Jill Johnson, local performance artist and storyteller, has recently been invited to be a Pacific Northwest Showcase Teller at the Bay Area Storytelling Festival near San Francisco.

“I was stunned when I got the invitation, because I hadn’t even auditioned,” Johnson said.

The festival will be held at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, Calif. from May 17 to 20.

“It’s one of the oldest storytelling festivals on the West Coast — now in its 26th year,” she added.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

Johnson will be appearing onstage with four nationally known storytellers and several other regional tellers as well, including Gene Tagaban, a Native American teller who is well known to Whidbey Islanders for his amazing performance of the Raven Dance at the Coupeville Water Festival. Tagaban has gained a national reputation as a dancer and storyteller.

“It will be such fun to appear onstage with him,” Johnson said.

Local audiences may recognize Johnson for her appearances as a storyteller around the island and as an actress at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts and Whidbey Children’s Theater in Langley. She recently appeared in “Quilters” and “Little Women” at WCT and will premiere her second one woman show, “Rebecca — the story of Rebecca Ebey,” at WICA later this month.

She has performed at theaters, libraries, museums and schools throughout Puget Sound, in other states and internationally.