns as often as possible. He was recently part of the 30th anniversary celebration of the Tour.
Tom was invited to the Atlanta Storytelling Festival, the Middle Georgia Storytelling Festival in Cochran, Ga., and was a teller at Caldwell Gardens, the Atlanta History Center and the Sandy Springs Historical Society among others. He has been a member of the Southern Order of Storytellers Guild, the Ocali Storytelling Guild in Ocala, Fla. and is currently a member of the Bayouland Storytellers Guild of Southwest Louisiana.
Taba has returned to his roots in Lafayette, Louisiana because he wanted to be among people who speak without accents.
He is available for festivals, business meetings or family campfires where an inspirational story can fire up the campers or a ghost story can send chills through your salespeople. It’s good to mix things up!
Don’t get him started unless you have beaucoup time to kill to enjoy a master weaver spin yarns.

Solo storyteller
Duration: from 5 minutes to 2 hours at venue's request
Subject matter from youth to adult.
Themes can be developed for specific performances
Voice amplification depending on crowd size
English spoken with a bit of Cajun patois
(link hidden)