eight million stories in the naked city...this will be mine

I have a colleague who takes a variety of performing arts classes at a place called The Magnet Theater in Manhattan. Well, it seems to me like a variety. Maybe it's not so many. But when he and I were in the same unit, and that unit would occasionally get together for lunch, it seemed he always had stories about some new class he was taking. At any rate, these classes include storytelling, improv...I'm not sure what else. Whatever.

I've seen videos of him performing as a storyteller. He crafts eight (or so) minute personal tales. A tale can span years when you consider the background exposition. But, while these stories cover ground that seems mundane, he makes them interesting. So, when he mentioned last fall that he was going to be in a storyteller showcase, I wanted to go see it.

Actually, I had three reasons for wanting to see the showcase. First, I thought it would be interesting. Second, I wanted to support a friend and colleague in his extra-curricular activities -- the way friends and colleagues went to see me perform when I was acting in black-box theater productions (20-plus years ago). And third, I wondered if something like that would interest Ethan, but I needed to see the guy who teaches these classes and see some people other than my colleague perform.

Blair and I went, and we liked what we saw. So, this past Tuesday, Ethan and I started a storytelling class with Adam Wade at the Magnet Theater.*

I didn't really know what to expect going in. The only thing I knew for sure was that the class would be spent working toward a final showcase in which each of us would, in turn, present a story which we will have developed and crafted in class. That's scheduled for late April. So clearly a lot of the class' six sessions are to be devoted to developing that story.

After some administrative items, Adam started us off with a story -- how he got into professional storytelling. I'm not sure how long it lasted, but it was really touching and he managed to connect with the class. Other things we did in class included:

• Adam played us an audio recording of one of his former students telling a personal story, and we then each commented (see video below);
• Each of us had to pick a personal item from our childhood, and talk about it -- what it is, how we got it, where it is now. I talked about a sign I swiped from the subway system when I was in high school. Ethan talked about a demented two-headed baby doll he got years ago at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
• Adam demonstrated how to list the essential elements of a story, showing a long list of seemingly disconnected words and phrases, and then telling a story that involved all of them, in order.

One thing that is clear is that a lot of the people in the class have more experience with this kind of thing than Ethan or I do. It's a beginner class, but a lot of people talked about doing acting, improv or standup comedy. So their polished performance styles showed when it was their turn to talk about personal items.

For homework, we are to come back to the second class with two or three story idea pitches, from which we will ultimately pick the stories we construct for the final project. Oh, and we are to do something enjoyable. I don't know why.

I'm not sure yet what my story pitches will be, but I have a few thoughts:

• My experience with two neurotic cats, one of whom would fling his food around the kitchen when I tried hiding antidepressants in it;
• How Blair and I got engaged (without my ever proposing marriage);
• My 35-year songwriting project -- how, though multiple rewrites, it took me 35 years to write the song, "Music No One Else Can Hear," while an interim version (which I don't actually like) got me into ASCAP

I've always been a bit of a ham, and I love the spotlight, so I'm looking forward to the showcase performance. Ethan isn;t quite as comfortable as the center of attention, but he likes the idea of anything that helps him with his public speaking skills. He had done quite a bit of that when he was volunteering for Stack-Up, but that ended and he hasn't done much public speaking since.

*This evening the class was postponed indefinitely because of COVID-19. But that's another matter. Since I was planning to blog about the class, my impressions and thoughts, etc, I figure I'll write this post as if I don;t know yet that it's cancelled. Now, instead of getting annoyed, keep in mind that I could write this as if I don't know yet, then afterwards post a follow-up as if I truly didn't know when I wrote the post. But that would be dishonest.