March 2009
Title: First Person StorySlam: On My Street
Location: At L\’Etage, 6th and Bainbridge
Description: Doors open at 7:30
Slam starts at 8:30.
$8 at the door. 21+
Start Time: 7:30
Date: 2009-03-24
Two storytellers at the March 3rd StorySlam turned out to have Hidden Talents in the form of martial arts. Below, you can hear them duke it out over whose black belt is a higher degree. And afterwards, you should join us–and our friends at the Free Library–this evening at the Convention Center for another celebration of Hidden Talents, the closing party for One Book, One Philadelphia:
When: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:30PM
Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 114, 1101 Arch Street, 215-418-4726
Cost: FREE
The next StorySlam is next week!
“On My Street”
Date: March 24th
Time: 8:30pm-10:30pm (Doors at 7:30)
Host: Victor Fiorillo
Location: L’Etage (6th and Bainbridge)
Cost:$8
If you’re looking for a fun little food adventure right here in Philadelphia, look no further than our Edible World: Port Richmond food tour with Inquirer food writer Rick Nichols. On Saturday March 28th, Nichols will lead a walking tour through the traditional Polish neighborhood clustered around Richmond and Allegheny Ave. Stops will include New Wave Cafe, Syrenka Lunch Counter, Krakus Market and a host of others! In addition to a feast of Polish delicacies and old favorites, we’ll hear stories from the restauranteurs themselves. Please join us for this fun and engaging event, and help First Person Arts continue to offer the bargain arts experiences you’ve come to love:
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Tour starts at Krakus Market–3150 Richmond Street
Ample street parking is available in the neighborhood.
Tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets
or by calling 267-402-2055
$85 per person
$160 per couple
$75 for First Person Arts Members
This is the second installment in a weekly series by Dianna Marder about her volunteer work in a local prison. Read the whole series here.
LIFE WRITING WITH LIFERS
Blog entry: week two (filed 3/17/09 by dianna marder)
On Week Two, we had one dropout and two new members in the Memoir Writing Workshop I am leading for men serving life sentences in a state penitentiary that shall remain nameless in order to protect the privacy of the participants. Nobody “forgot” to bring their composition books and pens; nobody made signs of wanting to leave early – all good signs.
This week’s prompt was What’s In a Name. I asked them to consider the power of a name. As first names go, Barack conveys more than Michelle, for example. And it’s easy to see why in high school you might ask your friends to call you Barry.
I’ve done this exercise before with memoir writers and I knew this would be different. Not to overemphasize the “they’ve given you a number and taken away your name” aspect, but when you’re living behind bars and condemned to dress in identical faded maroon scrubs, a moniker matters even more.
The men had the option to write about their own names or those of their parents; first names or last (and by the way, how many last names?); nicknames (Fatso, Four-eyes, Champ, Chump?); people they were named for; and, what they were told about their names (Really, I’m supposed to be a Peace Maker?)
Here are some snippets of what they wrote:
* I wasn’t given my father’s last name – even though he and mom were married – and I still don’t know why.
* I took on a Muslim name when I was a teenager, but as an adult I went back to using the name my mother gave me. It turned out to be all she was able to give me.
* I took on an animal nickname but girls laughed at it.
* I took on an animal nickname and later felt bad because that animal has a bad rep – in the animal world and the human world.
* I hated my name when I was growing up, because of the way my mother said it. But when my girlfriend whispered it in my ear, I heard it differently. There’s nothing like hearing your name on a woman’s lips.
These guys are not blocked or defensive. They’re smart, they’re serious about exploring their truths, and they’re intent on hearing one another. I’m afraid this experience will spoil me for any other kind of teaching.
-Dianna Marder
(Editor’s Note: With major newspapers failing nearly every day, “newsroom speak” may be an endangered language. Click the link and help keep it alive!)
In a nearly unforgivable omission from the 2008 Grand Slam, I’m finally getting around to putting George Dougherty’s hilarious and moving story up on the electonic habitrail. If you were there, you’ll remember this one. Possibly unfairly singled out for going a bit over the time limit, George shared his ambitions and aspirations for the hamster Jack Dawson, and had them dashed by a trick of biology. Watch it:
And as a special bonus, returning to the internet from brief exile, it’s Juliet Wayne’s hilarious babysitting story with it’s memorable coda. A double-shot of the 2008 Grand Slam for your lunchtime viewing pleasure:
All of the 2008 Grand Slam stories are available in this playlist. Come help us pick another storyteller for the 2009 Grand Slam at the next monthly StorySlam on March 24th at L’Etage, when the theme will be “On My Street.”
