I was running a little late, trying to find a parking spot that wouldn’t get my truck towed. I found my way into what seemed to be a super secretive club. Instead, it was a very welcoming group of people lead by half of the Stoop Storytelling duo Laura Wexler. By the end of the workshop I had a new story and a better understanding of a story I told before. The Stoop Storytelling workshop is the first workshop I spoke about in my initial blog (https://stop365.blog/2019/01/07/you-can-learn-to-do-that/) It is what convinced me that I have been missing out by not going to a workshop sooner.

The Stoop Storytelling Series started in 2006 as a way to showcase the tales of everyday people. As a way to build community among strangers by sharing personal stories. The workshops started in 2009 as an expansion of the coaching that is given before the live shows.

As Laura and I spoke in an interview about what can be expected in a workshop, her description resonated with me. It is what I experienced that day in the workshop. On average there are about 20 people in a workshop. Currently there are 1/2 day offerings, with the plan to expand to full day workshops at some point. It’s a combination of lecture and discussion about storytelling. Added to that, is the conversation about the neuroscience of storytelling and how it works. We spent time sharing stories in various stages with various size groups and getting guided feedback. All the while, we got pointers on what works and help figuring out what meaning is hidden in our stories.

Why do this? Laura explained this in what has to be one of my favorite ways of understanding storytelling: “Personal storytelling combines all the power of story plus all the power of relationship.” Telling stories is not about being recognized, but about having an impact. Since storytelling is something everyone can do, then everyone can have an impact.

Still wondering why come to a workshop? Think of it as an easy way to dip your toe in the waters of telling a story that is personal to you. And to be able to do that on stage. There aren’t any workshops coming up soon, but there are shows listed below, and the podcast where you can listen to past performances. You can join the email list (https://www.stoopstorytelling.com/) to know more about workshops, shows, and other storytelling news. Here are the next 2 shows that are coming up:

Mar 28th show

May 16th show

Published by Nick Baskerville

After years of being an instructor in the military and the and the fire service, I realized I needed to improve my delivery. My students needed me to improve delivery. But how do I improve my delivery? Simple. I finally took a member of Toastmasters up on the invitation to come to a meeting. It wasn't long until I joined. Along the way of improving my skills at delivering a message, I came to understand that of all the ways to get a point across, telling stories is the best way to get it done. Around this time, another friend from Toastmasters told me about The Moth monthly story telling shows. What better way to test out my theories on storytelling. It's in my travels there to the shows that I found more and more shows, and classes, and events centered around storytelling. Despite how many people know about the storytelling world, not many people know about the storytelling world. So now, I'm out to tell the world about storytelling.

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