We may not think of ourselves that way, but it’s true. We tell stories all the time, to our family, our friends, our coworkers. It’s how we communicate. We even tell ourselves stories, through memories of time gone by or visualizing what we want for our future. They are an integral part of our life. They are so integral that …
Love Keeps Us Together
When I was a little girl, I was constantly in love. My first love happened when I was four, a neighbor boy named Jimmy. We were best friends, inseparable. And I loved him. I also loved Joey Oswalt. Then Andy. Then Patrick. Then Michael. Then John. Then another Patrick. Then Tim. I never chased boys—unless we were playing dodgeball or …
2017 Year in Review
Happy New Year! We hope 2018 is going well for you — all 11 days of it so far. We hope that you’ll take our advice and forget the resolutions. Think about living intentionally instead. What matters to you this year? Do that. Everyone at Portland Story Theater thanks you for your continued support. We are grateful for you — …
Portland Story Theater Sparks Face-to-Face Conversations
Article by Elisa Klein of Portland Society Page | Dec 9, 2017 It was a standing ovation at the Old Church Concert Hall on December 1st, for storytellers and hosts Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard. Their December 1st event was one of the many that Portland Story Theater hosts each year. (Photo credit, Kelly Nissl). The nonprofit is the Pacific …
Urban Tellers® Podcast Schedule
Subscribe to our podcast right now so you won’t miss a thing! We’ve been hard at work creating a new weekly podcast program, naturally called Urban Tellers®. This podcast features in-depth, unscripted interviews with our storytellers. You’ll get to hear their stories, plus get an inside view into the people, the process, and the story behind the story. David Dale …
Urban Tellers® On TV!
Liz Vaughan joined our team as videographer in 2017 and wanted to make a TV series that would give people even more access to the real, true stories of the people of Portland. We currently have 18 episodes via Open Signal, Portland’s Community Media Center. Building on our brand, Portland Story Theater’s new cable-access TV show is called “Urban Tellers®.” The …
And The Story Begins
When I moved, it was all about taking a big leap. I forgot about the little steps required once the move was complete. It’s more than a job and paying rent. Finding yourself in a community takes placing one foot in front of the other to find where you belong. I decided to start by volunteering. Walking to the Portland …
On The Road Coming Home
It started as a simple idea: Portland Story Theater would go on the road. We would take our stories to places that had never experienced the art form of storytelling quite like ours. We tell stories, real, true stories – what we call personal narratives. Stories that are about our lives. Stories that matter and have meaning. We would take …
Nansen of the North
When I was a boy growing up in the New York area, I was always drawn to the North. North was the direction of the Catskills where I went to summer camp and the Adirondacks where we went fishing and camping. North was the direction the compass pointed, north was where to find the North Star. North was where Sam …
Kate Ristau, Urban Teller
As part of Wordstock, I was invited to join Portland Story Theater for a special performance — Urban Tellers® Wordstock Edition. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It wasn’t just one performance; it was a series of workshops led by Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy. We started out by getting to know each other. I had …
Urban Tellers® Wordstock Edition
We invite you to a dangerous realm. This place is haunted and happy, tragic and true. It’s cast with ordinary heroes and everyday villains, and set in duplexes and on street corners. This place is unique and common, foreign and familiar. The shadows and the successes are intimate, and vulnerable. Welcome to live storytelling. This is where it doesn’t matter …
On The Road
There is this word CODDIWOMPLE. It’s a verb and it means to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. I love this word. It was a favorite of our long-time fan, Petter Moe, a Norwegian immigrant and ‘best dad’ to Talen Nikolai Moe, one of our On The Road storytellers. I love this word because it captures so …