Hey ladies and gents, care to see what FPA has been up to this past Spring? We hosted some absolutely amazing events and we hope that you enjoyed them as much as we did. Let’s check out our Spring roundup and you can find more photos on our Flickr page.

StorySlams

This Spring we heard stories about families, fame, inheritance and much much more! Our popular slams culminated in the Summer Grand Slam on May 25 where we crowned Caitlin as the best storyteller in Philly! The Grand Slam was hosted by funny man Doogie Horner and everyone feasted on delicious Sweet Lucy’s BBQ before the slam went down. I don’t know about you, but we had the best time chowin’ down and listening to all the Out of Place stories!

Slam Nation

For our Slam Nation event we joined up with PIFA and brought some of the greatest storytellers to the Kimmel Center on April 26! One of our most popular storytellers, R. Eric Thomas, hosted the big show while storytellers such as Elna Baker, Laura Packer, Adam Wade, and Giulia Rozzi delighted us with stories about their “Worldy Possesions!” Big shout outs to all our storytellers, PIFA, and the Kimmel Center! We had a blast, didn’t you?!

Boston v. Philly

On April 15 we headed over to the Free Library and threw the gauntlet down against Boston’s Massmouth storytellers. We heard all about our slammers Experiments and even though Boston storyteller Jim Stahl won the competition with his hilarious story about a homemade rocket and a false eye, Team Philly came out on top overall! The slam featured Philly favorites such as Marla Burkholder, Michael McCarry, Bernardo Morillo, and Michael Minard! I can’t say I’m surprised Philly came out on top with such a stacked team!

Edible World

At our latest Edible World event we sat down with Chef Gabrielle Hamilton. She’s a writer and James Beard-winning chef of New York City’s Prune and on April 3 she shared her new memoir, Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef at Philly’s very own, Pumpkin Restaurant. One of our most delicious events this spring, FPA feasted on brunch prepared by Pumpkin’s Ian Moroney while former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Rick Nichols introduced Chef Hamilton and her journey through kitchens, french creperies and the University of Michigan writing program. Flying Fish Brewing Company provided beer for the brunch and we were all left feeling quite satisfied, if not a little bloated!

Sad you missed out on these events? Don’t worry, we have plenty more for you this summer and at our Festival in the fall! Visit our calendar for upcoming events.

- Laura Reeve

The last (but definitely not least) storyteller we are featuring who will be competing in our Summer Grand Slam this Wednesday, May 25 is Mo! She won our inheritance Storyslam when she signed up last minute and told a story about the laughs she inherited and how they once stopped traffic. Watch Mo tell the whole story below AND COME OUT TO THE SLAM WEDNESDAY!!!!

Name: Mo Burroughs
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): South Philly
Slam won: Inheritance
Favorite Philly summer activity: Chillin in the various parks.
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? “Why should you rule the world?”
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: Water ice in hand, peepin on the cheepin’ sparrows, summertime.
What’s the best story you ever heard? Uh, the best stories are not, uh, strictly speaking, fit for general consumption.  You understand.
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? A great story requires relatability.  A reason for the listener to care.  A great storyteller can make the subject of the story relatable to an audience based on subtle feedback from an audience.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? They shouldn’t.  I’ll be winning right in front of them, where they can see me clearly.



Check out our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura

Out next storyteller, Jane Doe, (aka Janet Von Trapp) won our Almost Famous StorySlam when she told a story about the time her mother asked for Jesse Jackson’s wife’s I.D. at the bank. You can watch the whole story down below. Don’t miss Jane(t) and our other amazing storytellers when they compete for the title of “The Best Storyteller in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 25.

Oh, and in case you didn’t know, she’s Dr. K’s daughter.

