MouseMuse Productions

One of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome when I started MouseMuse productions Storytelling was the fact that I didn’t understand why certain storytellers who were very polished and proficient, including my then company partner who was Julliard trained distanced me from listening and relating rather than engaged me.

While my background is not in theater, I come from a long line of very entertaining people. My father was labor union mediator. It is said that his ability to tell a story was what kept New York City’s building and construction trade unions from warring with one another to the point of crippling the City. My father would tell me stories of how strikes would be averted by severing underground power lines so that the electricians contracts would be ratified and the City would get back to work. Same with almost every service needed.

My father was not dramatic. He was more like an Irish storyteller when he did speak. He always got to the point, but he took you there visually and emotionally.

My mother, on the other hand, was a torch singer with Big Bands and it was only when she was on the stage that she communicated with others.  Her elocution alone made you say, “Actress.”  She never told stories. She recited things.  She let my father do the casual storytelling. All of my father’s brothers and sisters were hilarious, characters whose roustabout lives or memories of the past were shared at the Sunday family table. As is often the case in families, I considered myself much closer to my father’s family. I knew who they were from their stories. With professional actors I never know who they really are, only what they are delivering to me in a form that is meant for stage.

The first storytelling I ever attended was Stoop Storytelling in Baltimore. Seven Storytellers for seven minutes. The ladies who ran the program shared some of their secrets with me. Neither one of them had a theater background. They were both published authors and one was a newspaper editor and lifestyle writer. The caveat I learned from attending Stoop Storytelling was “Watch out for the standup comics, and watch out for the actors, and more than anything , watch out for the writers who memorize. They will take seven minutes that feel like seven hours.” That was what I learned, but didn’t always practice. I had no confidence in what I was doing. In my Insider Arts columns for www.westportnow.com I never take an academic approach because I am everyman’s audience. I have never studied drama and cannot dissect a play other than to say how I felt. I did take two three day workshops with Robert McKee at the Directors Guild. McKee is the foremost storyteller in the world. He is also someone that playwrights, screenplay writers and fiction writers flock to. Susan Granger, the film critic, told me if I was going to study that form there was no one better than McKee to study with. He made me a better prose writer. I understood character, story, connection. I didn’t write a play.

What I didn’t  understand in my own producing beginnings was I was bored hearing a story that had been told and polished up so many times that there seemed to be an insincerity.

One of the things we do at MouseMuse is coach. For free, for our show. What’s the difference between rehearsal and coaching? In less than 30 minutes after you tell us your story extemporaneously,  you will receive written road map of where we got on your “highway” of words. Your vibe. And where we got off because you went astray or stepped out of your story.

We give you that road map on a piece of paper. Almost all of our storytellers now spend less than 15 minutes with us. They learn how to be their own GPS system in storytelling. We’ll only need to spend 10 minutes with you and your ten minute or less story. No one on our troupe has serious expectations of doing this for a living, or evening earning a few bucks. It’s the love of story that brings them together. There are no actors on our troupe, though we are open to hearing them all of my alarm bells go up when someone says, “I’ve been on stage a lot.” That means they’ve been on script. Getting out of that pattern is tough.

We choose six storytellers each time. We usually have a dozen to choose from for each themes. We like to have three new ones, and three seasoned ones at each show. That way the audience will feel the new voices, the textures of human emotion as new storytellers go further out of their comfort zone, and old hands at the format meet prior expectations.

MouseMuse has grown so much that we separating  our Flagship Storytelling program that takes place in large venues and uses  one common theme for the six storytellers, ten minutes, no scripts,  into a second program during the summer months.

Our new “Storymaster’s Jam ” will have four of our best storytellers appearing in a unique pub setting with a stage and pizza and bar and cajun food: Two Boots of Bridgeport. Just like a speakeasy, the atmosphere matters.

