I like Here’s the Story in the wintertime. Seems like it’s right at home in the season when people all over the world have always gathered near to share food and stories and warmth. Storytelling is interesting to me because it is at once something that comes naturally to all of us, and something that can be practiced and honed and artfully done. I also respect its traditional use as a teaching tool. Long before the printed word, storytelling was the primary transmitter of human history and memory.
In many native traditions, like the SiSi Wiss medicine way shared by most northwestern tribes in the US, storytelling is also how wisdom has been passed through generations. In that culture like many traditional cultures, hard-won knowledge about loving, and healing, and raising happy kids, and facing fear and overcoming conflict and achieving personal purpose, has been passed along through telling stories. In the SiSi Wiss tradition, there are some teaching stories that are more than 4,000 years old, and that last anywhere from hours to 3, 6 and 9 days long. In sharing ceremonies, people travel from far away to be together for big potlach feasts (where the modern potluck comes from) to be with friends and celebrate their time together and laugh and listen.
I share a little bit about that just to reflect on the fact that all of us who are enjoying storytelling in Chicago now are participating a beautiful and noble practice that has its roots in ancient and global history. Even our personal stories, when they are chosen and shared with generosity and a true desire to tell them, constitute evenings of personal truth that are moving, funny, illuminating and inspiring.
Here are some of the excellent folks who will be telling with us on March 3rd. And as always, there will be 5 unpredictable others who will be gracing our stage as well. We hope one of them will be you!
Ian Belknap is Founder and Overlord of WRITE CLUB, the philanthropic competitive reading series that is now in six North American cities. WRITE CLUB Chicago has monthly shows at the Hideout on the 3rd Tue of the month, and at SPACE in Evanston on the 1st Mon of the month.
Paulette McDaniels has more than 25 years of experience in the arts. She is the author of A Deathly Silence commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services for World AIDS Day. Ms. McDaniels has served as a community organizer in the Middle East, Europe and America. The grandmother of two, she studied at Northwestern University and Yorkshire College in the UK. She is co-author of Achmed’s Return: Legend of the Lost City, and is currently working on a Christian comedy, 10 Plagues.
River Rising is comprised of Megan Deiger and Tim Hazen, whose voices tightly weave country and folk music over a backbone of bluesy sensibility. Lyrically, they capture heartache, waywardness, and emotional strength with a soulful quality reminiscent of a spiritual. Simple orchestration of accompaniment is welcome, allowing words, melodies, and often ethereal harmonies to take the lead on each song.” River Rising performs regularly in Chicago at such venues as Uncommon Ground, Quenchers, and Redline Tap.You can hear more at www.reverbnation.com/riverrising.
Audrey Flegel is an actress and teacher. She has performed with numerous theatres in and around Chicago and New York. She is a regular performer with The Back Room Shakespeare Project (backroomshakespeare.com) and the sketch comedy group, Vampeero (vampeero.com.) Audrey is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, the Second City Training Center’s Improv and Music Improv Conservatories, and the School at Steppenwolf. You can see her this summer working with the Strange Tree Group in The Half Brothers Mendelsshon.
Join us on March 3rd for stories from all these lovely humans and more!
Stage 773
1225 W. Belmont
7:30 potluck
8:00 show
$8 or FREE with a dish for the potluck
Facebook invite
