Middle Schoolers (and High Schooler) Share Stories on Stage

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Children consume stories through books, their classrooms, and each other – now they’ll tell their own stories on a stage. A youth story slam tonight takes after storytelling events like Galley Tables and gives students a chance to share their memories and experiences.

Ninth grader Tanner Purdy is one of the students to stand up on stage and rehearse her tale. One by one, each of the seven storytellers steps in front of the mic and into the limelight. Afterwards, they get feedback from their fellow students and their instructor.

Tanner’s pace is measured and her voice is calm, but she says she does feel anxious.

“You get up there and, for me, it’s when he first calls your name for the bio. My heart starts racing and I get really nervous, but then once I’m up there and I’ve got the mic in my hand and I’ve gotten a few sentences into my story and I can move around as I please, I get a lot more comfortable.”

The memories storytellers share with the audience can feel so intimate and honest, that it’s easy to forget storytelling is also a performance. Delivery is part of the package. Tanner says she’s heard a lot of advice about going with the flow of the story and not worrying about how she looks on stage.

“But I think the best advice that I’ve ever gotten was from a friend of mine, who just said if you don’t feel confident, just pretend that you’re confident, and people will believe that you are.”

In other words, fake it till you make it.

Tanner says she participated in a Galley Tables storytelling camp a few years ago and that’s one reason she chose to get involved. She also the only high schooler in the lineup after the two others dropped out because of scheduling conflicts, but the middle schoolers are up for the challenge.

The stories are eclectic, and instructor Celia Whitehead says they all fall under the theme of ‘perspective.’

“We have stories about going on an away team playing hockey or getting diagnosed with cancer when you’re six or having a fear of spiders or hating gym class. You get a huge variety of life experience. And all of these kids have done amazing work in exploring their relationship to these stories and how they have changed their perspectives on life.”

Whitehead says this is the last rehearsal before the Youth Story Slam.

“I am so excited. Four of the students came to all three of the workshops and were so engaged and I feel so lucky to have gotten to see them go on their journeys of figuring out about this. How do you reflect on something that’s happened in your life and tell it to a big old audience, not just your friends and family, but people you don’t even know?”

You can hear the students tell their tales at the Gerald C Wilson Auditorium tonight. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show begins at 7.