Speak Up: Storytelling Workshop launching

We are launching a new advanced storytelling workshop next week, and there are still spots available for those of you who are interested.

Details below.
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Our storytelling workshop focuses on the storyteller's actual performance. You are not required to attend a beginner's workshop, but please know that much of our direct storytelling instruction takes place in the beginner's class.

Every participant will be expected to tell at least one story during the course of the six classes (and hopefully more). We will also be dissecting audio and video of stories from The Moth and other storytelling shows, and I will tell a story at each session and discuss how the story was "built." I will also "work out" stories on the stage (unprepared , allowing for a peek into the initial creative process (as uncomfortable as that may be for me!). 

This advanced workshop is designed so that anyone who has taken an advanced workshop already can take this workshop again and expect entirely different content, since the stories will always be different, and the lessons taught are constantly changing. This is being done to meet the request of previous workshop attendees who would like to take another class but felt that there was nothing left for them.

It will also result in a much more interactive workshop, with greater opportunities to participate. 

Following each story will be an extensive critique in a friendly, non-threatening, low-stakes environment that targets story construction, performance, and revision. We will also focus on self-critique and the critiquing of one another, with the goal being to develop better analytic skills.   

Additional goals include:

• Formulating anecdotes and story kernels into fully realized stories
• The continued development of humor, suspense and high stakes in a story
• The effective use of loaded language
• Revision for time constraints
• Shorter, spontaneous storytelling opportunities

The first five sessions will be taught by me, but Elysha will join us for the last session to bring her considerable revision and critique talent to the class.  

The dates for the workshop will be September 2, 16, and 30, as well as October 7, 14 and 21. Workshops are taught at Wolcott School and will make use of a stage, a microphone and stage lighting in order to allow for practice in an authentic environment. 

The cost of the advanced workshop is $225. 

If you're interested in attending, please send us an email and we will register you for the classes. First come, first served. We only allow for eight participants at a time, so once I have eight confirmed attendees, the workshop is closed. 

I won a Moth StorySLAM, and that wasn’t the best part of the night. Seriously.

I won a Moth StorySLAM at The Oberon Theater in Cambridge on Tuesday night. I managed to win from first position, which isn’t easy.

I’ve won 13 Moth StorySLAMs in the last three years, but I’ve never won after having to go first. Few storytellers do. I was excited. Thrilled, even, But winning was not the best part of the night for me.

Given my extreme competitive nature, this is really saying something. 

Three of my friends joined me at The Oberon on Tuesday night, and two of them, Plato and Tom, put their names in the hat and were fortunate enough to take the stage and tell a story.

They performed brilliantly. They told great stories. Their stories were so good, in fact, that Plato finished in second place, just a few tenths of a point behind me, and Tom finished in third, a few tenths of a point behind Plato.

I was impressed with their performances. A little proud, even.

Both Plato and Tom began their storytelling careers at Speak Up after Elysha and I asked them to tell a story. Tom told a hilarious story about meeting his wife for the first time, and Plato has told a number of stories for us, including one at our very first show.

Last night was the first time they took the stage for The Moth. I suspect that it won’t be the last.

Plato and Tom are not my only friends who have taken the stage to tell a story. Since I began introducing my friends to storytelling (shortly after I began doing it myself), many of them have performed at Speak Up, and a handful have told stories at a Moth event.

I’ve also watched people who complete my storytelling workshop go on to tell stories at Speak Up and even compete in Moth StorySLAMs. Many of them assured me that they were taking my workshop for reasons other than performing and swore that they would never take the stage. Despite their initial protestations, a large number of them have gone on to tell stories for Speak Up, and a few have even ventured into New York and Boston and competed in Moth events as well.

People who never dreamed of standing on a stage and performing have become seasoned storytellers who can’t wait to tell their next story.

Introducing friends to something new, assisting them in honing their skills, and then watching them perform and compete is more rewarding than I would have ever expected. That’s how I felt on Tuesday night, watching Plato and Tom perform on stage.

In many ways, I was also returning favors.

