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Jun 26 2013
Lit Fest Memories
On the weekend of June 8 and June 9, 2013, Printer’s Row Lit Fest was held on a block of Dearborn where printing and publishing houses were located. In previous years, I have only ever attended Lit Fest as a casual observer of the beautifully bound vintage books, the old movie posters, the speakers, panels, and cooking demonstrations. This year, working with Here’s the Story, I helped man the table where we sold t-shirts, talked about our organization, and my gumball machine poem dispenser made its debut.
My overall experience of Printer’s Row Lit Fest was a warm one. In addition to the heat pounding on the tops of our heads, we were met by the warm words of countless people who stopped by at the Here’s the Story table. Setting up a gumball machine dispensing poems printed on brightly colored paper meant that people stopped to buy poems, take pictures, or talk to the poet and the organization that supported her.
With the exception of one vocal person.
“No, those aren’t candy, those are poems, you don’t want those,” a man said as he tugged on the hand of his son who was maybe eight years old tops.
I don’t know if he knew that I had heard him, but my outward reaction was a theatrical one for the benefit of the group that had stopped to buy poems.
“Ouch,” I said, clutching at my heart as if I had been mortally wounded by the unintentionally barbed words. “Happy Lit Fest!”
Permanent link to this article: https://storyluck.org/lit-fest-memories/
May 15 2013
Auditions for A Month Of . . .
Our not-for-profit organization will be building a new monthly show called A Month Of . . .
We want to shake things up a bit by encouraging tellers to live story. Spring-boarding from that idea, A Month Of . . . is a task-based show. The audience will vote on the theme for the upcoming month, and attached to that theme will be a task which our hosts will complete during the course of the month. The hosts will post evidence of their accomplishment on our website via photo, blog post, vlog, short story, or personal essay. Website visitors/audience members will vote on which host-completed task is the most epic!
Right now we’re looking for at least five dynamic and adventurous people with strong storytelling ability to be hosts for the show. (Confidence with improv is a huge plus!) Hosts must be comfortable on stage moderating the monthly show and also bold enough to complete tasks of varying ridiculousness in public and brag about their deeds online.
The initial time commitment is through December 2013. In addition to the monthly show, there will be one mandatory rehearsal each month where we help each other complete the tasks. The show will take place the second Wednesday of the month from 7:30 PM to 10 PM. All tasks will be complete-able within the time frame of the rehearsal, but we encourage extended hardcore approaches as well.
Auditions will take place on Friday, June 7th, 2013 at Here’s the Story Headquarters in Rogers Park.
If you’re interested in auditioning, please creatively complete this example task for the audition:
Dinner Stories – Sit with a stranger for lunch.
Complete this task prior to audition day. Then please e-mail CV/resume, evidence of completion, and availability to: Contact@heresthestory.org. Accepted evidence of completion: photo, blog post, vlog, short story, or personal essay, etc. If you have any questions, just let us know via email!
Edit by Dan
We’ve gotten some great responses, and we’ve gotten some great questions.
If you can’t make it out Friday June 7th, we will hold an audition for you by appointment.
If you’re shy, you should still sign up, this show is particularly for shy people. You will not have to perform at the shows, we are hoping to have thoughtful and contemplative taskers as well as some of the boisterous type. This show will be a team effort through and through. You’ll be able to build it in the direction you want to take it.
Finally some people have asked for ideas on what they could do. While we are looking for imagination, we also know that the greatest imaginations out there feed off of other people’s ideas. Here are some ideas we’ve thought of.
Sit with a good friend for lunch and pretend they are a stranger.
Bring twenty friends with you to sit with a stranger for lunch.
Make the stranger imaginary.
Go to a fancy restaurant and try to sneak in on a couple’s table.
As to how you document it, that’s completely up to you. We’ve already seen some cool ideas come in. Audio, video, photo, written, and one person asked if they could bring in a signed menu.
If the question is, can I do..? The answer is yes.
Permanent link to this article: https://storyluck.org/auditions-for-a-month-of/
May 15 2013
April 7th Podcast!
Miss the April 7th show? Want to relive all its glory? Mosey on down and listen to the podcast!
Click for a list of all our podcasts.
Permanent link to this article: https://storyluck.org/april-7th-podcast-2/
May 13 2013
Stoop-Style Stories
When Dan Boyd suggested that I meet him at Stoop-Style Stories, I said, “Sure, I’ll be there!” It was about ten minutes later when my worry started to kick in:
“I don’t know where this place is, how will I get there? What if I’m not cool enough? Or what if it’s super awkward to go up to strangers and ask if they’re Dan Boyd? It’ll be dark. I could get struck by lightning. Or kidnapped by goblins.”
To at least muffle the voice of my worries, I brought a friend. Goblin crisis averted.
Before Stoop-Style Stories, I had never been to a storytelling show, so I had no idea what to expect when I waltzed into Rosa’s Lounge. What I did find, as the evening progressed, is something that regular storytelling audience members will take as a matter of fact: this is a ritual.
Permanent link to this article: https://storyluck.org/stoop-style-stories/
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