It begins as a play usually does: The stage lights go up and the audience bursts into applause. A person walks out onstage and begins to address the crowd.
But there’s a catch. The person talking is not a trained performer. The lines weren’t written by a professional playwright. Instead, he’s telling his own story in his own words as honestly as he can.
In Take Five, the fifth play in the Stoop Storytelling Series, which comes to CSPAC’s Kogod Theatre tomorrow, five ordinary people will take the stage and spill their hearts out to the crowd, telling their personal stories of change, reinvention and transformation.
“Our hope is that each storyteller be authentic, not perfect,” said Laura Wexler, a producer of the Stoop Storytelling Series.
Wexler, a writer and editor, along with her friend Jessica Henkin, a teacher with a background in improvisational theatre, came up with the idea for a night of live storytelling in 2005. They launched the Stoop Storytelling Series at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore and have since taken the series to Baltimore’s CenterStage, where it became a hit, routinely selling out the 540-seat venue.
The fifth in the series, “Ch-ch-changes: Stories about Reinventions, Reincarnations and Major Rewrites,” will feature a diverse roster of storytellers including a university Quidditch seeker, a government employee and a Washington artist, all telling stories centered around the theme of change and transition.
“Change is universal — everyone changes, everything changes — and often there is conflict and challenge that surrounds change,” said Wexler. “Conflict and challenge make for great stories.”
The stories will cover a wide range of topics and issues, Wexler said — speakers will tell serious and comedic stories of overcoming drug addiction, healing from heartbreak, and pursuing athletic dreams.
In addition, on the day of the show audience members can enter a drawing to have the chance to share their own impromptu stories; three will be selected to take the stage.
“We believe everyone has a story, and our mission is to help people tell them in a compelling way,” Wexler said.
Take Five Stoop Storytelling Series: Ch-ch-changes: Stories about Reinventions, Reincarnations and Major Rewrites plays for one night only tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the Kogod Theatre at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The show is free; no tickets are required.
diversions@umdbk.com
