2014 marked Better Said Than Done’s 4th year as Northern Virginia’s premiere storytelling troupe and 3rd year as the “Best Performing Arts Company,” as voted by readers of Virginia Living Magazine. The audience for storytelling shows keeps growing, the storytellers keep getting better and the future of Northern Virginia storytelling is bright. But before we move on to 2015, let’s take a little glance back at 2014, with a few words from the storytellers themselves.
January, Carrying the Torch – Stories of going for the gold, at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA.
“I had the tremendous opportunity to perform with Better Said Than Done on multiple occasions in 2014, but this year’s highlight for me was January’s “Carrying the Torch” show at an incredibly packed Auld Shebeen. One of the reasons I became a storyteller is to share the story of my cancer misdiagnosis and my fight to make it to the starting line of the 2012 Boston Marathon. This show’s theme offered just the right opportunity to debut this emotional tale in front of an incredibly supportive crowd and in the company of some of the region’s best storytellers. I will undoubtedly tell this story over and over and over again, but I will never forget the time and place I told it for the first time.” – Pierce McManus
February, When I Grow Up – childhood, adulthood, and the path between, at The Auld Shebeen
“I had a chance to revisit this teen-age story, The Sock Hop, for a performance with Better Said Than Done storytellers. You can count on Better Said Than Done to fill the room with lively audiences who are ready to enjoy storytelling. Tellers love that – – which makes for a really good show. I look forward to being on their stage again in 2015.” – Ellouise Schoettler
March, Into the Woods: stories of camping, hiking, and the wild life, at the Walker Nature Education Center in Reston, VA
“I always enjoy hosting our fundraisers for Friends of Reston. The shows at Nature Center bring in a different crowd from the usual storytelling fans and the venue is beautiful.” -Jessica Piscitelli Robinson
April, Roomies: Stories about living together – or trying to, at the Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA
“At the April show, we bid a fond farewell to Chuck Na. Our loss is Chicago’s gain. I am sure he is adding to the wind up there with some very funny storytelling.” – Mrs. Robinson
May, Mayday, May Day: stories of renewal, growth, and crying out for help, at the Auld Shebeen
“Being a storyteller is a socially acceptable way for me to tell mortifying family secrets under the cover of “art.” There is something enormously satisfying about making an audience laugh at some of my weakest, most awkward, life altering moments. When I’m doing it right, there is laughter, but I’ve never felt like I was being laughed at. The experience is like pulling up a barstool and telling stories to friends after they’ve had a couple of drinks. Well, it’s more like telling stories to friends who you don’t owe money to and have never tried to vacation with or shared political opinions.
The best part about sharing stories is realizing how much we all want the same things; respect, love, employment, and cheap beer. But the ways we go about getting those things are the stories where nothing goes right, we miscommunicate, make mistakes and usually wind up in a different place than we started and, if we’re lucky, it’s not jail.” – ann cavazos
June, Father, Daughter, Mother, Son: stories about family, at the Auld Shebeen
“The sounding board that the rehearsal process provides is incredibly helpful. The feedback provided by the other storytellers clarifies which parts of the story are interesting, funny, confusing, or unnecessary. I feel that my writing and performing are much stronger from my involvement with Better Said Than Done and I look forward to telling more stories in 2015.
Telling a story on stage together with my husband David was the biggest storytelling challenge I’ve taken since telling my first story. It took some work to write the story so that it was true to each of our voices and experiences but still moved along in a way that was coherent and, hopefully, entertaining. While preparing the story was a little more work than usual, performing it was easier because we could feed off of queues and reactions from each other. I’d definitely like to give that another try and will be looking for opportunities for co-storytelling in 2015.” – Mary Supley Foxworth
July, Oh What a Night – stories about darkness, dates, and nights to remember, at the Auld Shebeen
“…oh what a theme! Even as I think back on this show nearly half a year later, I find that I AGAIN have that song running through my head! As host, I thought it would be fun to introduce our tellers by having them share the name of a song that got stuck in their head. Turns out this is WAY FREUDIAN and a window into some deep and dark psychological inner workings, which I can now recommend as leaps and bounds better than picturing the audience naked should it be the case that you should find that stepping into the host role might induce *sudden and unexpected* stage fright, even though you have been performing onstage for more than a decade! <just sayin’!> But the stories were HOT and that was not just because of the mercury outside – turns out that we BSTD tellers have been cutting a rug and painting the town red all over the world, with our fingers on the pulse of social movements and critical moments of history in ways that do not go unrecognized by the news media. Can’t wait to see what this crew does in 2015. Thank you Jessica for all that you do and have done to build this community, we are more ourselves because of you!!” -Anna Marie Trester
September, Reading, Writing, and Art, at the Fall for the Book Festival, George Mason University
“I enjoyed a second opportunity to talk about storytelling at the Fall for the Book festival this year. Even better was the accompanying show! The festival performance always brings in a great crowd.” – David Supley Foxworth
September, Nature Calls, things you can’t ignore, at the Walker Nature Education Center in Reston, VA
I really enjoyed being apart of Things You Can’t Ignore at the nature center. It was such a beautiful serene setting and there were so many great stories told that night. Really heartfelt, deep stories that left all of us pondering the depth and breadth of life. The audience was fully engaged and very supportive of the tellers. It was a great night. – Anne Thomas
October, A Night at the Storytelling Improv, at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA
“Improv took on a different flow when combined with storytelling. The combination created a mixture that made it feel like the storytellers were part of my improv group, Take the Fifth, just on stage at different times.” – Peter Gorman
November, Leftovers: stories of holidays, forgotten things and do-overs, at the Auld Shebeen
“One phenomenon that has consistently surprised me is how much better my performance is than it was at rehearsal. The feedback from the run-through is part of it, but something extra seems to happen in front of an audience.
One of the moments I treasure most was a night at Auld Shebeen when I chatted with a woman while her gentleman friend hovered behind her with a territorial look in his eye. Fantastic! It’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve inspired a jealous expression from anyone. That was as good for my ego as hearty applause.” – Richard Barr
Thank you to the Auld Shebeen for making us a wonderful home in Fairfax. Thank you to our volunteer door goddesses and photographers and videographers. Thank you to the storytellers who have shared their most personal life lessons and embarrassing moments. And thank you, for reading this, for coming to the shows, and for being a supportive member of the storytelling community in the Northern Virginia, DC Metro area. We, at Better Said Than Done, look forward to 2015. It is going to be another great year in storytelling.