Eight years ago, Tom bought a set of golf clubs for $10 at a garage sale, dropped them into my car on a snowy, December afternoon, and thereby launched my golfing career. Golf has become one of the greatest loves of my life. I’m still a terrible player, but I would play every day if I could. I’ve even written a memoir about the game. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Tom changed my life when he dropped those golf clubs into my car that day.

Back in 1999, Plato decided to take a chance on an inexperienced teacher, fresh out of college and rough around the edges, who many administrators viewed as a wild card. He hired me when others would not and thereby launched my teaching career. I have been teaching in that school ever since.

Our school was the place where my occasionally unorthodox teaching methods were embraced and my creativity was rewarded. I was permitted to become the teacher I am today thanks in large part to Plato’s leadership and guidance. It was also the place where I met my wife, Tom, and many of the closest friends.

My life would be very different had Plato not taken a chance on me that day.

Introducing them to storytelling and watching them compete for the first time was a small way of repaying them for all that they have done. It was a joy. It’s well documented that after the first person in a family graduated from college, others in the family, who never dreamed of attending college, will follow. Once the ice is broken and the impossible is made possible, people are willing to give it a try.

My success with storytelling has served a similar role for many of my friends. Once I started taking the stage, others have followed. It has been so much fun to watch.

Watching Tom and Plato perform so well on Tuesday night was truly reward enough. The fact that I won the slam was great, but honestly, it was icing on the cake.

Delicious icing. Satisfying icing. Well deserved icing. But still, not nearly as rewarding as watching Tom and Plato standing behind that microphone, under those bright lights, telling their story.

The payoff for a writer or a performer is an infinitesimal sliver of the job. Too many forget this and aren’t willing to do the work.

Saturday was a good day for me.

It began with the first performance ever of “Caught in the Middle,” the tween musical written by writing partner, Andy Mayo, and myself. It was produced at a performing arts camp in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and like our previous musical, The Clowns, I fell in love with the show while watching it performed on stage.

   

Then Elysha and I left for New York so I could perform in The Liar Show in the West Village. I told a story about my unfortunate participation in a bachelorette party in a McDonald’s crew room when I was 19 years-old.

A friend was kind enough to comment on how much I had going on that day. “It must be exciting to have so many creative things going on in your life,” she said.

It’s true. Days like Saturday are exciting, but they come with a cost. When I talk to fledging writers, storytellers, and other people involved in the arts, I’m always quick to remind them that days like Saturday are few and far between.

They account for about 1% of the job.

The other 99% of the job is a lot of hard, tedious, and lonely work.

“Caught in the Middle” was more than a year in the making. It involved writing, collaborating, rewriting, revising, and more rewriting. It was hundred of hours spent crafting scenes, integrating music, developing characters, and agonizing over plot. My writing partner, Andy, had to poke, prod, and cajole me to continue working.

It wasn’t easy.

My invitation to perform in The Liar Show was the result of almost three years of storytelling, including more than 40 appearances at The Moth and other storytelling shows and the launch of our own storytelling organization, Speak Up. Thousands of hours of work have made me the storyteller I am today and gave me the opportunity to perform on Saturday night.

I didn’t happen overnight.

I was reading Billy Crystal’s memoir, Still Foolin’ ‘Em, and learned that in order to pursue his career in comedy, he became a stay-at-home father in a time when that was exceptionally rare. When his wife arrived home from work in the evening, he would join her for dinner and prepare his set for later that night, sometimes writing and sometimes rehearsing.

Then at 10:00, he would embark on an hour long commute to New York City, hoping for a spot on the stage at Catch a Rising Star before 1:00 AM so that he could perform his ten minute routine.

Then he would return home by 2:00 or 3:00 and begin the routine again at 7:00 when his daughter awoke and his wife left for work.

Billy Crystal did not become the entertainer and star that he is today because he was talented. He worked exceptionally hard, made enormous sacrifices, dedicated his life to his dream, and was smart enough to marry a woman who supported that dream.

