Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ~ April 11, 2010
First Person: Listen to this
Through massmouth.com, professional storyteller Andrea Lovett, 54, of Abington, is encouraging folks to tell tales.
(Photograph by Josh Campbell)
By Joel Brown
How did you become a storyteller? I was at a party and someone wanted to read from a book but they couldn’t find it, and I started telling stories. People listened and they loved it. People are drawn to narrative – to stories – naturally. My grandmother was the storyteller of the family, and I would just sit with her for hours and hours.
Through local story slams, you and massmouth cofounder Norah Dooley have invited the public to tell stories alongside experienced pros. Why? We were looking for a way to reinvigorate storytelling and find new audiences. Story slams seem to appeal to a younger generation. They get it. What they bring is a whole new energy. Everybody can tell a story. This is a chance to get up there and try it out. They’re not rehearsed, they are not really polished, but they are real, and so appealing.
How do story slams compare with poetry slams? At poetry slams there will be cheers and jeers. We don’t have that. We feel the story is part of the person – usually they’re personal stories. We’re a little bit kinder and gentler.
The story slams lead up to The Big MouthOff at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square April 20. What will happen there? We’ll have the first- and second-place winners from the last six months of story slams, and the people’s choice winners. So you’re going to hear the best-of-the-best stories in Cambridge, Boston and in Massachusetts. And audience members picked at random will have a chance to tell a two-minute story in a mini-slam format, so they can be part of it. They won’t be judged, though.
What makes storytelling different from other entertainment? Even if the electricity goes out, we still have our words. Even in the recession, especially now, this is great theater with little cost, and you can be transported to Pamplona with the running of the bulls or the back stoop of an apartment in Queens. If the story is good, you can go anywhere.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