“On My Street”
Date: March 24th
Time: 8:30pm-10:30pm (Doors at 7:30)
Host: Victor Fiorillo
Location: L’Etage (6th and Bainbridge)
Cost:$8
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a series by Dianna Marder–a name you may recognize from her day job at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She’ll be writing about her volunteer work in a local prison, teaching inmates serving life-sentences how to tell their life stories. Look for it every Tuesday on the First Person Arts Blog.
Life-writing with lifers
In the spring of 2008, I developed a Memoir Writing Workshop to expand First Person Arts’ fledgling Community Writing Program. It’s a volunteer project designed to serve for adults who may be isolated or ignored, or unable to afford a traditional college-level class.
The curriculum is easily replicated, and my hope is to recruit ever more volunteers to lead ever more writing workshops for an expanding universe of unlikely First Person memoirists.
My first class was with women over 50 and I called it Memoir at Middle Age because I didn’t want them to think I thought their lives were about to end and that’s why they should write their life stories.
Yesterday I began my second, six-week memoir writing series – this one for lifers at the local maximum security prison. I figured lifers, like middle-aged women, were accustomed to being ignored and would welcome the attention.
Ten guys signed up for the class and twelve showed. Still, I anticipate attrition. Writing isn’t quite as terrifying as public-speaking, but it stands to reason that at least one in 12 not-so-angry men will prefer to spend the two hours locked in a cell.
We began with conversation about how the line between truth and a good lie are so blurred these days. And then I asked the men to write about a time in childhood or adolescence when they knowingly, purposefully lied.
I thought it was an appropriate writing prompt because it furthered the discussion about truth and fiction in what gets published as memoir. And, as writing exercises go, I thought this one would arouse some emotion but not necessarily encourage the men to get in touch with their anger. It’s not as if they’re middle aged women.
- dianna marder
Guest storyteller, Sam Malissa, told this one at the February 24th StorySlam: “I Think We’re Alone”
Next StorySlam:
“On My Street”
Date: March 24th
Time: 8:30pm-10:30pm (Doors at 7:30)
Host: Victor Fiorillo
Location: L’Etage (6th and Bainbridge)
Cost:$8
The 2009 Salon Series continues March 11th!Purchase advance tickets!
March 11th, 2009
- Muralist Angela Crafton
- A documentary film by Olivia Antsis, Barry Vacker and Brett Sroka
- Bricolage and Memoir by Jose Cedillos
- Collaborative Poetic Memoir from Dr. Niama Williams and Rev. Joseph Massey
Download an application to present your work HERE (.doc)
First Person Salons are an interactive program offering emerging and established artists and writers an opportunity to present their new memoir and documentary-based works or works-in progress, and offering audiences access to exciting new works that might otherwise go unseen. Artists working in all media, and from all levels of experience, whose work is based in real-life experience, are welcome to apply using the application form available at the link above. Each Salon will be curated by the staff of First Person Arts. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis at salons@firstpersonarts.org.
Location:
Laurie Beechman Cabaret at The University of the Arts
Philadelphia Arts Bank - 601 S. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19147
2009 Schedule:
2nd Wednesdays of each month from 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Wed, February 11
Wed, March 11
Wed, April 8
Wed, May 13
Wed, June 10
Wed, July 8
Wed, August 12
Wed, September 9
Wed, October 14
The First Person Salons are presented in collaboration with The University of the Arts School of Theater Arts with assistance from our artistic partners:
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe
Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association
Philadelphia Dance Projects
InLiquid
The University of the Arts School of Theater Arts
Scribe Video Center
Dance/USA
What’s a StorySlam? Click here for more info!
StorySlam Six Packs are now available: Six StorySlam tickets for $40.
The 2009 StorySlam season swings into action on January 24th at the Kimmel Center with a very special StorySlam just before Ira Glass. The StorySlam will be FREE and the theme, appropriately enough, is “Broke.” Here’s the full schedule:
1/24/2009 Broke (Kimmel Center–FREE and All Ages) Host: DJ Robert Drake
1/27/2009 Bad Idea Host: Victor Fiorillo
2/24/2009 I Think We’re Alone
3/3/2009 Hidden Talents (World Cafe–All Ages) Click Here to Buy Tickets!
