Indy Theatre Habit

Storytelling Arts of Indiana’s 1st annual (I hope!) Liars Contest at the Indiana State Fair was a huge success!  Six adults and three youths from various places around Indiana each shared some sort of tall tale to an audience of between 80-100 people from the stage of the Opera House building in the Fair’s Pioneer Village.

There were three professional storytellers serving as judges: Celestine Bloomfield, Sue Grizzell, and myself.  Storytelling Arts director Ellen Munds added up our three sets of scores at the end, so I can’t speak for the other judges’ scores, but mine were very close.  I enjoyed all of the tellers, but I scored the top three adult winners about the same but for different reasons.

The official blue ribbon for first place went to Gus Pearcy from Danville, Indiana, pictured* above.  Some Indy Theatre Habit readers will know Gus as a producer of theatre shows for the Wayne Township Community Theatre.  They just closed a musical there this weekend called “Tick, Tick…Boom!”  I hadn’t known Gus was going to be at the Liars’ Contest.  I was delighted to see him at the registration table, and even more delighted when he told a very polished piece of hilarity about how the nickname “Hoosier” came about.   Hah!  I am laughing again, remembering it.

   Second place went to John Applebee from Springport, Indiana, pictured* at left.  I loved his confident timing and his comfortable, down-home storytelling style.  I also admired the way he built his story about his neighbor’s mule so as to take us by complete surprise with the punch line.  Hah!  I am laughing again, remembering it.  I did not see that ending coming AT ALL.

  Third place went to Ernie Taylor from Zionsville, Indiana, pictured* at left, talking to two of his fans.  He, too, had a very natural, relaxed-and-relaxing storytelling style and an easy rapport with the audience.  The words “gentleman” and “beloved” come to mind, now, when I think of his time sharing stories with us today.  I just felt good being in his audience.  I also admired the way he had carefully arranged his many short “lies” about his hometown and his travels into one longer (but still within the strict 5-minute time limit) piece.  It gave us a strong and lovely sense of place as well as a lot of laughs.  I am relaxing and smiling again, remembering it.

Indianapolis resident Marcia Baker’s adaptation of a Japanese tall tale to a Beanblossom, Indiana setting was a lot of fun.  Dick Reel (I’m sorry: I am not sure of the spelling of his name!) from LaPorte, told some good “lies,” too.  I carefully wrote down the last contestant’s name…but on my score sheet instead of in my notebook!  I’m sorry that I can only tell you that his nickname is “Hank.”  He told a serious and heartfelt autobiographical story about re-connecting with the man who introduced his father to God.  I don’t think he understood the nature of this particular storytelling contest, but I admired his sincerity.

The three youth tellers were Mary Sander, age 12, and Zoe and Maxwell Richardson, a brother and sister aged 10 and 12 respectively.  Mary won first place for her funny-punny story about A Fish Named Noah.  Maxwell told about a substitute teacher who was also an alien.  Zoe told about her adventures with her talking cat.  Mary lost a point or two because she went over the time limit, but she still won first prize.   I think Zoe took second and Maxwell third, but again, the scores were very close.

In case you’re thinking of entering a storytelling contest some time, below is what we judges were told to look and listen for.  We put a check in one of five columns for each category:  1=lowest, 5=highest.  Then we added them up to make a final score for each teller.   We each sat in a different part of the audience, and we each filled out our score sheets on our own.  There was really no time or place for discussion, anyway, because when the contest was over, the audience stayed put to hear who won right away.

• Technique – delivery, confidence, general stagecraft.
• Story Development – development of the story in time available.
• Originality – new material or fresh handling of a familiar tale.
• Effectiveness – in the judges’ opinion, taking audience response into consideration.

It was a very hot day at the Fair today outside in the sunshine, but a cool breeze blew in through the barn-like doors of the Opera House building.  There was a good sound system for the tellers to use, and very little noise from other events around the Fair.  There were a few people in the audience that I knew were already Storytelling Arts fans because I had interacted with them at other events.  However, many more raised their hands when the MC asked who was at a Storytelling Arts of Indiana event for the first time.  I hope that Storytelling Arts of Indiana and the Indiana State Fair collaborate to offer this event every year from now on.  I hope that all of this year’s contestants return to tell again, too! 

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com and @IndyTheatre on Twitter.com.

P.S. -  One of today’s judges, storyteller Celestine Bloomfield, will be sharing some of her favorite stories at the same place – the Opera House building in the Pioneer Village area of the Indiana State Fair – this Thursday night from 7:00-7:30 pm.  The event is free with Fair admission.  I have already committed to being at the Indy Fringe Preview Night on Thursday night, but if I could be in two places at once, I would love to hear Celestine tell again.  Her telling style is exuberant!  H.B.

*I bought an iPhone this past Friday – my first cell phone of any kind, ever (eep!) - in order to be able to easily add a few unique visuals to my blog.  Today was only my first attempt at taking photographs ”at the scene,” so please excuse the fuzziness.   I also thought I had taken a face-front headshot of Ernie Taylor but it sure wasn’t in my phone when I got home!   Hmm.  Anyway, my next iPhone/blog project will, I hope, be a series of “Indy Fringe Moment” videos.   Wish me luck!