Indy Theatre Habit

 Last Saturday evening I went to the “Story Cabaret” portion of the Printing Partners Hoosier Storytelling Festival.  It was held in the Basile Theater of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center.  Fred and Midge Munds presented (sponsored) this particular event of the Festival.  It provided one final chance to see and hear all five of the 2008 Festival’s featured tellers.

Former librarian Beth Horner was one of them.  She has always been a special storytelling hero of mine ever since I took a workshop from her years ago on sharing stories with teenaged audiences.  I have followed her rule of thumb – “Tell a jump story first!” – to good effect.

In other words, if you are the visiting storyteller for a class of middle school students who don’t already know you, let your first story establish two things: the fact that they can trust you not to treat them like little kids and the fact that you know something about how to entertain people.  Tell a story whose ending makes them jump – and laugh – in surprise in spite of themselves. 

I think Beth Horner is also the person who told me that teens, even more than the rest of us, like two kinds of stories:  scary stories and stories about sex.  If one story can be both, all the better.

Now of course you’re not going to go into a school and tell stories that are over-the-top gory or explicitly sexual because you want the school administrators and parents to invite you back.  However, there are lots of stories that are about sex and love and relationships – or violence and fear, for that matter – that share information about our shared experiences as human beings without being graphic or offensive about it.

At the Story Cabaret last Saturday night Horner shared a story that is definitely for “mature cabaret audiences” but also HIGH-larious and…polite. It is off her new “Best Laid Plans: True Crime and True Love” CD.  It is called “First Love.”

Oh, my, it is funny!                                                              

Horner tells about dating her boyfriend for a long, long time before finally deciding to have sex.

Being a librarian and therefore very organized and focused, she first researches male anatomy and female anatomy.  She researches birth control.  She and her roommate research and plan the best outfit for seduction and the best atmosphere for sexual expression of love, which includes lots of candles and the absence of the roommate! 

The preparation part of the story is much more detailed and amusing than this, but even funnier is the actual Big Night. I won’t spoil it for you in case you buy the CD or get a chance to hear Horner tell it in person, but I will just say that there are police and prank callers and freezing temperatures involved.  And, in spite of everything, sweet affection.  And true love.

By the way, as of this writing, there is nothing on Horner’s website about this newest CD, but  you can call the number on the website (888-443-3816) for more info.

Horner’s telling style incorporates flawless comic timing and a sort of smiling-yet-deadpan, pseudo-innocence that is just a hoot.  Best of all, she tells this story about herself at age 20 with the wisdom and experience of herself in middle age.    She makes us feel fully present with her in the time and space of the story – a time before voice mail or even answering machines, for example.  However, I imagine that her years of experience as a story crafter and human being help to shape the story much more effectively now than the way she told it informally soon after it actually happened.

I am NOT saying that 20-year-olds can not be good storytellers, by the way.  I just think that some personal stories tell better after a few years’ seasoning.

Anyway, I enjoyed Horner’s telling very much.  I bought a copy of her new CD to enjoy again and again.

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The Printing Partners Hoosier Storytelling Festival is over for the year, but Storytelling Arts of Indiana has several other good storytelling events lined up for this season. 

Speaking of “love,” for example:  On Friday, December 5^th and Saturday, December 6^th, 2008, Bill Harley and Carrie Newcomer will collaborate to share “Love, Work, Mistakes and Miracles: A Night of Song and Story.”  I love both of these folk artists.

This event will be from 7:30-9:30 pm at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center Basile Theater in downtown Indianapolis.  Tickets are $20/advance, $25/door.  To purchase tickets, call 317-232-1882 or visit this page of the Storytelling Arts of Indiana website.

This event is presented by Barnes & Thornburg, Creative Street Media Group, Good Medicine Buffalo Ranch and Alyssa Beattie.

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com