If Not Now, Then When, Beth?

If Not Now, Then When, Beth?

I have been performing since I was 7 years old, playing Gretel in a musical version of the fairy tale. I know
the safest place on the planet is a stage, because the audience is waiting for you to be wonderful. I
know that leaping from the local arena to the national arena is a huge leap, and that opportunity comes
rarely, if ever. When I was directing shows on a regular basis, I wanted to make the leap from the local
theatre community to regional theatre. Couldn’t figure it out. Couldn’t find the opening, which I found to be frustrating and disappointing.

When I shifted from theatre as my creative outlet and expression to storytelling, I was content to be a
large fish in a very small pond. I was content to teach storytelling and facilitate workshops because of the difference it made to the participants. And then I entered Act III of my life.

I am 69 years old. If not now, then when, Beth?

I finished my Master’s degree in storytelling when I was 61 years old, in 2011. To celebrate that
milestone, Mylinda Butterworth and I traveled to Utah to the Timpanogas Storytelling Festival. I had
never been west of the Mississippi River. I was mesmerized by the enormity of the mountains and the
vastness of the landscape. We challenged our bodies (that live at sea level) to climb the mountains to
the Timpanogas Caves. And then we went to the Timpanogas Storytelling Festival.
Mylinda and I had just completed a 5 day intensive workshop with Antonio Rocha and Milbre Burch at
ETSU, and both were performing at Timpanogas. We felt privileged to know some of the tellers
personally. loved every minute of the festival. We laughed until we cried, and cried until we laughed.

And we said to each other, “Someday, I will tell at this Festival.”

For several years, I had visited the Timpanogas Storytelling website, and thought about applying. And
then that little voice inside said, “If not now, then when?” The audition process included having a
professionally recorded story – either audio or video. I had made the Distilling Hope CD in 2017, and finally had that professionally recorded piece. I applied.

I was accepted.

I was one of 2 tellers chosen for the TimpTells Teller slots. When I received the letter inviting me to
come as a teller, I had to give the letter to my beloved to read…just to make sure I was reading the black parts on the page…not what I wanted to read. It was real.

“I am not giving away my shot!” which is the opening line from ‘Hamilton” became my mantra. I had
this one shot on a national stage. It was an honor and a privilege to be there. I wanted to give it my best shot. So I asked for help.

Asking for help is not my strong suit. I did it anyway. In a workshops at the National Storytelling Summit,
I had discovered 2 personal stories. I asked Andy if they were worthy of the Timpanogas stage. “Oh
yeah!” was his reply. I asked Donald Davis for his advice. He said, “Tell original stuff. That will make you
stand out.” