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Go Outside and Drive (The Vestal Version)
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Ken Corsbie ... is ... “Caribbean Voices”
He grew up in Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana on South America’s Caribbean coast. Himself a product of Chinese, African, Welsh, Scottish, and South American Indian descent, he describes Guyana as “very multicultural, multiethnic, multiclass. Everybody lives close together.” In this environment, he absorbed the eclectic humor, experiences and natural storytelling that are important parts of everyday life.
As a teenager, Ken spent most of his spare time playing with others in the “next door yard.” A creative group, they took part in musical competitions, formed their own steel band, started a theater group, played cricket, trained as athletes and even learned ballet. After seeing the Harlem Globetrotters movie, GO MAN GO, in the 1950s, they introduced basketball to the country where it is now the third most played sport — and Ken, drawing on these multiple cultural experiences, is now a storyteller, dramatist, stand-up comedian, poetry performer, and workshop director.
Ken’s arts background includes
- 15 years in the vibrant amateur Guyana theatre
- 3-year course at a drama school and the BBC TV in England
- 4 years as an announcer/producer with the Guyana radio station
- 2 years working in the islands with the then fledgling Caribbean Broadcasting Union
- 2 years in Barbados as the regional coordinator for the Theatre Information Exchange, an association of dramatists throughout the islands
- Directed and designed theatre in several of the islands, and was on-camera narrator for a 13-part documentary television series on the arts and cultures of the Caribbean
- 9 awards for his contributions to Caribbean arts and culture
Mr. Corsbie remarried in 1994 and “reallocated” to Long Island in 1996. From his home base in Sound Beach, he has produced four CDs of both original and traditional stories and poetry, and now performs as storyteller, stand-up comedian, workshop leader, and poetry performer throughout North America and the Caribbean. His exclusive Caribbean repertoire includes folk and literary tales, his own stories relating to his life in the islands and the new American immigration experience, and the “performable oral/aural poetry” of the islands.
He is currently a popular performer at university/college student associations, after dinner presentations, family and Caribbean school reunions, Tellabrations, cultural concerts and festivals. He is a regularly featured artist at the monthly storytelling evenings in the popular Cornelia Street Café in Manhattan.
For more information on Ken Corsbie, please visit www.kencorsbie.com.