By the way, he sacrificed to find the right woman, too. He transferred colleges as a sophomore, leaving Marshall University, a baseball scholarship, and a chance to play the game he loved at the college level for Nassau Community College and later New York University after meeting his wife and knowing that a long distance relationship would probably not last.

Rather than risk losing the woman of his dreams, he gave up baseball to chase her down.

The man understood how to make sacrifices.

So yes, Saturday was a great day for me. I loved watching something that I had written performed onstage. Hearing my words in other people’s mouths is always thrilling and makes me want to write for the stage again.

And yes, performing alongside the likes of Ophira Eisenberg, Tracy Rowland, and Matthew Mercier at The Liar Show was thrilling, too. Simply being asked to perform in this popular and well-reviewed show was an honor.

But it was a long, long road to Saturday’s payoff. Many, many miles.

Too often, I think that writers, performers, and other people striving for a career in the arts see those 1% Saturdays and dream the dream, forgetting about the 99% (or worse, glamorizing the 99%) that is required to make those Saturdays a  reality.

The best moment on Saturday for me was a simple one. Standing off to the side, watching these teens and tweens perform the show, I caught sight of my daughter, sitting in the audience, watching my show with rapt attention. Bopping her head to the music. Smiling. Leaning forward in anticipation. Laughing at my jokes.

This was better than all the applause I received that day.

 

Speak Up tickets, dates for upcoming shows, and a writer's workshop launch

For storytelling fans, and Speak Up supporters, some news for you today. 

First, tickets for our next show, Saturday, July 19 at 8:00 at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT, are now available. You can click this link to purchase tickets or call Real Art Ways directly at 860.232.1006.

Please order soon if you plan on attending, as we tend to sell out early. 

We're also pleased to announce our remaining Speak Up dates for the year, so that you can mark your calendars and perhaps pitch us a story. 

September 27 at Real Art Ways. The theme of the night is Coulda Shoulda Woulda. 

October 18 at The Mount in Lenox, MA. The theme of the night is Love and Marriage. 

December 6 at Real Art Ways. The theme of the night is Reunion. 

Also, By demand, we will be launching writer's workshops starting in August for interested writers.

Similar to our popular storytelling workshops, our writer's workshop is specifically for interested writers who are looking to launch a writing career, improve their writing skills, receive feedback from a professional writer and teacher, develop a work in progress, prepare a non-fiction pitch, or simply find an engaged audience who is willing to listen and provide feedback for their work. 

Whether you want to make your fortune writing the next great American novel or simply improve your ability to string together coherent sentences, this may be for you. We've modeled our workshop on a series of successful workshops conducted by a fellow author and friend who works on the Connecticut shoreline. 

The workshops will be held in our home. We'll put out snacks and drinks each week before food is good for thought and makes people happy.

We'll keep the group small, 4-6 writers per six week session, so we can be sure to devote the appropriate amount of time on each writer's work while also having time to teach mini-lessons and model good writing. 

Workshops will run from 8:00-9:30 on Monday evenings. 

Dates for our first session are August 11, 18, 25 and September 8, 15 and 22.

The cost of each 6 week session will be $175.  

If you're interested in joining us, please let me know.

Hope to see you all at Speak Up soon!

Speak Up at The Mount!

Elysha and I are thrilled to announce that we are taking Speak Up on the road for the first time!

The Mount, the former home of famed novelist Edith Wharton, has asked us to bring Speak Up to their location in Lenox, Massachusetts, for a show on Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 PM.

The show will feature 5-6 storytellers, telling stories in a slightly longer format than a typical Speak Up performance. Wharton’s original stables have been converted into a performance space that seats just over 150 people, and we plan on filling it with people who love storytelling.

The following day, we will be teaching a storytelling workshop from 9:00-1:00 in Wharton’s home.

We realize that if you are living in the Hartford area, it’s a long way to travel for one of our shows, and we expect the vast majority of tickets to sell to people living closer to The Mount, but if you’re interested in spending a weekend this fall in the Berkshires, you may want to make Speak Up a part of your trip.