Name: Haven’t thought of a new name yet
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): Philadelphia
Slam Won: Almost Famous
Favorite Philly summer activity: Looking around on south street. I like going to the little stores…. shopping for shirts with inappropriate sayings….etc.
What’s your dream StorySlam theme?:I have no dream theme, I don’t dream of themes.
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: This is a story all about how my life got
What’s the best story you ever heard? My favorite story is how Harriet Tubman returned to slavery over 10 times to free people, even with fainting spells… that’s dedication to a cause.
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? A great story is comical, a great story teller is monotone.
Why should your competitors watch their backs?They should watch their back because I’m in their face…. and they might not want to look at my face too long so it’s best to watch their back.



Check out our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura

Marla won our Beasts StorySlam and now she’s competing at the Summer Grand Slam on Wednesday, May 25! Marla told the story about the time a possum fell through her ceiling…twice. Watch the full story below!

Name: Marla Burkholder
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): West Philly
Slam won: Beasts, January 2011, L’Etage
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? Beasts part 2
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: One summer I cleaned hundreds of toilets at Pottypalooza.
What’s the best story you ever heard? Tough one.  Probably any story by my 90 year-old grandfather.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? No one knows being out of place like a Mennonite girl.



Check out our our other grand slammers here and don’t forget to get your ticket for the Grand Slam!

- Laura

Johnny may be new to StorySlams, but he still won our New Territories Slam in January. Johnny won when he told a story about meeting his father for the first time and living with him in Southwest Georgia. Check out the full story below and don’t miss Johnny compete in our Summer Grand Slam on Wednesday, May 25!

Name: Johnny Walker
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): West Chester Pa.
Slam Won: New Territories
Favorite Philly summer activity: Cook outs are my favorite activity.
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? “What’s love got to do with it” would be a good topic.
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: Girlfriend threw out my concert tickets. I faked a press pass.
What’s the best story you ever heard? The crack house story on the Moth. When the guy left his infant in the car and was going to be right back but stayed 4 hours in freezing temps near Christmas
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? Honesty and keeping it simple. A great story teller doesn’t seem overly rehearsed.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? I never knew about story slams until my new girlfriend told me about them. So in hopes of winning her over, I competed and lost. Then I gave it one more try and my girlfriend showed up just as I was called (story teller #7) up to tell a story. I didn’t even know the theme until I got there. And with Lesley watching I won. Now we are engaged. So I hope I win again to prove to myself it wasn’t just luck.



Meet our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura

Janet won our Family Ties Slam when she told a story about the moment she realized her family was unique: a road trip with her entire family to visit her uncle in prison. Janet will be competing against our other storytellers on Wednesday, May 25 at our Summer Grand Slam! You don’t want to miss it!

Name: Janet Williams
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): Front porch of a Palmyra, New Jersey Bungalow.
Slam won: Family Ties
Favorite Philly summer activity: I am never happier than when I’m at a Phillies game.
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? Road Trip–I got a million of ‘em!
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: Fresh garden blackberries and tomatoes eaten still warm from the sun.
What’s the best story you ever heard? Washing dishes with my great-grandmother, her tales of the early 1900’s: coal-mining, hat making, school days, being courted by my great grandfather.
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? I love a story that surprises and a vulnerable storyteller.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? Well…there is that time I won a push-up contest.



Check out our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam.

- Laura

Anissa is the next featured storyteller that will be competing in our Summer Grand Slam on Wednesday, May 25! She won Audience Favorite at our Inheritance StorySlam when she told a story about how she inadvertently helped a young woman discover her blossoming sexuality at her partner’s sister’s wedding.

