The Fifth Capital Fringe Festival has begun!

The Fifth Capital Fringe Festival has begun! 

132 shows will take place in the last three weeks of July!

The excitement has been palpable.  And now, like much anticipated rain after a long hot dry spell the Fringe is flowing theater into the streets of Washington DC.

Many of my friends are performing and I will be spending time racing down the road from Frederick to see and experience as much as I can while rushing back to rehearse my own show, “Destination?  Slammer!” which will be recorded in front of live audience on July 25^th.

Although the Fringe official opening night was July 8^th my first taste of the action was the following evening as crew for Ellouise Shoettler’s production “Pushing Boundaries” on the very plush mainstage at the Goethe Institut at 812 Seventh Street NW. 

For the second time in a week the Almighty provided a surprise soundtrack!

Ellouise was doing a one woman performance explaining how she stumbled into national politics as a mover and shaker in the second wave of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) movement of the 1970’s.  It is an important story, for though the bill was three states short and so was never passed, the groundwork that was laid by those pioneering women has enabled present-day women in the US to rise to heights unprecedented in previous generations.

Ellouise told her story superbly. The ending was unintentionally yet wonderfully dramatic. Ellouise had just said: " seeds that were sown then are coming to fruition now..." And the fire alarm went off !  As though a message was coming from the heavenlies -"and the candles that were lit then have turned into a modern day firestorm!"

I love the Lord’s sense of humor!

While we were waiting to discover that the alarm was a false one, tripped unintentionally by the next door restaurant, Ellouise, cool, calm and collected, regrouped everyone on the sidewalk and carried on.  And the audience was so with her and so involved in the story that they all stayed listening intently in the heat of a DC night, sharing their own stories and memories.  It was a brilliant ending to a wonderful evening.

And Ellouise scored a fabulous, well deserved review.

Icing on an exceptional cake! 

Ellouise's Storytelling Salon

I have had a lovely time playing with Storyteller Ellouise Schoettler this week.  Every first Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm she hosts a Story Telling Salon in Kensington Row bookstore not far outside Washington DC.

Last Wednesday was my first visit and as I drew up outside I fell in love with the venue and the feeling increased as I crossed the threshold.  The bookstore is magical - the shop that time forgot - a movie scene in the making – 84 Charing Cross Road moved to Maryland:  Truly a perfect setting for a storytelling evening.

The tellers were Cricket Parmalee and Nick Newlin.  Cricket told three creation stories and the audience was entranced. 

The first, the closest to my heart, was the biblical version from the very beginning of Genesis.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” 

As always, I melted on hearing those verses.

Clearly the Almighty did also.

As Cricket got to: “And God saw that the light was good…” a train roared past on the nearby tracks blasting its whistle enthusiastically for all the world like a divine soundtrack.

Another of Cricket’s stories, this time from the Hindu tradition, was particularly haunting. It was a healing tale, both beautiful and profound, describing how day and night came into existence so that grief could become more bearable as the progression of time dimmed its pain.

Nick told well crafted biographical stories that shed light on how a Harvard graduate became Nicolo, a full time professional juggler, married a high wire performer – Joanne, the delightful “Queen of Whimsy” - and years later emerged as a Shakespeare scholar. 

It was a wild and fascinating ride beautifully told!

Besides being a juggler and storyteller, Nick is a teaching artist at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and has just written a series of books called “The 30-minute Shakespeare” which enables students of all levels to be able to quickly grasp, perform and grow to love the Stratford Bard’s classics. 

At the end of the telling Ellouise skillfully led a question and answer session that gave a window into each performer’s world.  All fascinating stuff!

The salon takes a summer break in August and will resume on September 1^st when Ellouise and I will be sharing the program.  I am looking forward to telling and hearing stories in this wonderful venue – a book-aholic’s dream.

Do come and join us!

My Fourth July Fourth

This is my fourth July fourth as an American! 

 To my great delight I was naturalized on January 5^th 2007 and spent my first Independence Day as a citizen while staying with a wonderful friend, Liz Carpenter - which I thought was very appropriate.

 Over two decades ago when I was new to the US and renting Liz’s guest house in Austin, Texas, Liz threw me a 25th birthday celebration, (my first on American soil) hung bunting and called it “the Americanization of Geraldine party!” 

 Twenty five years later her prophetic gesture became a reality.

 Liz was soaked in politics. She was one of the three women to start the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), was Press Secretary to Lady Bird Johnson in the White House and was appointed to positions of influence by six presidents. 

 Although Liz was horrified that I have sustained a life-long disinterest in politics we shared a love of many other things including Vera Lynn torch songs, impromptu parties and poetry.  Indeed during my stint living in her guest house I read her a poem I had recently discovered which had quickly become one of my mother’s favorites.

“Never mind your mother”, cried Liz. “It’s now my favorite poem!”

She proceeded to put it in the book she was writing and quoted it in subsequent media interviews.  It was the Jenny Joseph poem that begins: “When I am an old Lady I shall wear purple…” which quickly developed a life of its own.

 Whenever I see a woman of a certain age decked out in purple and wearing a red hat I smile and remember Liz.

 Liz died this year, age 89, on March 20^th 2010.  It was the first day of Spring – and she would have loved the irony – her code name during her White House years was “Springtime”.

 On July 4^th it is good to remember all the blessings that come from being part of the great melting pot that is America.  And as for me, one of those blessings is having known, learned from and loved one of the all-time great American characters - my friend Liz Carpenter.

Story Genesis

A funy thing happened on the way to the conference….

On Saturday I was headed towards Washington DC to be a storytelling groupie at the American Library Association Conference, where friends Linda Martin and Kim Weitkamp were going to be performing with Southwestern Storyteller Joe Hayes at an evening tale telling session, when I was struck by a story in the making.

Right there on the side of 295, vividly outlined against a bright blue sky, an orange VW Beetle was alight – red and yellow flames  bursting out the top as though the sun was rising through its roof.   Standing about a hundred yards away, slumped against a wall, space in between them, their eyes on the ground, a young man and woman, looking despondent but completely unharmed, were speaking into cell phones. 

All the way to DC “I told you so” story scenarios danced through my mind. 

Had she wanted to stay at home and watch the World Cup?

Had he nagged her to have the car serviced?

Were they always cast in non-traditional gender roles?

Would the relationship survive the inflagration?

Or - my favorite - was this bonfire an answer to prayer where a paid off, fully insured lemon had gone up in smoke?

I’m hoping one day to hear the true tale of the roadside fiery furnace…

Praying it has a happy ending.

Theater Of The Spoken Word

A friend I haven’t heard from in a long while called me the other day to ask what I was doing and I told him all about my headlong plunge into the world of storytelling. 

He phoned back yesterday to ask if I was still busy reading books. 

I wouldn’t have known what he was talking about except that I had just read an article online by Jason Gelt* about California’s  Ojai Storytelling Festival where artistic director and founder of the festival, Brian Bemel, is quoted as saying: “One of the biggest misconceptions is that people just stand up and read books.  That’s why I started using the term ‘theater of the spoken word,” because they don’t read, they perform the stories.”

Theater of the spoken word!  I like that!

And I was delighted to have such a succint nugget to pass on to my slightly cynical friend. 

Thank you Mr. Bremel!

* Have they got a tale for you in Ojai, by Jason Gelt, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2010