Telling Stories vs. Performing Stories

Sometimes people assume that since they get a lot of laughs at parties, or that they are prone to remembering events or effortlessly share stories, these skills will translate to a performance setting.

Taking your storytelling skills from soirée to stage is a game-raising challenge, and something akin to a would-be comedian learning how to use timing or a comic triple. It’s about technique, practice, awareness, and skill.

Any aspiring or seasoned teller would benefit from mastering things like: how to set your stage and work with a microphone; how to utilize your voice and physicality to help your story along; how to command the stage with persona and presence; how to be aware of your uniqueness and assimilate your personality and quirks into your own narrative…and more.

In an academic acting program, students are tasked to essentially eliminate their quirks, personality, gestures, and any kind of discernible, regional accent or speech mannerisms...so that they can become a neutral canvas on which to imprint or embody a new character.

In storytelling, we are trying to do the opposite! We want the teller to become MORE aware of their personality traits and gestures so that these become enhanced elements of their storytelling. We are not trying to “become” a character; we are trying to augment our own resources, because individual quirkiness in storytelling is what signifies the medium! And, since we are talking about live lit performance, a performer's material needs to be amplified for stage.

In a class called “Acting for Writers,” we play a game called Impressions. It allows the group to speak very specifically about how our fellow storytellers appear on stage, what kind of impressions they give off, and what makes them interesting as humans and performers. We hope to be aware of and build upon what differentiates us as tellers. It makes storytelling a more professional and personal endeavor, and far more interesting for the audience. 

Come work on storytelling with us! http://www.storyjamstudio.com.