3/24/2009 On My Street
4/18/2009 Mortified (Free Library Festival–FREE and All Ages)
4/28/2009 Odd Jobs
5/26/2009 Baggage
6/20/2009 The Great Outdoors (Kimmel Center: Summer Solstice–All Ages)
6/23/2009 Do It Yourself
7/28/2009 Against the Rules
8/25/2009 High Point
9/22/2009 Foreign Territory
10/27/2009 Showing Off
Door price: $8
Six-Pack of passes: $40 (Buy ‘em HERE!)
Check out all of the stories from the “Hidden Talents” StorySlam for One Book, One Philadelphia at World Cafe Live on March 3rd:
And here’s 2008 Grand Slam Winner and reigning storytelling champion Ryan T. Barlow:
First Person StorySlams are a monthly, real-life-storytelling competition co-sponsored by L’Etage at 6th & Bainbridge Streets in Philadelphia. Each month’s theme elicits stories that come from the life experiences of Philly’s storytellers. Who are these local tale spinners? Everyone with a story and a little sense of competition is encouraged to participate – that means YOU!
StorySlams take place on the fourth Tuesday of each month at L’Etage cabaret at 6th & Bainbridge Streets (one block south of South Street). L’Etage is located on the second floor, immediately above Beau Monde Creperie. The door for L’Etage is located on Bainbridge Street – the ‘sign’ is a tile mosaic on the doorstep, it can be a little hard to find the first time you visit. Doors open at 7:30PM, and the StorySlam will begin at 8:30. Admission is $8 and a discounted 6-packs of tickets are available here.
How does it work? Every month’s event has a theme and everyone in the audience is invited to share a personal story from their lives that relates to the theme. Stories must be 5 minutes or less in duration. If you have a story you want to share, leave us your name at the sign-in table where you’ll pay your admission. Every potential storyteller’s name will be put into a bucket – ten names are drawn from the bucket, and each contestant is given five minutes on the mic to tell a story and win the crowd. ‘Judges’ are audience members who score the performers on a ten-point scale. Nine storytellers receive funny thanks-for-trying prizes, and the one highest-scoring participant wins a prize and the Golden Ticket – an invitation to November’s Grand Slam, which will pit the monthly winners against one another in the battle for the title of Philadelphia’s Best Storyteller. The Grand Slam will be presented during the eighth annual First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Arts, November 4th-8th, 2009 at the Painted Bride Art Center!
Storytelling Tips & Essentials
- This event is for storyTELLING — sorry, but you can’t read from your work, you must tell it.
- All stories must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Know your plot points!
- You should tell your story from your point of view.
- Your story should be true – or as true as possible. Like Emily Dickinson said about poetry: tell all the truth, but tell it slant.
- Stick to the time limit! You’ll be penalized in the competition if you don’t.
- Know your first line and last line when you step on stage. Knowing what point A and point Z are will help you get through rest if you get nervous.
- Raise the stakes! Sure, you know that this story happened to you, but show us why it matters — both to you and to us.
If you have any further questions, please email Andrew at aschwalm@firstpersonarts.org or call 267-402-2057
1/24/2009 Broke (Kimmel Center–FREE and All Ages) Host: DJ Robert Drake
1/27/2009 Bad Idea Host: Victor Fiorillo
2/24/2009 I Think We’re Alone
3/3/2009 Hidden Talents (World Cafe–All Ages) Click Here to Buy Tickets!
3/24/2009 On My Street
4/18/2009 Mortified (Free Library Festival–FREE and All Ages)
4/28/2009 Odd Jobs
5/26/2009 Baggage
6/20/2009 The Great Outdoors (Kimmel Center: Summer Solstice–All Ages)
6/23/2009 Do It Yourself
7/28/2009 Against the Rules
8/25/2009 High Point
9/22/2009 Foreign Territory
10/27/2009 Showing Off
Door price: $8
Six-Pack of passes: $40 (Buy ‘em HERE!)
Check out all of the stories from the “Hidden Talents” StorySlam for One Book, One Philadelphia at World Cafe Live on March 3rd:
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