: storytelling = collaborative art :
When 100 people listen to a storyteller,
101 unique works of art happen simultaneously.
Despite the stillness in the room, live storytelling creates full-on audience participation.
It's pulling magic from thin air.
Some audience reactions that have made my day:
“I feel as though I’ve just come from an afternoon at theater."
That’s from a woman who lived in a retirement community. She was no longer able to catch the bus downtown to the theater district, nor was she able anymore to afford tickets. This storytelling concert took place just down the hall from where she lived.
“I like the way you made you feel like you were really there."
Fourth grade boy.
“The program was wonderful… light, heavy, humorous, …surprising, fulfilling, deeply affecting.”
A surprised linguistics professor.
"You made me happy in my brain!"
Amber Lyn, 3rd grade.
What other performance art provides such inexpensively produced, easily planned, inclusive experiences? (Not to mention, there's no mess to clean up when it's over.)