It has been a whirlwind of storytelling excitement over the past couple weeks.
It began two weeks ago when I had the opportunity to perform at the Nashville Brain Injury Association’s annual conference. I feel this was a big step in my work with the piece Who Am I Again?, a chance to speak to fellow brain injury survivors. Heather (my girlfriend) and I had a splendid time, met dozens of wonderful people and heard just as many moving stories. A quick stop in the home of country music, but very nice.
And then to Washington DC where we spent some time with Heather’s father and got to traverse the city a bit, making new friends and seeing sites and taking a yacht to watch a St. Patti’s day parade. i also gained a new appreciation for GPS systems - the streets are all macrame-ed together with such a high traffic load that, unless you know the city, it seems like it must be next to impossible to traverse it without becoming endlessly lost, needing new directions every five minutes. Fortunately, Heather has GPS, and although we missed our turn several times, we would hear the electronic voice state “recalculating” and we would soon be on the right path again. I certainly hope to visit again, but only if we can still use GPS.
From there it was off to New Jersey where I had the pleasure of performing at the HW Mountz School in Springlake, right on the shoreline. It was a long day, but I shared stories with grades preK-8, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Special thanks to Linda and Chris Krebs for being such generous hosts while Heather and I made a visit. The time was beautiful.
And, after the performance, we could not be so close to THE CITY (New York) with out making a visit. What’s more, a friend was performing a critically acclaimed version of “Our Town” Off Broadway, and another close friend just happened to also be visiting the city, so all the stars aligned and we all saw the show and got to visit afterwords, and it was just nice. I even was called on to try out a new piece, and I believe it was well received. (There were no chairs, so I sat on a stool, and the actress who played Mrs. Gibbs asked me to tell a story, and I quickly accepted).
The next day allowed us a tour of the NY NPR studio. It’s a brand new studio, and Heather’s aunt and uncle are friends with one of the radio anchors, and he gave us a tour, very exciting and exclusive. Apparently he also sent word out that a storyteller was coming to visit, and several people at the studio inquired about what I do, and as I explained, I think their interest grew. It was exciting. New York and New Jersey are two places I would love to continue to perform at.
Of course, while in the city, I had to check out one of the MOTH storytelling events, and they did have an open mic event that I was able to attend. I even prepared a brand new story for it (titled Rules for Dancing), but my name wasn’t called, and I was bummed out by that. But I did get to see the scene and it is hip. Far younger than the traditional storytelling scene, I thought it was great to learn that the love of story was still so publicly embraced. The event was Packed, a line waiting to get in that stretched around the block. The event was certainly sold out, and Heather and I were lucky to get in. All the tales were short (5-6 minutes), and were told by a variety of tellers, with various degrees of talent (no one was terrible, but some tellers were certainly better than other tellers). The subject material also had the freedom to be much more risque. The event was judged and the winner told a story about her rebellion from her Mormon roots by seeking out a one night stand. All the tales told were funny, but I was informed that at times the stories at these events can be deeply moving. Each time there is an open mic, there is a theme that is supposed to be followed, and I’ve decided to create a story for every theme mentioned on the site. I don’t know how many events I will be able to attend, but I want to use the work as an exercise to keep my new material flowing. I also hope to attend several more of these events, and this way I can have several stories ready in case I decide to attend any MOTH event at the last minute. If you’re interested in seeing how storytelling can be brought to young adults, definitely check out any MOTH events you can. I’m not saying they’re better than any of the traditional storytelling scene, but they certainly have an exciting new energy.
That is only the very brief bit of what happened over these past two weeks. It was a lot. It was fun. It was tiring. And I’m glad to be home…so I can do it all again one day soon.