Details on the storytellers who will be taking part in the show and ticket information will be publicized as soon as things are finalized.

For now, save the date if you’re interested in joining us that weekend for what promises to be an amazing evening of storytelling!

Three years ago, I dreamed of telling a story on a Moth stage. Today I am a storyteller. Life can change quickly if you give it a chance.

Three years ago today, I wrote a post asking for readers to vote on a story pitch that I had submitted to The Moth via their website.

I wrote:

The opportunity to tell a story for The Moth is a big deal to me. So if you have a moment, please click over to The Moth’s website and vote for my story (if you think it worthy) by clicking on the stars beside the story itself.  Rating my story pitch will also register one vote for me.

This represented my cowardly attempt to tell a story for The Moth. Even though I lived close enough to New York City to compete in a StorySLAM by simply dropping my name into a hat, I was desperately attempting to avoid taking the stage and being assigned a numerical score for my performance.

It’s amazing to see how quickly your life can change when you decide to face your fear. Less than a month after pitching that story on The Moth’s website, I decided to stop acting like a coward and went to New York City with my wife to tell a story.

When we arrived at the Nuyorican’s Poets Café, I placed my name in the hat and immediately prayed that it wouldn’t be drawn. When it was, I stayed in my seat for a moment, hoping that the host, Dan Kennedy, might become impatient and choose another name instead. Then Elysha told me to get out of my seat and on the stage.

I did. This is what I saw. 

I told a story about pole vaulting in high school. When the scores were tallied, I was astounded to discover that I had won.

I had become a storyteller.

This victory led me to my first GrandSLAM, where I competed against nine other StorySLAM winners. I placed third that night. I met two storytellers on that stage who I am proud to call my friends today.

My life has changed profoundly since the night I took that stage less than three years ago.

I have gone on to tell stories at 22 Moth StorySLAMs in New York and Boston. I have won 11 of them.

I’ve told stories at six Moth GrandSLAMs and placed a frustrating second in four of them.

I’ve told stories at two Moth Main Stage shows.

I’ve gone on to tell stories for other storytelling organizations like The Mouth, The Story Collider, Literary Death Match, and more. I’ve delivered talks at three TED conferences throughout New England. I’ve been hired to deliver speeches for a variety of reasons. 

Last year my wife and I founded Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization. Since then, we have produced six shows at Real Art Ways in Hartford. All have been sell outs.

We now teach storytelling workshops to people who want to become storytellers for a variety of reasons. Other venues throughout New England have reached out to us, asking us to consider bringing our show to them.

When someone asks me where I see myself in five years, I laugh. If you’re wiling to say yes to opportunities, as frightening or silly or impossible as they may seem, your life will change constantly.

The future will be impossible to predict. 

Three years ago, I was a guy who wanted to tell one story on one Moth stage. Someday. 

Today, storytelling has become an enormous part of my life.

It’s incredible to think that just three years ago, I was staring a website, asking friends and family to vote for my story, hoping that someone at The Moth would like my pitch enough to choose me.

Life can change fast if you give it a chance.

Upcoming appearances

On Saturday, May 31, I’ll be speaking at the Barnes & Noble at the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, CT at 2:00 PM. My agent will be with me, so if you have any questions for her, I’m sure that we could pester her with a few.

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That same evening, Speak Up will be at Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford, CT for a charity storytelling show. I’ll be telling a story about my high school days along with seven other brilliant storytellers.

Proceeds from the event help to send four middle school students to London this summer to compete in an international literature competition. Three are my former students, so I am thrilled to be able to help them

Tickers can be purchased here.

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On Saturday, June 7, I’ll be teaching a workshop on publishing at the Mark Twain House. I’ll be discussing the path that a book travels from the first words written on the page to its first appearance in a bookshop. Including in the workshop will be the sale of the book, the author-editor relationship, the complexities of publicity and marketing, the finances of publishing and much more. Perfect for the curious reader or the fledgling writer.

Call: (860) 280-3130 for more information & ticketing or click here for tickets.

