News and Events
Passing of Rita Grimaldi
2020-04-02
Passing of Rita Grimaldi
Sadly, Peterborough Storyteller Rita Grimaldi passed away unexpectedly on March 28th, 2020.
Colleague Don Harold writes a memorial piece about RITA’S MASTERY OF THE ART OF STORYTELLING WITH MASK:
Rita Grimaldi, my friend and storytelling mentor, died unexpectedly on the evening of March 28th, 2020.
When I first approached Rita to write about her storytelling experiences with masks, she declined. She said she was a very private individual and did not wish to share snippets of her personal life or thoughts. She said she could sometimes be awkward and clumsy with her written words, so anything she’d write would perhaps not adequately convey the power of her masks to connect with audiences. Finally, Rita said she was skeptical about whether anyone would be interested in what she had to say about this unique genre of storytelling.
Several months passed. I persisted, but Rita remained firm.
Finally, I offered to read her first drafts, suggest edits, ask questions about her ideas. I said we’d ‘fancy it up’ with photographs and better formatting. Rita said she’d write a couple of articles and see how it went.
Her early posts were very well received by an international readership. Rita was delighted. So she wrote a couple more. And then, a whole lot more.
In telling you about Rita – the artist and the woman – I’ve decided to use her own words as they appear in her blog posts, to reveal a very special person, an accomplished storyteller, and ultimate master of the challenging art of mask performance.
To read about Rita's work and updates about her memorial, visit Peterborough Storytellers blog