Congrats to “Janet Von Trapp” (yes, our storytellers are going incognito these days) for winning last night’s Slam by a mere ONE point and claiming the title of Audience Favorite.



Check out Philly Broadcaster for a recap of last week’s Slam. They’ll be covering our Slams regularly from here on out.

Things have been quiet on the First Person blog as we wind down from the AMAZING 2010 Festival (THANK YOU again to all attendees, artists, volunteers, friends, fans and folks who spread the word and helped make it happen) and think about what we want the blog to look like in the coming months.

One thing I definitely want to see are more videos. Videos of our savvy and amazing storytellers, Salon artists, and audience members. So let’s get the resolution started off right with video of last night’s Slam winner, Caitlyn. Her story of a French defecation won over the judges and the audience. She walked away the overall winner and audience favorite. But it was a close Slam. Janelle came in second place by just half a point for her story of a serious car crash that recalled a missed moment between herself and her dying mother. The audience was so enthralled by Janelle’s story, that you could hear a pin drop in World Cafe Live last night. Overall, it was a great group of stories, and our host Michael McCarry kept things going at a funny (and often flirty, ahem) pace. Though I bet his mother would make an even better host.

Visit our YouTube channel where we’ll be posting more videos from last night’s Slam over the next few days. And if you want to catch our next Slam, it’s December 28th at L’Etage. The theme is “Holiday Spirit” and in the spirit of the season, tickets are just $5!

What do you want to see us blog about? Interviews with artists? Goings-on around Philly? Tell me in the comments!

- Karina

We had a two-way tie between Amanda Feifer and Chris Oberlin at the end of last night’s Slam (the theme: It’s in the Mail). While Amanda walked away the overall winner after a lightening round tie breaker challenge, Chris charmed the audience with his tale of adolescent revenge, taking home Audience Favorite.

And a special congrats to Amanda and all of the other students from Katonya Mosley’s Tell It! storytelling class. They took the stage last night and showed off their newly acquired storytelling skills. Ms. Mosley must be so proud!

Watch Amanda’s tale of postal seduction.

Enjoy Chris’ mail-inspired vendetta.

Andrew Thompson may have lost his keys (and some dignity) when he was robbed on March 9th, but at least he didn’t lose that Red Bull. And thanks to his mugger, henceforth known as “Bartholomew,” Andrew also won both Overall Winner and Audience Favorite at Tuesday’s StorySlam at L’Etage.

See Andrew compete in our Fall Grand Slam on November 10th.

Leah won over the audience at last Tuesday’s StorySlam at L’Etage (featured in yesterday’s Inquirer!) with her account of a most inept bike thief (Didn’t he notice someone was standing a few feet away? Didn’t he consider the possibility it was the bike’s owner???). And in case you missed Meghan’s winning story of the night, check it out here.

It took a three-way Story-Off to determine the winner of last night’s StorySlam at L’Etage. The night’s predetermined theme was “Whoppers” but the audience quickly chose the theme of “Smells” and our storytellers had a mere two minutes to make up the judges’ minds during the Story-Off.


Tremaine Johnson walked away as the overall winner but his story-off opponent Natala Covert won the audience vote. Check out both of their original “Whopper” stories and their story-off “Smells” stories and judge for yourself.


Tremaine…





Natala…

Close to 400 people packed the main auditorium of the Free Library this past Saturday for the 2nd Annual Inter-City StorySlam: Philly vs. DC. Our illustrious judges included Citizen Mom, NYT’s best-selling author Leslie Banks, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson and the Inquirer’s fashion writer Elizabeth Wellington. And while the storytellers from Speakeasy DC claimed the title of Best Storytelling City, it was First Person Arts’ own Michael McCarry who claimed the title of Best Overall Storyteller AND Audience Favorite. Enjoy his video below!


UPDATED May 19th: We need your help to send Mike to the National StorySlam in Chicago. DONATE HERE!

Raeann made a fateful decision one day while traveling through the Badlands. As a result, she has “unfinished business” with none other than Amy Grant. Luckily, for us, she has a story about it and walked away from last night’s Slam as the Audience Favorite.




Raeann’s video is below. (Keep a lookout for host Jen Childs’ shocked face when Raeann knocks Public Enemy.) And our overall Slam winner, Ben Drinen, is featured on Philebrity!


Our next Slam is THIS Saturday at the Free Library Festival. It’s the Second Annual Inter-City StorySlam: Philly vs. DC. This FREE event is an awesome chance to support our town’s storyspinning masters as they face off against some chumps from the Beltway.

Our audiences love Robin Wachsberger. First she won Audience Favorite at our January Slam at World Cafe Live and then she won AF at this week’s Slam at L’Etage. Thanks for coming back Robin!

AND he was the Audience Favorite at Monday’s Slam at World Cafe Live. Congrats Donald!


P.S. Love the prop!