2019 might not have been the best year for the world, or our country, but for fans of storytelling in Northern Virginia, it was great. Too many things happened to list them all. But here’s a quick look back.
January, 2019
We had two wonderful storytelling shows in January, and one great loss to the storytelling world. Sheila Arnold joined Jessica Robinson on stage at Jammin’ Java for a special show called “Peace & Justice,” hosted by Nick Baskerville.
A few days later, storyteller Anne Thomas passed away. We honored Anne at our last Saturday of the month show at The Auld Shebeen, “Fairy Dust,” by playing a video of one of her stories that brought me, and most of the audience, to tears. Here’s a remembrance of Anne, for those who did not get to know her, or just miss her terribly.
February, 2019
In February, Roar: True Tales of Women Warriors, received honors in the Storytelling World Awards! We also joined Fall for the Book for an Open Mic Pop-Up Lit night at the Old Town Hall. Our regularly scheduled, last Saturday of the month at The Auld Shebeen, storytelling show was called “On a Winter’s Night,” and it warmed the heart of all of our audience members. Bonus: we welcomed first time storyteller Jon Modell to our stage.
March, 2019
In early March, Jessica Robinson once again had the honor of teaming up with some amazing, professional storytellers, for a special show. In “Adventure Calling,” Anne Rutherford and Norm Brecke flew in from Oregon to bring exciting tales of cheese, treasure, coffee, and cowboys, and Jessica threw in a little castration for fun. Later in the month, at our “Lost and Found” storytelling show, we found experienced storyteller Denise Bennett on our stage for the first time, along with our usual crew.
April, 2019
In April, we had a “Climate Change” on our stage when Margarita Rozenfeld performed with us for the first time. Oh, and we totally fixed global warming!
May, 2019
May marked our 8 Year Anniversary, so we hosted a storytelling celebration with 8 storytellers telling 8 minute stories – or, at least, trying to. And the person making 8 enough was first time storyteller Bill Weech!
June, 2019
In “Smoking Gun,” we not only made people laugh and cry, we also added first time storyteller John Howell to our community.
July, 2019
Jessica Robinson led a specially crafted 2 hour storytelling workshop at the Arlington Public Library.
August, 2019
Our August storytelling show was filled with love, as our community grew
closer through story. We were joined once again by the fabulous Geraldine Buckley, and for the first time by wonderful storytellers Les Schaffer and Jay Johnson in “Other People’s Stories.” Sadly, that same night, our country endured two mass shootings. My thoughts on gun violence and community here.
September, 2019
After the hazy, lazy days of summer, we got over ambitious in September – with 3 shows! First, Jessica Robinson hosted a night of storytelling and music with storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin. Then we had a special “Open Mic” storytelling show at a new venue in Herndon, ArtSpace Herndon, welcoming first time storyteller Andrea Young and new to our stage Jeri Mae Rowley.
Finally, we returned to our regular last Saturday of the month show at The Auld Shebeen, for “Old School,” where we got a new friend in storyteller Hettie Farley. And, finally in September, as if we didn’t have enough going on, Jessica Robinson started leading her 5 week storytelling workshop, “Your Story, Your Life” for the first time through the Vienna Community Center.
October, 2019
We kept busy in October as well. In addition to the million Halloween parties we all got invited to, we participated in GMU’s Fall for the Book Festival once again. This time, just for fun, we had a “Liar’s Show,”
where the audience was invited to guess which of the storytellers were
dirty rotten liars. We were joined for the first time by Jennifer Fischer and Lisa Leibow. Jessica Robinson led a storytelling workshop for the Rubenstein Fellows at the Brookings Institution in October. And we ended the month with our “6th Annual Night at the Improv” – a storytelling show in which no storyteller is prepared. Hosted by Jack Scheer.
November, 2019
In November, the Better Said Than Done family decided to kick back,
relax, eat some turkey, or tofurkey, and come together one last time for
our final show of the year, “Family Ties.” In addition to having the
wonderful Ellouise Schoettler return to our stage after too long, we were joined for the first time by Gayle Turner. The blog post is pending so you’ll just have to wait for 2020 to hear our family drama.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to hibernate for a few months.
Good thing we don’t have anything else to do until January 25th, 2020.
Except prepare for January 25th. I believe that our January storytelling
show, “My America,”
will once again move the conversation forward about how we, as
storytellers and Americans, can come together and form a stronger
community, where we support one another. We’ll see you there, America!
Until then.
Have a happy, peace-filled, sanity-filled, safe, loving, comforting, and joyous rest of the year!
