It's Relative - Story Slam Notes and pics

The first Cambridge story slam of 2010 was held in at The Enormous Room, a cozy, Morrocan-themed bar in Central Square ( shout out to all the ER staff, who were stellar) We had an excellent turnout – we had walk-ins because of our great outdoor banner (Thank you, Robert Fairchild, ladderman, extraordinaire!) including a West African man who said he "... was touring America and curious about our sign". He stayed for the whole evening. One of our walk-ins became a contestant – welcome to storytelling, Matthew Connelly!  In addition, nearly twenty people were turned away – a word to the wise: next time, come early!

In addition to Matthew, we had several other newcomers: Joan Cousins, Lawrence Hollie and our winner, Amelia Kimble. The other contestants included Dana Jay Bein, Ralph Chadis, Mike Cohen, Sarah Epstein, Jessica Sutich and Ilene Fischer.

The theme of the evening was It’s Relative and it was explored in its many facets, mostly involving actual relatives. Ilene Fischer won 2nd Place and Jessica Sutich won Audience Choice. Joan Cousins was the runner-up for Audience Choice.  We had a panel of five judges for this event.  They included Ray Williams of Harvard's Sackler Museum, Emily van Huekelom and  Robert Fairchild, who graciously stepped in when one judge went MIA - another Thank-You to Robert! We also had Rowan Mead on the panel -who recently returned from Ireland - and D. Adriane Spunt, a theatre coach, who served as the Chief Justice of the Slam Court.

The evening was hosted with high energy and great stories by Will Luera of Improv Boston and Doria Hughes, who is a founding member of massmouth, professional storyteller and one of the initiators of the story slam series. There is a great article on wickedlocal about our slams http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/features/x1103041274/Where-prose-glows-Cambridge-s-first-story-slam-hits-Enormous-Room

Excerpt below by Daniel Gewertz Cambridge, MA —Last Sunday night, the long, cozy space at The Enormous Room in Central Square was packed so tight with patrons that a few young folks were sitting, as compactly as possible, on the floor in front of the stage. The event was part of a new trend, yet it involves what the organizers, massmouth, refer to as world’s oldest profession: storytelling.

It was Cambridge’s first “story slam.”
In the summer of 2009, massmouth had been around for about a year, and doing OK. But these advocates for the art of storytelling decided that their series of open-mikes, and the local story scene in general, were not really growing.

The Cambridge slams have been made possible with a grant from the Cambridge Cultural Council plus in-kind support from The Enormous Room, Ryles Jazz Club, Toscanini’s, Cambridge Library, and CCTV.
- Norah