“It’s usually a jolly good trick to pick up a local tour guide,” is sound advice British actress Jane Birkin once said. Throughout the 24 hours of stories at the 2021 Women’s Storytelling Festival, these nine excellent emcees will be the local tour guides for the audience (which is you of course! You have your ticket already, right?) They are “local” in that they are all gifted storytellers and story enthusiasts themselves. “I can not express how much I feel tremendous gratitude for a good emcee,” says Laura Simms of her own experience as a storyteller at venues like The Nobel Peace Festival. They know the difference an emcee makes.
“An emcee’s job is to get the audience excited to hear the teller without getting in their way,” says Miriam Nadel, who herself has performed all over, including at the Washington Folk Festival. Award-winning storyteller Noa Baum says that emcees are “like the sorbet palate cleanser between courses of a rich multi course feast” of stories. Emcees reflect on the previous story with the audience and “prime the audience’s mood to be as receptive as possible to the next performer,” says story lover Cyndi Wish. World traveler Andrea Young wisely adds, “We also entertain the audience if there are any technical difficulties or things happening behind the scenes that we have to address with grace!”
The Emcees also have recommendations for how the audience can contribute to the festival. Noa Baum advises “Show thyself … allow yourself to be present and NOT multitask. Listening while doing something else is not the same as allowing your presence to participate in the CO-creation of the story.” Vicki Bryan, featured storyteller of Sweet Water Stories & Tales, concurs, adding that a good audience is “an audience that is expressive, attentive and truly invested in the experience. Voicing their enthusiasm via reaction icons, chat box chatter, laughter, body language, and facial expressions.” Storyteller and speaking coach Carol Moore furthers these sentiments, pointing out the unique opportunity that this year’s online format offers. She says, “Chat chat chat! It’s a type of engagement that is organic and amazing. …to actually know how folks are reacting to stories and emoting in real time? It’s priceless.” Andrea Young chimes in with, “Better yet, if they attend Friday, the good online audience will spread the word to tell their friends and family to join for Saturday and Sunday too!” And Miriam Nadel says, “let’s emphasize that men are also encouraged to attend and listen to women’s voices.”
As for the Women’s Storytelling Festival itself? “I’m so delighted to be part of this event…Honored to bear witness to the telling of stories from women representing all ages, races, ethnicities and places (urban, suburban and rural) sharing stories in their own special way.” says Vicki Bryan. Anne Rutherford, of the online performance group TBD, says, “Being able to experience so many different styles of telling in one Festival is fantastic.” Katie Knutson, Chair of the National Storytelling Network, elaborates “I get excited when I see so many diverse women working together. I can’t wait to hear the stories of people I already know and love, and to meet new voices that I will soon love. When women come together united in a common purpose, magic happens.”
“I just KNOW they’ll all be full of girl power!” adds Carol Moore.
“I am excited about women’s voices sharing stories. …The feminine in our world is by its nature transformative. It is what is always sought in traditional tales because it has been forgotten or devalued. And an entire festival devoted to the voice of the feminine means we bring it front and center into the world whether its narratives about courageous or unusual women, or ancient stories that reintroduce us to the ways of women and connectivity. We are in for a deep wallop of refreshment,” Laura Simms explains.
Katie Knutson adds, “I’m really excited that NSN is partnering with BSTD for this festival. Jessica is a delight to work with, and NSN has incredible resources for tellers at any stage. I hope we can continue to collaborate.” Anne Rutherford says the “Silver lining of the pandemic: being a part of this great, wide-flung team of tellers Jessica has assembled. And special huzzah to Jessica for being one of the online pioneers with producing high-quality, reliable storytelling events in a fun, accessible format. She rocks!” Cyndi Wish concludes with “Huzzah to The Amazing Jessica Robinson because her capacity to make things happen AND be creative inspires me to do better. Shout-out to everyone who submitted stories to the festival. The festival committee had to make some very hard decisions, because all the submissions were wonderful, unique, quirky.” Just like women everywhere.
To close this tour on your tour guides for the festival, I’m taking a pointer from the emcees themselves. Emcees at Better Said Than Done usually ask the storytellers a fun question before concerts so the audience can know the performers a little more personably. This time, the emcees are answering a punny question (yes, punny) to finish helping you know them more personably! Be sure to give these nine ladies a shout out when you see them March 19 – 21, 2021 at the Women’s Storytelling Festival!
Question: If you met a mermaid, what do you think the conversation would entail?
Noa Baum: 🤨
Vicki Bryan: The conversation would definitely be a girlfriend pass the wine conversation: “Girlfriend… “Any beauty secrets of the sea you would like to share?’ Like what do you use on your skin and hair to keep it from drying out?” “”Where do you hangout?” “Do you prefer dating merman or human males?” “Where is the cleanest water on earth?” “Where do you suggest I go for vacation near the sea?” There would be a lot of laughter and wine!
Katie Knutson: I would start by pointing out the pun in that question. Then, we would probably discuss some of the same ideas I have explored with women from other cultures: ideas of safety, gender norms, expectations, etc. If she seemed comfortable going there, I might also ask about the choice of seashells, which on land would be one of my last clothing choices.
Carol Moore: How she’s been living without coffee, whether or not she washes dishes, how she goes potty, what she thought of the movie Splash, what name does she actually have for a fork, and lastly I’d explain the benefits of not having to shave her legs, because well, she doesn’t have any.
Miriam Nadel: The joys of not needing shoes when you have a finned tail instead. And I’d love some tips on keeping my hair from frizzing up in a damp environment.
Anne Rutherford: I hope you are swimming in money from having licensed your image to Starbucks.
Laura Simms: If I met a mermaid I would be both thrilled and terrified. What would we speak about: the presence of the magical in our lives. The dream walking out of sleep into our day lives. the chance to slip into her skin without fear of theft.
Cyndi Wish: Well…. I’d want to ask her about anatomy, you know, how does she pee if she does pee, what is sex like if she has sex, etc. And I’d also want to know what real mermaids think about how mermaids are portrayed in the movies and pop culture. Daryl Hannah as “Madison”? The Mermaids of Weeki Wachi? Are these true representations, or are they offensive? And if human portrayals of mermaids are offensive, I would probably invite the mermaid to serve on a committee on mermaid representation policy. And maybe she would ask me about Baltimore. Maybe she had a distant cousin that swam to Baltimore and was never seen or heard from again, and do I know anything about Baltimore mermaid trafficking and can I help her find her cousin? I think that is how the conversation would go.
Andrea Young: I would ask questions about where do they go when there is stormy weather and if they have ever tried to go on land. I’d also ask, if they have a pet, what is it?
Blog post contributed by Misty Mator, a storyteller from the Pittsburgh area that is thrilled to be a part of the lineup for this year’s festival, and honored to introduce these dynamic emcees.