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On Monday, June 30, I’ll be attending a Moth StorySLAM at The Bitter End in New York hoping to tell a story if the tote bag is kind. The theme of the night is Money.
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On Saturday, July 5, I’ll be performing in The Liar Show at the Cornelia Street Café in New York.

At each show, four performers tell short personal stories, but  one of the storytellers is making it all up. The audience then interrogates the cast and exposes the liar to win a fabulous prize.

Information on the show and ticketing can be found here.

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On Saturday, July 19, Speak Up returns to Real Art Ways. The theme of the show is Who’s the Boss? Tickets are not yet available, but mark your calendars. It is sure to be an excellent show!________________________________

On Monday, July 21, I’ll be competing in a Moth GrandSLAM at The Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Tickets not yet available.

Storytellers are important, but it’s within the audience that you find the true beauty of storytelling.

As Elysha and I celebrate our first anniversary of Speak Up, our Hartford based storytelling organization, we have many reasons to be thankful.

Since May of last year, we have produced seven storytelling shows. We had about 150 people at our first show (about 100 more than we expected), and since we moved into a bigger space and began ticketing, all of of our shows have been sell outs. with most selling out a week before the door even open.

We’ve recently been contacted by outside venues who would like us to bring Speak Up to their audiences, which has been both surprising and thrilling.

We have made many new friends over the past year thanks to storytelling. Fans of our show who fill the seats, participants in our workshops, and the storytellers themselves, some experienced and most brand new, who have all come together to build this thriving community.

This has been the most surprising part of storytelling for me. When I took the stage for the first time at a Moth StorySLAM in July of 2011, I had no idea about the people who I would meet and the friends that I would make as a result of becoming a storyteller. In the past three years, I have gotten to know some amazing and accomplished people, and I am proud to call many of them my friends.

But it’s the people who unexpectedly reach out to me who often surprise me the most.

Last week, I told a story at a Moth StorySLAM at Housing Works in New York City.

Since then, almost a dozen people who were present in the audience that night have reached out to me via social media or email.

About half contacted me simply to compliment me on my story or tell me how much it meant to them. It was the story of my first kiss, but embedded within that story was also a story about bullying, which seemed to resonate with a lot of people.

Two others have seen me tell stories many times before and reached out to compliment this most recent performance but also discuss my overall success as a storyteller. One commented on how much she has gotten to know me just through the stories that she has heard onstage and on the radio and my YouTube channel.

Here was the most interesting part:

Two people who I don’t know reached out to criticize the story. Both were fairly gentle in their criticism but still offered pointed critiques.

One person who is “very familiar” with my work felt that last week’s story did not compare to others that he has heard in the past from me. He said that he’s always excited when my name is called at a StorySLAM but felt a little let down on Tuesday night by my story.

The other felt that my story was flawed in that I attempted to wedge the story of my first kiss and the story of bullying “into one space” and that it took away from both stories. “It should’ve been two separate stories,” he said. “Fix it.”

As bold as it may have been to offer such unsolicited critique, I think that both of these critics are right. My wife, who didn't hear the story before I left for New York (which almost never happens) agreed. After hearing the story in preparation for Speak Up, where I told it again, she commented that it wasn’t as tight as my typical story, and that it tried to do too much.

A friend who attended the slam with me told me that my story was slightly  amorphous. “An off night for you.”

Upon reflection, I think they all hit the nail on the head. In attempting to tell the story of my first kiss, which took place on stage during an elementary musical and was orchestrated by our vocal music teacher, I took my audience off that stage and down a dark path for a good portion of the story instead of keeping them in the moment that mattered most.

I felt it, too. As I build my story, I anticipate moments of audience reaction, and I’m usually correct in most of my predictions. But when I was onstage that night, the audience reacted in ways I did not expect. As I made my way back to my seat, I knew that something wasn’t quite right. Though my scores put me in a tie for first place after seven storytellers, the eighth storyteller edged me out and the tenth storyteller crushed us both.

