An integral part of the Women’s Storytelling Festival will be the emcees for each event. Six storytellers from our Better Said Than Done community have stepped up to take on those duties. Each one a gifted and engaging teller in her own right, I asked what drew them to storytelling in the first place.
Bottom: Miriam Nadel, Sandra Hull, Catherine Calvin
For Sarah Snyder, being on stage was something she liked, but she didn’t see acting as a viable path. Storytelling gave an outlet for that desire. “Also, my grandfather and father were preachers, and I come from Irish heritage, so it’s in my DNA; I can’t help myself.”
Sarah’s journey has has taken her from live storytelling to published author. Her memoir, Plant Trees, Carry Sheep, tells the tale of her “two years living in Scotland at this crazy, beautiful spiritual retreat, where I experience depression and love, resentment and relief, frustration and letting go… you know, life!”
Giselle Ruzany’s path to the storytelling stage came through her graduate work. “As part of my Ph.D. studies in expressive arts therapy, I was supposed to choose an art form I was not familiar with… storytelling was a new art form for me a year and a half ago, so I entered the journey, and do not think I will be ever the same.”
The power of storytelling is something Giselle Ruzany finds incredibly moving. “Storytelling is very healing and can transform the worst moments in our lives into a clever and entertaining journey. It makes these experiences just human and relatable.”
Motherhood is what moved Andrea Young to become a teller. She says that “after becoming a parent, I valued storytelling more and wanted to be more involved.”
A veteran emcee in other settings, Andrea is eager to take on this role for the festival. “I am most excited about being an emcee for this amazing festival because the connections we will make here will take us all on many exciting, unknown paths together!”
Miriam Nadel first encountered the concept of our style of storytelling at a friend’s wedding. “Everyone else was a friend of the groom, while I had known the bride for years. People kept asking me where I knew the groom from – was it volleyball or bridge or storytelling? So when I saw an announcement for a storytelling festival… the idea clicked and I knew I had to go.”
Miriam finds the sheer diversity among storytellers wonderful. “I love the variety of stories people tell. Even with a common theme, all tellers take things in their own direction.”
Sandra Hull gives out little glass hearts to people she meets, and a friend suggested this practice would make a great TED Talk. “I scoffed at the idea… Then the universe intervened by placing an announcement of a BSTD storytelling workshop… in my LinkedIn feed. I was hooked.”
Through storytelling, Sandra has found a new avenue of human connection. “I realized that even the most personal experience I might tell about ultimately revolves around some universal truth. Hey, I belong!”
Catherine Calvin first delved into storytelling as a means to help her career. “I attended two workshops, intending to use [storytelling] strictly for business but after much encouragement, I finally got up the courage to take the stage.”
Catherine believes anyone with an interest should give storytelling a try. “There may be some people sitting in the audience who think ‘I could never do that’ and I used to be one of them. Storytellers are an extremely supportive bunch and your own experiences are every bit as valid as anyone else’s.”
The Women’s Storytelling Festival takes place on March 13 and 14, 2020 in the City of Fairfax. Details here.
