The Phoenix Fringe Festival mission statement says PHX:fringe “presents innovative, experimental and provocative theatre by local, national and international artists. PHX:fringe seeks to develop a cutting edge, urban audience by offering an edgy assortment of performance choices in non-traditional downtown spaces. PHX:fringe promotes artistic exploration by supporting the risky, adventurous work of established and emerging artists while also providing accessible, affordable performances to the community.”

PHX:fringe is a nonprofit founded in early 2008 by Phoenix theatre artists and producers. April 2 – 11, 2010 will be their third year of bringing alternative performances to the Valley of the Sun.

All shows are in various venues seating 40 – 125, within walking distance from each other, in downtown Phoenix.  Each show lasts from 30 to 60 minutes. Last year attendence was about 2000 and they hope to build on that this year.

PHX:fringe is now accepting applications for all performance types;  dance, mime, youth theatre, spoken word, etc., are all welcome to apply.  They hope to include international performers in addition to hometown talent.  The application fee is $35 and some scholarships and grants are available.  You can contact info@phxfringe.com with questions.  They are also on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. All you fringe types plan ahead – let’s get some southern Arizona representation!

A little Fringe history:  The oldest and largest fringe theatre festival is in Edinburgh, Scotland, begun in 1947 and today sells over a million tickets. If you Google Fringe festivals you will come up with many stateside and international entries.

At Suite 101.com I read about the Winnipeg festival:

The idea behind fringe festivals has always been to provide a venue for alternative and amateur performances, without artistic constraints from committees or societies. Anyone can apply to perform, and participants include professional actors, amateurs, and everything in between. Classics such as Shakespeare or Ibsen can be part of the festival, as well as children’s plays, juggling acts, comedy, and more. The quality of performances can vary considerably, but each one has its own special character.

The format of fringe festivals is unique. In the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, participants are chosen by a non-juried lottery to stimulate innovation among performers. Ticket prices are substantially lower than at traditional performances, allowing audiences to take in a variety of shows, with some free entertainment available at a central location.

StoryCorps is encouraging everyone to set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you for the National Day of Listening. On November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, choose an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood and listen to their story.

This is how it works:  you can preserve the interview using recording equipment readily available in most homes, such as cell phones, tape recorders, computers, or even pen and paper. StoryCorps has a free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide on their website.  It’s easy to use and will prepare you and your interview partner to record a memorable conversation, no matter which recording method you choose.

StoryCorps wants to establish this as a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. The stories collected will become treasured keepsakes that grow more valuable with each passing generation.

If you don’t know about StoryCorps, check them out.  Founded in 2003, StoryCorps is a non-profit oral history project  which has recorded conversations between 50,000 everyday Americans and archived them at the Library of Congress. Their mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.  You can sign up for their free podcasts and an original personal story will be delivered to you inbox every week. Or you can hear the stories on National Public Radio.

StoryCorps is based in New York City with a branch in San Francisco but they occasionally travel around the country with a mobile recording studio housed in an airstream trailer.  I was lucky enough to tell a story when they were parked at the downtown library last year and it was an amazing experience.

Storytelling is the “mother” of all communications. Every art form relies on Story to convey meaning. Despite this truth, many communicators only approach storytelling as an adjunct to their speaking and presenting. For this quick article, Sean Buvala is speaking about oral storytelling, not digital storytelling that does not rely or build on a presenter’s public speaking skills. He suggests that mastering oral or traditional storytelling should be at the top of every speaker’s list of priorities.

Here are three foundational reasons that storytelling helps you improve your presentations skills:

1.   Storytelling teaches you to think on your feet. When you learn to be a good storyteller, telling stories to all sizes of audiences from 2 or 2000 people, you must learn to adjust your energy and pace to match the audience reaction. “Reading” or understanding the mood, energy and desires of your audience is a good communication skill at all levels.

2.   Storytelling teaches you to be spontaneous. While you are learning to tell a story, you focus on thinking about your story in an outline form, or episode-by-episode. Good storytellers do not memorize their stories word-for-word and do not use notes or other ways of reading their stories. No matter how you are communicating, it is never a good idea to deliver a canned, memorized speech to anyone. As a storyteller, you learn to rely on your ability to “see” a story as it happens, letting different parts of the story take precedence at different times. You will never tell a story the same way twice just as you should never speak to an audience like any audience before it.

3.   Storytelling helps you to think about the deeper meanings of your content. Almost all stories carry some type of moral or ethical message and understanding. As you adapt personal and world stories to your presentations, you will start thinking deeper about the meaning of your communications. Of course, you may or may not act on those meanings, but you will generally find your presentations more satisfying as you understand their impact on your listeners.

All cultures use storytelling.  Storytelling is a universal language and a core-skill for all presenters.  My best public-speaking tip: seek out learning and coaching in the art of storytelling and work stories into all your presentations.

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Thanks to Sean Buvala,  professional storyteller, the director of Storyteller.net and a nationally recognized storytelling consultant for permission to use this article. Please see his website to learn more about his storytelling techniques for corporate training. You can learn how to tell a story through his Ebook at at www.storytelling101.com