In truth, the tenth storyteller would’ve beaten anyone that night. She was masterful. One of the best stories I’ve ever heard.

But my friend was right. It was an off night for me. Flawed construction doomed my story.

But here’s the beauty of storytelling:

Even with its flawed construction, more than half a dozen people reached out to me because my story meant something to them. Warts and all.

A couple more liked it enough to comment on my storytelling career.

And two people apparently take storytelling seriously enough to offer salient criticism of my story.

In a world where time is precious and no one seems to have enough of it, these people took the time to email and Tweet their opinions to me, and in the end, no one was mean-spirited, hurtful or cruel.

How often can you say that about the Internet?

So I will take my critics advice and “fix” my story. Break it into two parts and retell each part someday at a future slam. I’m grateful to these critics for their sage wisdom, but I’m especially grateful to storytelling audiences, at The Moth, Speak Up and all the other places where I tell stories, for being present, willing, attentive, and sometimes, incredibly generous with their words and their time.

Speak Up storyteller: Cara Paiuk

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is TONIGHT at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still a few tickets available, so if you’re looking for something to do tonight, join us for a night of storytelling. Tickets available here.

This week we have been introducing the storytellers who you will be hearing from tonight. Hope to see you there!_______________________________

Cara Paiuk grew up in Canada where she had a Candy Crush -- dreams of Jolly Ranchers and 100 Grand bars led her to move to the US. She left corporate America a few years ago to pursue more creative endeavors. Cara has since been published on The NY Times, Huffington Post, CT-Moms, Kveller and many others. Her obsession with photography is her new endeavor and she also runs a food company (nuttycow.com) with her husband. If that doesn’t give her enough to talk about, ask about her three-year-old son and twin baby daughters and she will never shut up. Cara is doing her part to keep redheads from going extinct; she and her husband are both gingers and together they have three of the reddest redhead children you’ll ever see.

Speak Up storyteller: Lynelle Abel

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Lynelle Abel is a blue collar girl at heart and finds that her best stories come from her small town roots. She credits her keen interest in storytelling to her mother and her 7 brothers and sisters. They are the consummate story tellers – and have shaped Lynelle’s life in indescribable ways through their stories of resilience and humor in the face of incredible hardships.

Lynelle is proud of her not so picture perfect childhood – and while she and her husband went through great lengths to provide a more wholesome life for their two sons – she secretly hopes they are creating their own life stories filled with interesting people, happenings and experiences they’ve had along their journey through life. She can’t wait to hear some of their law and order stories when they are ready to disclose them…

Lynelle holds a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational psychology and in her now adult white collar world; works as the director of Volunteer Services for Yale-New Haven Hospital and feels genuinely blessed to witness daily the extraordinary acts of kindness from ordinary people.

Speak Up storyteller: Angela Lovell

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Angela Lovell is an award-winning playwright, director, screenwriter, podcaster, and storyteller. She’s written for MTV, several independent film studios and publications ranging from Match.com to High Times. She's taken first place at The Moth's NYC StorySLAM and performs regularly with Mortified (GetMortified.com). She was a finalist at Literary Death Match in NYC, The L Magazine’s Literary Upstart and The New York Press’ Sex Columnist Contest. You can hear her as Mark Twain's daughter on the album Mark Twain: Words & Music (featuring Clint Eastwood, Garrison Keillor and Jimmy Buffett). Angela is afraid of ghosts but not dentists. She wants to pet your dog. AngelaLovell.com

Speak Up storytelling: Risa Sugarman

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Risa Sugarman is a West Hartford transplant via Boston and New York City. She loves writing and has published articles on Kveller.com and on her own blog: sillyillymama.blogspot.com. She’s also been published on the Huffington Post. Risa is very open about her struggle with depression and has a passion for combating the stigma of mental illness.

She has a BA in sociology from Columbia University and an MSW from Fordham University. Her past includes working with children in clinical settings as well as writing curricula and conducting trainings. She lives in West Hartford with her wonderful husband and her sparkly daughter.

