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Soda City Story Slam gives community an opportunity to open up

From The Free Times Article by David Travis Bland

If Shannon Ivey told you a story, she might tell you about “THAT FACE,” her name for the subtle contortion of a person’s visage when they find out about her divorce. The words created by the embouchure of “THAT FACE” often speak too much about eHarmony and too little about rolling in the sheets. She speculates this latter phenomenon is due to some sort of guilt that kicks in right at the good part.
[caption id="attachment_26870" align="alignright" width="300"]Shannon Ivey and Nancy Marine Shannon Ivey and Nancy Marine, a participant in this week’s Soda City Story Slam[/caption] What: Soda City Story Slam Where: Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St. When: Thursday, June 23, 6 p.m. Price: $10 ($8 for CMA members) More: 803-799-2810, columbiamuseum.org
“Why do we make THAT FACE at folks?” Ivey notes in a finely crafted essay that the local Southern women’s website Auntie Bellum published in May. “A divorce is an arduous, scary process, and at best, it takes well over a year. I SHOULD be congratulated. I made it out. I made it through. And, I have enough leftover to buy expensive mascara that, thank goodness, is waterproof.” Ivey, an actor, director and “recovering theatre professor,” gives the stage to other story-smiths with the Soda City Story Slam. Taking cues from The Moth, the popular onstage, storytelling podcast, the slam brings together 16 people of diverse backgrounds in front of an audience and allots them each about six minutes to break hearts, bust guts or both. “It’s the human condition in a condensed form, empathy in a bouillon-cube size,” Ivey says. “Extremely powerful for those telling the stories as well as those listening.” The Story Slam grew out of Ivey’s work with forum theatre, a type of performance in which audience members engage with and alter the production. “I wanted to see if Moth-style storytelling could be a way to get to the same thing, giving often ignored or oppressed folks the mic,” she explains. Earning a grant from the SC Arts Commission, she put on together a story slam series last year in Orangeburg where she was a professor at South Carolina State University. Ivey came to Columbia by way of her new career as a trainer in reproductive health and justice and found connections between acting and her latest gig. Through both jobs, she looked for a way to give voice to those often silenced, and in that search galvanized empathetic ties to her new city. She began discussions with the Columbia Museum of Art about an event that could realize this passion. “At first, they wanted a piece of forum theatre,” Ivey says. “When we talked more about how to make the event truly connected to the community, of and by the community, as well as respecting the busyness of folks’ lives, a story slam format was much more accessible.” In many ways, Ivey found Columbia to be a golden town. “When I was offered my current job, I could live anywhere in South Carolina,” she offers. “I chose to come here because of people. Because I’ve seen positive change happen for people, by people.” That inspiration guides the Soda City Story Slam, an event she hopes will become a regular series. “Story is all we have, really, that is ours,” Ivey says. “It’s also our most valuable natural resource when it comes to building community. So a Story Slam is a natural fit for Columbia.” For Ivey, the Soda City Story Slam isn’t her event as much as it belongs to the city. It’s another way for her to bring people together and to help them understand each other, goals she has long actualized. “Columbia has so many people doing great work, meaningful work,” Ivey posits. “This is a moment for folks to have five minutes to be authentic, to revel in what we share as humans, and connect with someone you might have never thought you could connect to. A good story can be many things. As a performer, I encourage my storytellers to prepare it well but write it from the heart.”

Burke storytellers pour out feelings through words

From the Charleston Post and Courier

Article by Stephanie Hunt

[caption id="attachment_25587" align="alignright" width="275"]BurkestorytellingTraquanWinns Traquan Winns[/caption]

Who here thinks they’re a storyteller?”

Besides a squelched giggle or two, the 30 Burke High School juniors gathered for a storytelling workshop a few weeks ago stayed silent. No hands were raised; no eyes lit up.

That’s how veteran slam poet Kiran Singh Sirah, president of the International Story Telling Center in Jonesboro, Tenn., opened a three-hour session he led for the students. It’s an educational outreach component of the annual Charleston Tells festival that will be held next weekend.

“So who do you think storytelling is for?” Sirah followed up.

“Little kids,” students chimed together. “You know, like children’s storytime at the library,” another said.

But by the end of the workshop, these same students realized they each had stories worthy of telling, and gathered in a circle for an impromptu story slam, showcasing newly discovered techniques to make their personal experiences come alive.

Burke AP scholar Kevin Frayer, typically shy and prone to hiding his shining brown eyes beneath a Clemson hat, was tapped to emcee their cafe-style “slam,” just as he will emcee the storytelling performance nine of these Burke students will deliver during the festival on Saturday, March 12.

Sirah drew from his multicultural background — the child of Ugandan refugees growing up as a person of color in South England — and shared his own poems about what it’s like to be an outsider. The kids could relate.

“He was interesting, he took his time and opened up and let us inside his own experience about where he came from. I especially liked his poem about a chip on his shoulder,” said workshop participant Sydney Huger. “At first, I thought ‘I can’t do this,’ but he helped me bring back memories I didn’t know I had.”

“The way he put his words together helped us really imagine what he was talking about,” added Frayer, who admits at first he was nervous about sharing his own poem, and them emceeing the slam. “I liked his play on words. There was a lot of action, it wasn’t boring.”