Name: Anissa Weinraub
Current Location (as specific as possible, please): On the roof out my 3rd floor kitchen window, overhearing my neighbor do a lot of lung clearing. A lot. West Philly.
Slam won: Inheritance
Favorite Philly summer activity: Singing the original song “Urban Heat Island” as I sweat and curse, stuck riding my bike behind a SEPTA bus on Chestnut. Oh, wait, favorite? BBQ’s.
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right. Or Do They?
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: Ocean City: Avoid buying beachtags; overdose on photobooth and bananawhips.
What’s the best story you ever heard? Who can choose? I love the one where my friend thought she would really get back at her mom by baking a pan of brownies with laxatives, but, then, she kept looking at the pan and thought, well one piece won’t be too bad. Of course, she’s a chocoholic, and she ate the whole pan herself and was sick for days. Or the other one where my dad paid his way through college by being a party promoter. Sock hops, I guess. He raised enough for a whole semester once by raffling off tickets to a Beatles show. Strangely, he won the tickets. Or the other one where my friend went back to his hometown to come out to his mother, but before he could tell her his news, she came out to him. He didn’t want to steal her thunder, or felt like she’d already stolen his, so he didn’t tell her for another year.
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? Do you know want to know what the key to badminton is? Deception. I learned this in 9th grade gym class. And truer words were never uttered. The key to comedy, as I’ve been telling people for years, is re-integration. Think Seinfeld. 30 Rock. Some improv show you went to by yourself, embarrassed, disguised maybe. Why were you laughing? Re-integration. Great stories mix those life lessons of deception and re-integration.

I’d say that the key to storytelling is not giving away everything too soon, circling back to themes, letting motifs emerge, upping people’s expectancy, not going too far over-the-top with facial expressions, and, just generally trying to connect and communicate with the audience.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? Actually, I just took a ’strengths inventory’ on-line, and found out that I’m not as competitive as I thought. I guess I like to meet everyone where they’re at in their individual talents and try to build them all up to reach a common, often visionary, goal. So it says. Competitors, beware. I may try to convince us all to become a collective, working to end oppression in all forms. Of course, the internet often lies. So maybe I’ll actually try to spike the other storytellers’ drinks with cayenne pepper. Either way, look out!



Check out our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura

We’re getting to know the storytellers that are competing for the crown of “Best Storyteller of Philadelphia” on Wednesday, May 25 at the Summer Grand Slam.

At our Anti-Valentine’s Day Slam, Steve won the audience’s heart when he told a story that can be encompassed in one joke: What do engineer students use as birth control? Want to hear the answer? Watch Steve tell the whole story below!

Name: Steve Noble
Current Location: Haddonfield, NJ
Slam won: The X-Files (Audience Favorite)
Favorite Philly summer activity: Phillies baseball (and cheesesteaks)
What’s your dream StorySlam theme: I am so embarrassed!
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: You want me to do what? No way! Wait, YES!
What makes a great story? One that makes me forget where I am and what I am doing.
What makes a great storyteller? Someone who uses words to get inside my soul, so that I am experiencing the story.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? Brain damage. Research has shown that the more damage participants had in the area of the front part of the brain called the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the less mortified they were about singing karaoke. I sing at a karaoke bar every week.



Check out our our other slammers here and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura

It’s Summer Grand Slam time again and we want you to meet this year’s contestants so you’ll be in the know when we crown the best storyteller in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 25!

Todd won our Holiday Spirit Slam when he told a touching story about helping one of his students design art for an upstart skateboard company that ends with him defecating into a gift bag on the Main Line! (Of course it does!) Watch the video of the story below!

Name: Todd Marrone
Current Location: Belmont Hills, PA
Slam won: December at L’Etage (Holiday Spirit)
Favorite Philly summer activity: Waiting for the fall
What’s your dream StorySlam theme? What I Like About Todd Marrone
Tell us a summer story in 10 words: I once got my face caught in a hot tub.
What’s the best story you ever heard? My childhood best friend told me that Gene Simmons’s tongue was originally 20 feet long and he had to have it shortened to fit in his mouth.
What makes a great story? What makes a great storyteller? A point. Sincerity.
Why should your competitors watch their backs? They should backup their watches.



Look for more slammers over the next few days and don’t miss the Grand Slam!

- Laura Reeve

They are an eclectic bunch this group… lawyers, actors, bloggers. They come from as far away as South Africa and as close as Delco. And they are bringing their best storytelling to Saturday’s Summer Grand Slam. Will you be there to cheer them on?

Wayne Brinkley
Naomi Brownstein
Natala Covert
Ben Drinen
Brenda G
Tremaine Johnson
Alex Kacala
Michael McCarry
Olga Schmutz
R. Eric Thomas
Leah Walton