Westport Arts Center’s successful Storytelling Program, “Awake After Dark,” ends its season run on Tuesday, April 26, with a program themed, “Money Talks.” Ticket holders will be treated to unforgettable tales told by a team of storytellers, hand-picked for their ability to deliver a memorable story.
The program, developed by Ina Chadwick of MouseMuse Productions, invites amateurs and professionals to submit a few lines based on a theme announced in advance, typically integrated in WAC’s gallery exhibitions. Chadwick and her team—Bill Bosch of Oxford and Gabi Coatsworth Wilson of Fairfield—jokingly call themselves the “American Idol” judges of Storytelling.
Since the program began its monthly run in January, more than 250 people have attended, and 35 have volunteered to become storytellers. Chadwick adds, “We are going to build this thing up to the max the way they do in big cities. Westport has that kind of pizzazz.”
Alan Berman
Storytelling at WAC has built a bevy of new fans, including Beverley Stanley of Weston, (a London transplant). She wrote in her recent evaluation, “My husband was out of town and I had nothing to do. I went to WAC. I walked into a roomful of strangers and left feeling I had made friends. During the storytelling we wanted to turn to the person sitting next to us and talk about what we just heard. And we wanted to talk to the storyteller, too. Between the delicious appetizers and a glass of a signature cocktail created just for that evening, I spent a wonderful 90 minutes laughing and crying and ultimately connecting and caring about everyone. I stopped my busy lifestyle in my busy community and listened to stories told by strangers.”
Bonnie Levison
This month’s storytelling theme is “Money Talks.” The lineup includes a 27-year old Westport environmental illustrator, writer, and protector of ancient turtles, Alan Berman; Dee Andrian, who is celebrating her 80th birthday that evening with a ten-minute tale of going from rags to riches at a Woolworth Counter in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Bonnie Block Levison of Greenwich, who gave a household employee a lot of leeway after she began to notice small things disappearing in her household; Weston’s Peter Pastorelli and his disenfranchised 11-year-old classmates at the Blessed Sacrament school in Worcester, MA who were not happy when they were cheated out of a party; Westport’s Blake Schnirring, a down-home, unpretentious Idaho girl who hoped to be discovered in Beverly Hills. Robert Steven Williams of Westport, and Jeep Ward of Bridgeport, are also on the roster.
It has become a tradition for audience members to throw their names in a hat at intermission for the chance to get up and tell a brief impromptu story. For those who wish to be a part of storytelling for future programs, visit the MouseMuse Productions website at www.MouseMuse.com.
Doors open at 7 p.m, and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for “Awake After Dark” are $15 for WAC members and $20 for non-members. Complimentary light fare is included. Cash Bar. Please call 203-222-7070 or purchase online at www.westportartscenter.org. Reservations are strongly recommended.
