AGENDA . Agenda Lead

Jam and Slam

First Person Arts is throwing a party. Want to come?


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Published: Jul 20, 2010

Erika Vonie

STARS AND STRIPES: Grand Slam competitor Leah Walton weaves a yarn at a previous StorySlam.

[ storytellers ]

During show and tell, what you had to say about your Pog collection, pet rock or family heirloom was ostensibly as important, if not more so, than the item you shared. Perhaps that's what the folks at First Person Arts had in mind when they selected "Show and Tell" as the theme for their next StorySlam.

But this is no ordinary slam. It's a Grand Slam, wherein winners of past events will duke it out for the enviable title "Best Storyteller in Philadelphia." For the past three years, First Person Arts has incorporated Grand Slams into its annual fall First Person Festival, but the Summer Grand Slam and Block Party will be a standalone over-sharing extravaganza complete with barbecue, beer and music.

The festivities begin with some edibles donated by Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse, Narragansett Beer, Art in the Age ROOT liquor and Herr's, with Brooklyn band Peculiar Gentleman providing the soundtrack. "Part of the reason we wanted to have a party beforehand was so that the audience will get a chance to tell stories and maybe, who knows, create a situation where stories will be born," says First Person Arts' managing director, Dan Gasiewski.

The slam itself kicks off at 8 p.m. inside the Painted Bride's main theater, where competitors will weave their best five-minute stories before three judges — mommy blogger Cecily Kellogg (uppercasewoman.com), StorySlam superfan Eduardo Careaga and Dee Johnson of the First Person Museum. While there's certainly an element of theatricality — even standup — to the best storytelling, the medium is meant to be democratic. Anyone can participate.

But not everyone goes for laughs. Past storytellers have opened up about addiction and loss, Gasiewski says. It's this willingness to divulge something that is private and often embarrassing, even painful, that elicits such respect from StorySlam attendees. "Audiences never boo a storyteller," he says. "Everyone has this vested interest in who's on stage."

The addition of a second Grand Slam per year is further evidence of the StorySlam series' growing popularity since its launch in 2007. After selling out numerous events, First Person Arts made slams bimonthly earlier this year. Saturday's competitors are previous winners of these chronicle competitions.

First Person Arts' Philly-based slams are a part of a growing national community of competitive storytelling. Gasiewski cites how the popularity of these events dovetails with the tell-all tendencies on social-media formats like Facebook and Twitter. "That's bigger than us and what we do," he says.

But there's one difference about StorySlams that makes them so appealing: the intimacy of shared experience in the flesh.

(julia.askenase@citypaper.net)

First Person Arts' Summer Grand Slam and Block Party | Sat., July 24, 5 p.m. party, 8 p.m. show, $15 (show only)-$30 (slam and party), Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 267-402-2055, firstpersonarts.org