There, our well-travelled storytellers, will have playoffs for merchant donated prizes. That will begin on June 12th. You will find all of the necessary information soon on our newly designed pages (I hope they’ll be done by the end of this week.:)

What is the difference between storytelling, acting, standup comics and writers who memorize? You’ll know it when you hear it. Actors often think they don’t need coaching from non-actors, standup comics have a hard time keeping the narrative together because they need to deliver the one two punch as they’ve been trained, and, when you come to our studio, if you bring writing, I’ll take it away from you. That’s the deal. Previous experience doesn’t matter. That’s my great divide.

We had an infectiously enthusiastic group at our last Writers Artists Collaborative Writers’ Café on 4/11/12. We are a busy group and had lots of brags this month:

Ina Chadwick announced that the new mousmuse website was looking good and the designers should be finished first week in May. On that website will be several introductory programs that will encompass not on Tell A Story in Storytelling, but Write a Story for readings with raconteurs and singer songwriters for series debuting at the famous Two Boots Pub in Bijou Square , Bridgeport’s answer to hipster Soho and Williamsburg. All dates to be announced. MouseMuse’s arts partners for the revitalization of artists’ spaces, restaurants, galleries and art film houses include cross platform publishers, booking agents on the music scene and co-production with radio station WPKN.

Catherine Onyemelukwe read at the Westport Writers Workshop Open Mic night.

Elise Ferrara submitted five pieces for publication this month. She’s on fire!

Dee Andrian, in addition to being a golf tournament winner, is performing at Under the Covers on May 4th and 5th at the Seabury Center. For tickets and further information, email underthecovers@gmail.com. Dee also performed at a musical at the Westport Senior Center in April.

Margaret Rumford finished a short story and read a piece at the Fairfield Library.

Barbara Stokes has been writing every day. She’s got our consistency and dedication vote.

Shira Linden developed a new web site using WordPress. Bravo!

Iris Frey, an organizer of writers’ groups and Y’s Women at the Westport Senior Center, wrote a memorial piece for her sister for St. Patrick’s Day.

Steve Lance, who blogs and lectures on branding and advertising through his agency Unconventional Wisdom, wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review and is proud of his son’s bestselling Kindle book, Crazy Girls.

Robert Stevens Williams has a patron that will pay for digitally producing his book. Congratulations!

Leslie Feller has been soaking up all the writerly vibes of Spring.

Margaret Wagner has been writing a poem a day to celebrate National Poetry Month (April).

Sophie Barnes says she’s coasting this month, but she’s submitted a piece for anonymous review every month, so she’s a winner in our eyes!

We also reviewed our blind submissions for the month and had seven two-minute readings.

Finally, Writers’ café sends Gabi Coatsworth our collected hugs in they hope they will be comforting. Gabi’s mother passed away, and she was called to England to handle matters. Gabi, the process of letting go of one so loved can be challenging, and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this time.

DEADLINES FOR BLIND SUBMISSIONS:

• Submit pieces: By midnight on Wednesday, 5/9/12 to ina@mousemuse.com and Margaret_wagner@hotmail.com (please submit them with the cover sheet and as a .doc)

• Anonymous pieces sent to reviewers: Friday, 5/11

• Reviewer comments due electronically: by Tuesday, 5/15, 5pm

• Discussion: Wednesday, 5/16, during our May Writers’ Café

NEXT WRITERS’ CAFÉ:

Wednesday, May 16, from 12:3pm to 2pm at address is: 2 Redcoat Road, Westport, CT  06880 (it’s next to Exit 41 on the Merritt, also knows as Route 15, and is the first driveway on the right).

Coffee and tea are provided, but the brown bag lunch is up to you!  Also please remember to bring:

1. A brag (and a $1.00 for our communal pot, if you have one!)… share what writing success have you had during the last month.

2. If you sent a piece for this month’s blind submission/review process, please bring a hard copy of your review with you, and also email an electronic copy of it to ina@mousemuse.com and margaret_wagner@hotmail.com by 5pm on Tuesday, 5/15, so we can be prepared for the meeting.

3. A piece you wrote that you want to read aloud for two-minutes.

There’s lots more happening at MouseMuse with the storytelling programs, so stay tuned to www.mousemuse.com for great events in May, June and July and August!

Big thanks to Margaret Wagner for keeping the momentum going and keeping us focused. She is the scribes’ savior.