Everyone has a story. What’s yours? Welcome to Stoop Storytelling.
Stoop is easily one of the coolest events held every couple of months in Baltimore. Look I love this stuff, I’m biased, because I love to hear and then tell stories, (The Sunday Series, http://markbrodinsky.com/ ), so Stoop is right up my alley.
But I’m not alone… and I mean big-time. Obviously people care what your story is because every few months they pack, and I mean pack,(nearly sell out), the Senator Theatre in Baltimore to listen to real people get up on stage with a spotlight shining in their face and let it all hang out. These stories are not memorized, not read, not performed. It’s simply ordinary people telling their stories. And the people there to listen just love it.
I mean what’s more interesting or courageous then getting up and sharing your story with about 700 of your new friends? I didn’t even know this existed until about two years ago when I did a Sunday Series on Erin Mandras and she later contacted me to tell me she was going to share her story on-stage at a Stoop show in Baltimore. I was like, what’s a Stoop? It was later another friend of mine bought me a ticket, now I’m hooked.
Come to find out the Stoop Storytelling Series is the brain child of Laura Wexler and Jessica Henkin. These two smart-and-funny women created this thing back in 2006 and since then Stoop has featured the tales of more than 1,000 people onstage. Hearing other people share their stories is inspiring, comforting and it’s necessary so we all become more tolerant of each other. (The shows used to be performed at Center Stage before moving to the Senator because of renovations at the former location.)
Last night’s theme was Sex, which was exactly what you thought it would be, but was also surprisingly poignant, touching and even heartbreaking. That’s the beauty of Stoop, you never know what you are going to get. People are literally starved for good, honest stories… it makes us all realize there’s a big world out there and you have absolutely no idea what’s going on in other people’s lives, (only what the news media chooses to tell us), but we all starved for more… because every life is interesting, every life matters.
’ve been to three of the big Stoop shows now and don’t plan to miss any more. I’ve seen shows where people talk about their fears and challenges,(Fight Club), share their holiday tales, (Die Hard Holiday Show), and then last night they talked about the intimacy, funny and not-so-funny tales about sex. The Stoop series is also held monthly at smaller venues all around town for other story-telling opportunities and open-mic nights. There’s even a Stoop podcast so you can listen to Laura and Jessica and hear some of the best stories Stoop has to offer.(http://www.stoopstorytelling.com/).
All I can say is this is really cool… and if I’m late to the party in finding out about Stoop, well then that’s just part of my story.
Everyone has a story. What’s yours?
Until next time thanks for taking the time,
Mark Brodinsky
(For more then 500 blog posts visit http://markbrodinsky.com/)
Author: The #1 Amazon Best Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story (http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Brodinsky/e/B00FI6R3U6)
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