Telling Stories

Edie Jarolim told a story about how being a nervous first time dog owner lead her to writing a book for new owners called Am I Boring My Dog. Kim Lowry told about writing and presenting a play about her recovery from a traumatic brain injury.  Jerry Farnsworth was in El Tour de Tucson when he had a heart attack and recovered to tell the story of the insights he had because of the experience.

Silver Linings: The Gratitude Show, stories about things working much better than expected, was the theme at a recent Odyssey Storytelling event.  Seven tellers got up on stage and shared important personal life-changing stories to a very appreciative audience.  Not only did the tellers feel empowered by the experience but the audience was inspired and moved by the stories of loss and triumph.  People were able to identify with the theme, if not the exact circumstances of a story, and offer the teller empathy and understanding.

Diverse themes are chosen for the precise purpose of covering a great range of the human experience.  Sometimes the stories are humorous and sometimes they bring tears to the eye, both are valid ways of expressing a feeling. But the most important element is that people tell their truth as they see it. There’s a real human need to be heard and to be seen exactly as we are with no pretense.  If the audience is a room full of strangers or just one other person, the power of storytelling can transform people’s lives.

I always tell people that public storytelling is not therapy, but it’s therapeutic.

If you want to tell your story on stage, contact me.

I’m on vacation but I have an inspiration for a post so I’m writing this from Berkeley, California.

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.

The circumstances were less than ideal.  The outdoor courtyard where Glenda Bonin was to tell her story at the grand opening of the UA Poetry Center had no mic nor stage.  She gamely climbed on top of a large rock in her long skirt and silver concho belt and mesmerized her audience with a tale of early settlers in the west.

Glenda was introduced to storytelling many years ago when her children where young and she volunteered to tell stories at her local library.  She had learned magic and was working part-time as a clown but didn’t consider it a serious career so she took a “real job”.  After she was downsized and was helping her ill father she had the opportunity to review her life and asked herself the question, “when was I the most happy in my life?”  The answer turned out to be when she was telling stories.

She immersed herself in learning the craft by attending workshops and festivals and read everything she could get her hands on.  She began by offering her services for free in order to get experience and to build a customer base and after two years she felt confident that she was ready to turn pro.  She still will do an occasional benefit for a worthy cause but now she’s able to support herself with her art.

Glenda specializes in stories for kids and families although she loves working with special populations such as college classes, special needs folks and seniors.  In addition to plying her trade in Tucson and Phoenix her work takes her all over the country.  She travels  to rural areas in an RV, sometimes for month long residencies.  She also offers workshops and digital storytelling; visit her website, Story Works Group to learn more.

Some of the stories that Glenda tells are original and some are re-creations of traditional stories with her personal stamp on them.  She puts a lot of time into learning and rehearsing them both with a tape recorder and with her peer group of other storytellers. She’s working on a book collection of the stories that she tells.

Glenda is also deep into a research project that revolves around her grandmother, a fascinating woman named Vera Martin.  She is creating a Chautauqua, a performance where one takes on the persona of another person and tells the story from their point of view. Some of you might remember Hal Holbrook becoming Mark Twain on stage, that’s a Chautauqua.

When I asked her the hardest part of the life of a professional storyteller she answered, “not making enough to put money into savings,” a common dilemma of creative self-employed people who are practicing their art.