Pat Mendoza, an internationally acclaimed storyteller, who has just returned from the Fiji Islands, is also an author, singer, composer, humorist, and musician, was nominated by United States Congressman Mark Udall to represent his home state of Colorado at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for the 2000 Millennium Celebration. Mendoza has appeared throughout the United States and Canada, as well as the British Isles since 1976.
Prior to his performing career, Mendoza was a police officer and martial arts instructor (he holds black belts in Kung fu and Tae kwondo) for seven and a half years (including a year and a half as a homicide investigator). He was a member of two state champion swimming teams, is still an avid weightlifter, martial artist and is a PADI certified open water diver.
Pat's career as a storyteller and songsmith has been unique, in that he has carefully researched and visited all of the places from which he has crafted his tales. He has lived and worked with indigenous peoples in three cultures, in three countries and was formally adopted by the Cheyenne and honored by Lakota people because of his storytelling.
In 1999, Pat received a standing ovation as a Featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He was also featured at the 1998 Yukon International Storytelling Festival in White Horse, Yukon Territory, Canada, Juneau, Alaska, as well as in Port Angeles, Washington, Eugene, Oregon, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and in Denver, Colorado. His work has been heard on National Public Radio, nationally on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the British Broadcasting Corp. While performing in England and Scotland, in 1998, he was the featured artist on the BBC for an entire week. His repertoire of original musical productions, songs and stories has earned him an audience comprised of all age groups. Since 1976, Pat has performed well over 15,000 shows. His audiences have been those in performing arts theaters, schools, colleges, universities, juvenile detention centers and prisons. He has been seen and heard by millions of people.
Books Written
Pat’s first nonfiction, storytelling book, Song of Sorrow: Massacre at Sand Creek © 1993 by Willow Wind Publishing Company is required reading in history and anthropology classes at junior/senior high schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States. The book is also under option for a screen play adaptation with a Hollywood producer.
His second book, Four Great Rivers To Cross ©1998, was awarded the 1999 Honor Titles for "Special Storytelling Resources" by Storytelling World Magazine at the 1999 Convention of the International Reading Association, San Diego, California, and his third book, Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Times ©1999 are both published by Libraries Unlimited was recently awarded the 2000 Honor Title for "Special Storytelling Resource" by Storytelling World Magazine.
His fourth book, Between Midnight and Morning, a collection of Frontier, Native American and Hispanic ghost stories, has just been published by August House Publishers, Inc. That book too was awarded the 2000 honor title for "Best Anthology" by Storytelling World Magazine.
Pat’s first horror novel, The Light-- a Tale of the Supernatural, is looking for a publisher.
Pat has recently completed A Place of Angels a biography of Dr. Victor Westphall, the founder of the Vietnam Veteran's National Memorial at Angel Fire, New Mexico.It will be published by Hawk Publishing Company and released within a year.
Pat is a contributing author of the upcoming Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul became available in July 2002.
Plays and Musicals
His folk opera, "Song of the Plains," based on his first book, premiered November, 1993 at The Arvada Center for the Performing Arts to standing ovations in Arvada, Colorado, as well as in Longmont, Colorado and in Casper, Wyoming. This opera helped Pat to win the Colorado Visions (COVisions) grant in 1992 for outstanding accomplishments among Colorado artists, who promote geographic and cultural diversity in the state. His knowledge of Native American history, language, religion and music, comes first hand as he has lived and worked with the Cheyenne and Lakota people for approximately 15 years.
His musical storytelling production, "Both Sides Now: The War at Home and the War in Vietnam," received standing ovations at The Arvada Center for the Performing Arts in May, 1990. This production was produced by the students of Union High School, Union, South Carolina, and was awarded the prestigious Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, August, 1992. His original musical compositions have been performed by the Colorado Chorale and choreographed into ballet by the The Robert Ivey Ballet Company of Charleston, South Carolina and the David Taylor Dance Theatre of Littleton, Colorado.
Artist in Residence
Pat has been an approved artist for residencies with the Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming Arts Councils. His photography show with accompanying poems was exhibited at the Lamar Community College Art Museum, Lamar, Colorado, the Carroll Reese Museum at East Tennessee State University, at the Sheridan County Fulmer Library in Sheridan, Wyoming, and at the University of Wyoming Art Gallery, Laramie Wyoming. Pat has recorded two record albums, eight audio cassettes and three CD’s.
Special Projects
His music and his voice-overs have been heard on the ""Rocky Mountain Legacy" series on KRMA, PBS Channel 6, Denver, and he was a chief consultant for their "Tears in the Sand" program. He will be consultant to PBS Channel 6 for future history series.
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