An advisory member to UNESCO and a Rotary Peace Fellow who has addressed the United Nations Headquarters on the power of storytelling, Sirah’s passion and expertise is using stories to bridge divides, address injustice and build community.

Sirah has international experience using storytelling as a tool for peacemaking and conflict resolution, and “this year, especially in the wake of the Mother Emmanuel AME shootings, we wanted our annual storytelling festival to offer that to the community,” explained Cynthia Bledsoe, acting executive director of the Charleston County Public Libraries and director of the annual Charleston Tells storytelling festival sponsored by the library.

To honor her CCPL colleague, Cynthia Hurd, one of the victims in the shootings, Bledsoe secured grant funding from the South Carolina Arts Commission and Humanities Council SC to bring Sirah to Charleston for the first time and to Burke, where he worked with students to create stories or poems on the concept of “home.”

“Home is the one thing we all know, but what home means is different for everyone. It could be a physical place, or a memory, a smell, people. ... By providing a safe framework to explore all aspects of ‘home,’ we helped them bring their stories to the surface,” explained Sirah. “I believe every story is worthy. When sharing a story, one is making a mark and asking others to listen. It can be a healing process, a way to find connections and build community,” he added.

For soft-spoken Chanquaisha Drayton, it did just that. “The workshop helped me say exactly what I feel,” Drayton said. “It showed me I could just be me and let my thoughts flow onto the paper.”

And she’s excited, if a little timid, about taking the stage to share her story with the larger community at Charleston Tells. “People might understand our point of view and where we’re coming from better,” Drayton added. “I think people just see the news and think we’re all hoodlums and don’t want to go nowhere, but things may not seem how they are. I hope our stories can help people see a different perception of us.”

Image above: Elias Wendt and Sadayah Brown

Charleston County Public Library hosts Kiran Singh Sirah for “Telling Stories That Matter”

International speaker offers ideas to help residents address issues of social justice, race relations Kiran Singh Sirah To explore the role of storytelling as a tool for conflict prevention, community development and social change, the Charleston County Public Library will host Kiran Singh Sirah for “Telling Stories that Matter: Cultivating Community through Story,” a public presentation at the Main Library, 68 Calhoun St., Charleston, S.C., at 6 p.m. on Feb. 5. Through examples of social justice, race relations and community cooperation, Sirah will explain how personal relations developed through storytelling can help residents better discuss and work through these difficult conversations. Sirah's visit to Charleston also will include a three-hour workshop with juniors and seniors at Burke High School during the afternoon of Feb. 5. The workshop will give students the opportunity to work under Sirah's direction to craft and tell their own stories that can be shared March 12 at the Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival. Whether to entertain, educate, heal, or resolve conflict, stories are the most fundamental way that people connect. The power of storytelling is unquestionable, and recognizing stories as creative expression helps to better understand the anxieties, dreams and aspirations that link humanity with community building. This program is part of a CCPL series that explores race, identity and civic engagement in response to recent tragic events in the Charleston area, most notably the mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in June 2015, which tragically took the lives of nine Charleston residents, including long-time CCPL staff member, Cynthia Graham Hurd. This series is intended to promote healing, dialogue and collaboration in Charleston. Program partners include the College of Charleston, The Women’s Resource Center, and the City of Charleston Housing Authority. Sirah is president of the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tenn., a UNESCO advisory member, a Rotary Peace Fellow, storyteller and slam poet. A proven peace builder and advocate for the arts, Sirah has spoken about the power of story at the United Nations Headquarters, where he delivered the keynote address at Rotary International U.N. Day in 2012. As a Rotary Peace Fellow, he has worked with homeless populations, marginalized high school students, gang members and conflict-wracked communities from Northern Ireland, Colombia, Palestine and Israel. Through his international background and perspective, Sirah explains that sharing stories is “more than a human right, it’s an act of love that can change the world.” This presentation is funded by the International Storytelling Center, The Humanities CouncilSC, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Charleston Friends of the Library, and Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival, a production of the Charleston County Public Library.  For more information, contact the Charleston County Public Library, (843) 805-6930.

Storytelling with Folk Heritage Award recipient John Fowler

Enjoy a performance by 2013 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award recipient John Thomas Fowler at McKissick Museum. Fowler -- a master musician and storyteller -- will perform Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. - noon. john thomas fowlerFowler has been described as a treasure of a performer, an artist and a lover of folklore. For more than 30 years, Fowler has worked to ensure that Appalachian culture remains alive by sharing the music traditions and stories of his heritage with schools, churches and libraries, at festivals and other events, as well as through recordings and radio. His storytelling weaves together the threads that bind communities – a shared history and family ties, and his performances combine music, folklore and charm. He often surprises audiences by tapping his foot or dancing a jig while he plays and tells stories. His presentations are designed for all ages, from a child dreaming of playing a musical instrument to a senior reminiscing of days gone by. Fowler's performance is part of the museum's programming for the exhibition Diverse Voices, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Related: Nominations for the 2014 Folk Heritage Awards are due Dec. 16, 2013. Via: McKissick Museum

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