The final class of the three-week Art and Craft of Storytelling for Writers at Casa Libre included a fabulous mini-performance. Each student created, prepared and rehearsed a 7 to 10 minute story. They had rehearsal time in class and time on their own to practice their stories alone or with someone else.

There are many ways to work out a story and one way is to hear yourself say the story over and over. Not only do the concepts sort themselves out with repetition but the rhythms become apparent. I have a few ways I do this and most of them are (or can be) embarrassing.

When I was telling a story at Porchlight in San Francisco I took a long walk around the Berkeley neighborhood where I was staying, saying the story aloud quietly to myself. The slower I walked, the slower the words came; as I picked up the pace with my feet, my breath and speech got faster. After about a half hour I came out of my reverie to realize that I’d been emulating a crazy old lady wandering the streets rather aimlessly, muttering to myself. I was glad that I didn’t know any of the people I marched past sitting on their porches wondering about my sanity.

I told this to one of my students and she suggested that if I held a phone to my ear I’d look like everyone else who carries on one-way conversations in public. Brilliant!

Another way I like to practice is while I’m driving. I recite the story when I’m alone in the car; the passing scenery seems to be conducive to the flow of the story. Of course, I’m alert to the traffic around me. Maybe the combination of being aware of my surroundings and being in the story are similar to being on stage and being sensitive to the nuances of the audience. Again, passing motorists might think that I’m talking to myself (which I really am!) but I like to imagine that they think I’m singing along to old rock and roll music.

How do you practice your stories?

The back room of the Hemlock Tavern has a small stage, lights and a few mics, all you really need.  As people came in they could sign up to tell a five-minute personal story.  Out of approximately 60 people attending, 10 volunteered to get on stage and tell on the theme “The Old Me”.

Hosts Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick chose a random audience member to be the judge and the parade of stories began.

They’ve only been using this format for a few months and the audience is growing.  Open Door on the last Monday of the month is an addition to the regularly curated Porchlight shows on the third Monday of the month at the historic Verdi Club.

P.S.  I didn’t win the fifty bucks.

Arline Klatte & Beth Lisick

Seven years ago Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte invited six people from different backgrounds to tell ten-minute true stories at a San Francisco club.  Porchlight Storytelling was successful from the start, attracting a diverse Bay Area audience and storytellers from hipsters to dotcom execs.  I went to a show about 6 years ago and loved it so much that I imported the model to Tucson.

Writer/performer Beth (disclaimer, she’s my daughter-in-law) told me about the beginnings of Porchlight.  She was invited to tell a story at The Moth, the New York City storytelling event that came to San Francisco for a show, and a club owner suggested that she start a storytelling event in San Francisco.  Since she was involved in the poetry slam community where it was common to start new events, she decided to just do it.

Beth and Arline are easygoing hosts at this popular monthly event that attracts hundreds of people.  They’re a good team because they have different connections so they can feature a diverse group of storytellers.

Although it’s difficult to get everyone together for a rehearsal, Beth says it makes a better and more cohesive show when all the storytellers can hear each other’s story and get and give feedback.

Mostly the stories are well received but they did have an unpleasant surprise once when a volunteer from the audience told an unrehearsed story that turned out to be racist.  When Arline and Beth returned to the stage they weren’t sure how to handle it so they announced that they don’t agree with the views and opinion of all the storytellers.

After six years of running the event on their own, Porchlight was picked up for sponsorship by Friends of the San Francisco Library.  Beth and Arline are branching out into teaching and will be presenting a four-week workshops at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco.

Beth, besides being a published author, is half of the comedy duo Groomed for Success with Tara Jepsen, and she’s working on another book.