denverstorytellersproject

[denverstorytellersproject]

As we start planning our next shows, we want your help on selecting themes! Please cast your vote on what themes you wanna write about, hear about and see a Storycraft show about.

Vote on as many or as few as you please and if you think you already have a story on one of our themes, send it to us at denverstorytellersproject@gmail.com

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Storycraft January 2017

photo by Jamie Kraus Photography

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For a moment, my senses felt sharper, heightened, like I had just experienced the world in a new way. I felt connected to my body. I felt alive.  I drifted off to sleep without bothering to rewind my favorite Bryan Adams song for the millionth time.

Colleen Leggett, Storycraft Jan 2017

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Growing up homeschooled,... my best friend was a duck.

Andrew Curtis Forlines, Storycraft Jan 2017

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Any of the 7 storytellers from our first Storycraft show can tell you, a lot of work went into making it memorable.

+Submission…Anyone and everyone can submit, because everyone has a story. Whether you are a seasoned professional or if you’ve never been on stage in your life, we only look for potential not perfection. Please submit your story by the submission date to denverstorytellersproject@gmail.com

+Voting…Once you’ve submitted, you get to vote and help determine what other stories make it into the show. Along with all the other submissions, your story will be voted on by everyone else who submitted. The stories with the most votes make it into the show.

+Workshop…If your story has been selected, you will gather with the other writers at one -or- two table reads where we workshop the stories with each other. It’s part test-audience, part focus group, part group therapy and it makes the rewrites pretty memorable.

+Rehearsal…Performing a personal story is an art form all on its own and we care about making it fully connect with the audience. With the help of performance coaches and public speaking experts, we take your story from rough draft to stage ready.

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“Suck Today...because that’s what rehearsal is for” - Overheard at #Storycraft rehearsal

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THIS GOES IN THE SCRAPBOOK #babyssecondtableread #storycraft #denverstorytellers

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Ladies and Gentlemen! We are accepting story submissions for our next show at Syntax Physic Opera on Thursday April 20th. Interested? Please submit a rough draft of your story (or any questions!) to denverstorytellersproject@gmail.com

Submission theme: Hurt

Submission deadline: Thursday Feb 17th

[denverstorytellersproject]

The Story of Storycraft.

Today, It’s hard to find many people on the street  who know what a modern storytelling show is... is it like stand-up comedy? Is it a Ted Talk? Is it a literary reading? Is it for kids?

Modern storytelling has made a name for itself with This American Life, The Moth or Denver’s own The Narrators. It’s hard to describe, but once you see it, you don’t forget it.

Way back in October of 2016,  Denver Storytellers Project got started when about 13 writers, performers and storytelling fans gathered to a meet-up in a downtown winery. We wanted to hear each other’s ideas, hopes and goals for starting a new show. A new show where we wanted to do something different, something a little more polished and curated. Most importantly, we talked about what. makes. a. good. story. and what’s the best way to tell those stories to an audience.

Then we got to work.

With an in-depth creative process, 7 stories were selected, workshopped, rehearsed and then performed in front of our first audience on January 19th 2017.

And although Denver Storytellers Project had a nice ring to it, we wanted to put our creative minds together and vote on a name for our show...one that spoke to our collaborative process; taking a story from rough draft to stage ready...

So that’s how Storycraft came to be.

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When Denver Storytellers Project first got together we sat down with a few goals in mind.

One goal was to determine what makes a good story?

With so much combined experience in the art of storytelling, we wanted to share ideas, perspectives and experiences on the topic. We came up with our unofficial bylaws on what. makes. a. good. story. that you can keep in mind, when writing, submitting or even sitting in our audience...

Vulnerability in the Storyteller...Memorable stories are told by those who can make themselves vulnerable to an audience in order to get them on their side. Audiences are uninterested in a narrator with an ego or an agenda to prove.

Personal Narrative and not just linear....Sure an audience wants to hear the action and linear events of a story but it should be framed in the context of an emotion or tie in a personal narrative. Even if the action/events of the story are not personally happening to the narrator, they should describe how they felt or were effected by it.

*Moments of Humor that break Dramatic Tension...Even the most captivating, moving stories can be TOO excruciating to listen to as an audience. Our group agreed that humor, well placed jokes, or some release in the tension needs be utilized when performing those stories. 

*Sensory Details that help set the scene....Too many stories tellers get wrapped up in "and then this happened...and then this happened...and then this..." and they don't indulge in those sensory details that illustrate what was really happening and being felt. Set the scene for the audience in a unique way.

*Hits on a Universal Feeling....We all have amazing stories that are unique to our personal experiences and lives, but underneath they involve the universal feelings of fear, love, rejection, acceptance, guilt, etc. It’s what needs to be realized in a story in order to truly connect with an audience