Speak Up storyteller: Tom Reed-Swale

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17h at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Tom Reed-Swale grew up in Canton, CT where he performed in seven stage productions including Grease! and South Pacific. He sang as a member of UConn’s premier all-male a cappella group, A Completely Different Note (CDN) and has formed an alumni group called Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

Tom taught third, fourth, and fifth grade in West Hartford and Farmington for nine years before becoming a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Theme Coach at a magnet school in the south end of Hartford.

Tom loves to garden, play golf, and spend time with his wife Elizabeth and his children Teagan and Charlotte.

Speak Up storyteller: Doreen Stern

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Doreen Stern holds a Ph.D. in public policy and two master’s degrees. She’s been a researcher at UConn and the University of Pennsylvania, a sales and marketing consultant for a Fortune 500 company, and director of New Hampshire’s largest child care program. And before that, she was co-director of the Sivananda Yoga Center in Washington, D.C.

Wanting to improve her public speaking skills, Doreen joined Toastmasters in 2005. Since then, she’s delivered 63 speeches through Toastmasters and another 50 at businesses and libraries, speaking on “Change Your Life in 17 Minutes.” People describe her as funny and revealing.

Speak Up storyteller: Alan MacKenzie

Our next Speak Up storytelling event is on Saturday, May 17th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

There are still some tickets available, though we are expecting a sell out, so purchase them now before it’s too late. Tickets available here.

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!

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Alan MacKenzie was born on a naval base in the Philippine islands on New Year’s Day. He grew up on his grandparent’s citrus ranch in southern California. While his father was fighting in the Pacific, he learned to love raising animals, creating things, working hard and playing outdoors. His grandfather, a self-made man, was his mentor, role model and father figure.

During his elementary and high school years, his family moved back and forth between California and Washington D.C. He graduated from Princeton, got an MBA from Stanford and was a Sloan Fellow at MIT.

After working 25 years in large corporations, he burned out and left to start my own business, Street Smart Ventures. He create entrepreneurial projects that teach social and workplace skills to young adults facing barriers to work. He is an avid fly fisherman, hunter and wood carver who watches UConn basketball far too often for his wife, Carole, who is a Clinical Social Worker, Sex Therapist and Professor at the University of Hartford. Alan and his wife live in Hartford’s West End along with along with their two dogs, Posy and Virginia Woof.

Speak Up tickets now on sale

Tickets to our next Speak Up storytelling show on May 17 at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT are now available. The theme of the night is Bad Romance, and we have a cast of storytellers who we know you will love.

Tickets for the show can be purchased here:
http://10907.formovietickets.com:2235/

Tickets to our Speak Up charity event on May 31 are also available. The proceeds from this event will support a team of middle school students who won a national literature competition and are heading to London this summer to compete in an international literature competition. The theme of the night is School Stories, and the event will be held in the Sedgwick Middle School auditorium, We have a great cast of storytellers for the evening that we know you'll love. 

Tickets for this event can be purchased here:
https://www.ticketpeak.com/smskidslit

Thanks! Hope to see you all soon!

Speak Up offering storytelling workshops

Until we have our Speak Up website up and running, I’ll continue to post information here about our upcoming shows and workshops. We are in the process of wrapping up our second round of workshops and beginning our first advanced storytelling workshop.

Information on all our future workshops are below:
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Speak Up is currently enrolling people in our upcoming  storytelling workshops. We have beginning and advanced classes starting soon. Whether your goal is to take the stage someday or improve your work performance through better presentation skills or simply become a better storyteller around the dinner table or meet new people, we may have something for you.  

If you're interested, the information is below. If you would like to get specifics in terms of availability and dates, you can email speakupstorytelling@gmail.com.

Thanks as always for all of the support!
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Speak Up currently offers two different storytelling workshops based upon preference and need. 

The first is our traditional beginning storytelling class, and the second is an advanced storytelling class. You are not required to attend a beginning storytelling workshop in order to enroll in the advanced class, but it's recommended if you have no previous public speaking experience.  

