Burnett celebrates stories of life in one-woman show

Eric Leake

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 8:55 a.m.

Victoria Burnett is a singer and storyteller, and as that she is also a bit of a magician.

With only her voice, Burnett introduces her audience to people long dead and takes them more than a century back in time.

"Stories allow you to teach; they allow you to impart wisdom; they allow you to encourage," said Burnett, who performs her one-woman show Saturday in Henderson. "Storytelling allows me to do that, to touch the heart."

Burnett spoke from her home in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., of the importance of story in her life. She grew up with parents who told family history and Bible lessons as she and her siblings sat and listened.

Burnett became a librarian. One day, while reading to a class, she discovered the stories affected the children more when she put the book down. It was then a short jump from classroom to stage.

Burnett said not enough people take time to tell and listen to stories, away from the television or Internet. She reminds children of the wealth of stories in their parents and grandparents, "How every living person older than they are are like a walking library," she said.

Stories, Burnett continued, give people a sense of identity and are among the best ways for us to understand one another.

"People want to believe in something, they want to feel connected and that they have a part," she said. "Story does that."

By listening to the stories of other people, she said, "You can learn who they are, where they're coming from, and hopefully where they're going."

Saturday, Burnett will tell the personal stories of Buffalo Soldiers, members of the black regiments formed after the Civil War. She said the soldiers' devotion and sacrifice, much of it during the Civil War, is a story that deserves to be told. She will sing songs of the era that the soldiers may have sung on the frontier.

Burnett, who appeared at the Molasky Community School on Thursday night, will also tell the story of "Stagecoach Mary" Fields, a smoking, drinking, fighting character who could have stepped out of a tall tale if she were not real.

"She was amazing. She was 6 foot 2 inches, over 200 pounds, and just a go-getter," Burnett said. "She was the only woman they would allow in the saloon because basically she was a crusty spirit but with a great heart."

Fields, Burnett said, was born a slave and moved to Montana to help at an orphanage for Native American children. She could ride and shoot, and when the town needed somebody to deliver the mail, Fields got the job, an unheard-of feat for a black woman.

Burnett hopes the stories of Fields and the Buffalo Soldiers inspire people.

"I want them to be encouraged and to see that in spite of hardships, you can make it," she said. "That decision has to start in your heart."