Jay O’Callahan (b. 1938 USA) is an award-winning storyteller who creates stories based on real experience for all ages. Over the years, O'Callahan produced dozens of recordings including The Little Dragon, a story about how a small dragon saved the world and Raspberries, a story of magical berries. He is the author of three books for children– Tulips, Orange Cheeks and Herman and Maguerite: An Earth Story and The Spirit of the Great Auk, a story adapted from the real life adventure of Dick Wheeler who traveled alone in a kayak 1500 miles from Newfoundland to the tip of Cape Cod. Amongst his best-loved original stories for adults is Pill Hill Stories: Coming Home to Someplace New based on the area where he grew up; a place named in the turn-of-the-century for the assortment of doctors in the area. His most recent work, Forged in the Stars, is a story that was commissioned by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for their fiftieth anniversary. O’Callahan immersed himself in the task by spending a year and a half studying astronomy and traveling the country, interviewing current and retired NASA astronauts, engineers and other employees.

Jay O’Callahan has performed at Lincoln Center, at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and other theatres around the world, at the Olympics, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His work appears regularly on National Public Radio. O’Callahan graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and did one tour with the Navy in the Pacific. He travels extensively and when he isn’t on the road, leads workshops on storytelling and writing. O’Callahan currently resides in Marshfield, MA.

Jay O’Callahan spent the month of January doing research in the collection and archives, taking in the architecture and the light in the museum, and writing. Of his experience at the Gardner Jay noted: “The Museum is a marvelous frame that captures the drama of space, character and time. It invites drama - moonlight, sunlight, shadow, sky, sound, smell, and an endless stream of characters. Visitors; these visitors moving between frames, the frames containing paintings, Venetian windows, courtyards and walls.” During his residency, O’Callahan explored the differences that lie between the spoken and the written story. He returned a year later to perform Pill Hill Stores, a work he began while in residency, drawing parallels between the museum itself as a frame, and how framing affects the portrayal of character in a story. You can read more excerpts about O’Callahan’s time at the museum on his online journal.