BEGINNING STORYTELLING

The goals of the beginning storytelling workshop include:

• Methods for generating ideas for stories from your life experiences (you have more stories than you realize!)
• The structure and arc of an effective story 
• The critical elements of an effective story
• Story manipulation based upon audience and setting
• Factors to consider for competitive storytelling
• Revising a story for audience appeal and time restrictions
• Humor
• Suspense
• Performance technique

In addition to modeling and instruction, participants are invited to develop a story of their own over the course of the workshop that will be presented to the class for critique.
 

By the end of the workshop, our hope that every participant will have at least one story ready to go for a future performance, though this is not required. Our previous workshops have included professionals looking to improve their public speaking skills, people looking to become better keepers of their families' stories, teachers and professors working on their lecture skills, and folks simply looking to meet new people and try something new. 

But if you're interested in performing at a future Speak Up storytelling show or elsewhere, our workshops are a good place to start as well. 

The first five sessions of the workshop are taught by professional storyteller and 11-time Moth StorySLAM champion Matthew Dicks. He is joined for the final class by Speak Up host and producer Elysha Dicks, who specializes in working with storytellers (including Matthew) to revise their stories. 

ADVANCED STORYTELLING

Advanced storytelling will focus on the storyteller's actual performance. Every participant will be asked to tell at least one story during the course of the six classes (and hopefully more), and workshops are held every other week. This will allow participants more time to prepare stories for the class. 

Following each story will be an extensive critique in a friendly, non-threatening, low-stakes environment that targets story construction, performance and revision. 

Additional goals include:

• Formulating anecdotes and story kernels into fully realized stories
• The development of humor, suspense and high stakes in a story
• The effective use of loaded language
• Revision for time constraints

The first four sessions will be taught by Matthew Dicks, with Elysha Dicks joining the class for the last two sessions to bring her considerable revision and critique talent to the class.  

The cost of both the beginning and advanced workshop is $225.

Speak Up storytelling: Pam Murphy

Speak Up is Saturday, March 29th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

We are sold out! There may be some standing room tickets available, but that’s it!

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Pam Murphy has worked as a Visual Arts Supervisor and an art teacher for the town of West Hartford for the past 15 years (Matt and I started the same day!). Prior to that, she was the state supervisor for all arts (theatre, music, art and dance) in New Hampshire. Pam began her teaching career in Massachusetts. Her hobbies include boxing, painting, writing and cooking. She has two teenage children. Pam’s previous stage experience includes playing the role of Julius Caesar in eighth grade.

Speak Up storyteller: Andy Christie

Speak Up is Saturday, March 29th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

We are sold out! There may be some standing room tickets available, but that’s it!

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Andy Christie is the creator and host of The Liar Show. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, in the Thomas Beller Anthology, Lost and Found: Stories from New York and on WFUV's CityScape. His humor book, I Wasn’t Kidding: How To Commit Suicide So They'll Never Forget It, was published by Random House in the United States and the United Kingdom. Consequently his work can be found on the remainder shelves of two continents.

He is a Moth Urban Storytelling Grand Slam Champion and can be heard on their Peabody Award Winning Radio broadcast, The Moth Radio Hour.

Speak Up storyteller: Kathy Binder

Speak Up is Saturday, March 29th at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Doors open at 7:00 PM. The show begins promptly at 8:00 PM.

We are sold out! There may be some standing room tickets available, but that’s it!

This week we introduce the storytellers who you will be hearing from on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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Kathy Binder makes her storytelling debut at Speak Up. Kathy left the corporate world in NYC to raise her three wonderful children in West Hartford by way of Providence, RI. When not volunteering for a number of organizations locally, she likes to challenge herself with new ventures. Having recently completed Matthew’s Dicks Speak Up storytelling workshop, taking the stage was a logical next step.

She believes that if you are not occasionally doing something that makes you nervous, you are not taking enough risks in your life. Eddie, her husband of 25 years, is her soul mate and greatest support while her three children, Evan, Aaron and Celia provide an endless supply of great story material.