Bruce Smith accepting his win at Drunken Telegraph’s April show, “Hot Pursuit”
At every show, after our Main Stage storytellers, we invite the audience to take part in a Story Slam where they can share their own 5 minute story on the night’s theme. (If the story is really rolling, people can sometimes squeak past the clock.) Our audience votes for the winner with the highly calibrated (not) Human Applause-O-Meter. The winner gets a gift certificate to Tacoma’s King’s Books.
But, you can’t participate if you don’t make it to the show! GET YOUR TICKET NOW!
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These are *some* of the stories from our April show, “Hot Pursuit”. Not everyone tale makes it to the web – another reason to make the live show!
The stories below aren’t edited. These are people speaking in the moment, moved to reveal their lives to strangers.
**SLAM WINNER**
Bruce Smith, What To Say When Your Therapist Tells You You’re Her Craziest Patient
A job doesn’t have to be terrible to want to shove it. Tacoma’s Jim Kopriva found out too much of a good job isn’t so good.
Enjoy a beverage as Jim and five other local storytellers share stories of work that went too far. Then, take the stage yourself with a true 5-minute story during the Slam portion of the show.
Get your tickets for our Saturday, September 27, 2014 show right now! (Our past three shows sold out before the doors opened.)
As part of every Drunken Telegraph show, after the featured storytellers, audience members are invited to take the stage and share their own five-minute story on the theme. Five minutes isn’t a long time, and sometimes people go a wee bit over. (If Megan Sukys, the timekeeper, is caught up in the story, she might forget the clock.)
Following our Crossing The Threshold show, we heard six totally different reactions to the six mainstage storytellers. Remember, most people are telling a story straight from their heart, with no practice or prep time.
Brook West & ASL Interpreter Jane Brazell
Brook West, Working Title
With a little help from paper plate notes, Brook West shared a beautifully crafted story about her path her from secret doodles of Special Agent Dana Scully to a public declaration of love to her partner.
Michael Smith
Michael Smith, Mormon Mission
The Mt. Rainier backdrop reminded Michael Smith of a similar mountain in South America, a place where he came to grips with what he could change about his life – and what he couldn’t.
Pat “A” + B. Gallagher
Pat “A” + B. Gallagher, Embracing the Second Rainbow
Our Mt. Rainier set also brought back memories for Pat, who started off by leading the crowd in an old Rainier Beer tag line. Then, Pat shared insight from living in-between the extremes of pink and blue, and thriving in the vast middle ground of purple.
Jarrette Bowen
Jarrette Bowen, How Many Times Does It Take To Come Out?
Jarrette’s story echoed a recurring theme from Crossing The Threshold, trying to reconcile his identity with his family’s religious beliefs.
Sandy King
Sandy King, Ask The Questions
A big rule for Drunken Telegraph is “No Notes”, but the audience response/story slam is a “No Rules” kind of time. Sandy King prepared a provocative, fast-paced account of coming to understand and empathize with a new transgender neighbor.
Sega Kaposi & ASL Interpreter Lori Moriarity
Sega Kaposi, The Incredible Life
Our youngest storyteller, Sega was moved to share how she came to understand her younger brother, who is transgender and currently transitioning to become Sega’s younger sister. It’s hard to translate intense emotion to words, and Sega showed bravery to publicly open up about her struggle and love.
H.M. Z.’s grandfather told him that migration is the essence of Islam. That advice was comfort as H.M. Crossed the Threshold, leaving his home country for the United States. But, fourteen years after arriving, H.M. now knows migration requires transformation, everything from rainbow bracelets and hard ‘r’s to skinny jeans and road rage.
Once Lynn Goralski discovered it was possible to have the body of her dreams, she had to spend another five years reconciling her Catholic faith with the truth of her soul.
Dana is the daughter of a minister and a wife-of-a-minister (which Dana says is an even stricter position). It wasn’t until college that she was finally able to Cross the Threshold and find a relationship with the Divine where she could be true to herself.
Backpacking and skinny-dipping at Flapjack Lakes, WA weren’t enough to heal Diane’s broken heart.
She needed a big sign from The Great Spirit… and she got it.
