We all love a good story, whether it imparts information or moves us to laughter or tears. In thinking of ways to continue offering cultural events and in hopes of engaging the community, Fivesparks hit on the idea of a storytelling fest. Many board members fondly remember the Three Apples Storytelling Festival, an annual weekend event popular in the 1980s and early ’90s. Professional storytellers held audiences rapt at various locations around town, and amateurs gathered on the Common to tell their own stories. Long term, the board members want to reinvent that festival and make it an annual tradition in town that people will look forward to.
Bil Lepp. (Courtesy photo)
This year, however, the Fivesparks STORYfest will be held virtually, but live, Saturday, Aug. 29, from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Two renowned professional storytellers will each have an hour of daytime stories and workshops, and both will participate in an evening story program.
Fivesparks board member Cary Browse said she contacted Donald Davis, an award-winning storyteller with 18 published books and more than 40 original recordings, who had been a frequent participant at the Three Apples and has become a friend. Browse quoted him as responding with: “I want this to happen. I will do whatever I can.” What he could do, in addition to participating himself, was to recommend other storytellers. In the end, the board decided to keep it to just two, with nationally renowned storyteller and winner of many awards Bil Lepp as the other choice. “That’s Bil with one ‘l’; there has to be a story behind that,” said Browse. “After we listened to stories that made him five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars Contest, we were hooked,” she added.
Donald Davis. (Courtesy photo)
Davis was born in the southern Appalachian mountains, a world rich in stories. Though he was early drawn to stories of legendary heroes, he was even more attracted to stories of his own family. He began by telling stories he had heard and then adding his own stories, stories that, according to one review in The New York Times, leave the listener “limp with laughter or struggling with a lump in the throat.” Davis will present “Our Stories Take Us Home” at 1 p.m.
In a recent phone conversation, Davis said that he, too, has wonderful memories of the Three Apples Festival and that it will be great if the Fivesparks event reminds people of it. He recalls Harvard as a “lovely little place” and said he pictures the large green space bound by the two churches.
Point of recognition
Davis said the most fun and rewarding thing about storytelling is “when something I say is a point of recognition for a listener,” when he sees he has prompted a memory, and someone in the audience turns to another and is clearly saying something about how her mother used to do the same thing. That feedback from the audience will be missing in the Fivesparks fest, Davis’s first live online performance, and he’s had to make some adjustments. Because he needs audience feedback for new stories—ones he’s told only 20 or 30 times—he will rely on those he has told hundreds of times and already knows how they will go. Although he will be able to see parts of the audience, he can’t know ahead of time who they will be and so has to choose stories with the most general appeal.
Davis’s 4:30 p.m. masterclass, “Playing With Memory,” will offer participants tricks on deliberately exploring random memories to find material for building family stories. In talking about the workshop, Davis said that we interpret memories through who we are and what we have experienced. Someone else may remember the same thing differently; the only truth is our own truth. He said he is fascinated by the question, “Why did I remember it like that?” A story can change over time as one gathers new information or becomes a different person; we keep remembering, adding layers to the original memory.
Davis likens learning how to tell a story to learning how to read. With a few exceptions we can all learn to read, and everyone can learn to do it better. But there are different levels, and how far we go depends on practice and talent, or proclivity.
Where truth was fluid
Growing up in a family where “the truth was fluid,” Lepp started early to spin tales and exaggerate occurrences. Though he is a champion at lying, his stories most often contain the kernel of a universal truth. Whether about a hunting adventure, a funeral, or a trip to the dentist, his outrageous tall tales and witty stories appeal to all ages and backgrounds. “An Hour of Stories With Bil Lepp” will kick off the day at 10 a.m., and Lepp’s masterclass, “Chaos Doesn’t Happen on Its Own,” will be at 3 p.m. In the workshop, Lepp will demonstrate how to move from stories of simple, everyday acts and occurrences to complex, layered tall tales through a few careful, but easy, steps.
Fivesparks board members want to make access to the storytelling as easy as possible. They will send an email to everyone on their mailing list with a link to register for the evening event, for which there is a suggested donation; those who are not members may join from the website www.fivesparks.org. For the free daytime sessions, those interested may use the link in the Fivesparks email or go to the website.
Go to fivesparks.org/events/2020-08-29
for more information on the live storytelling event.
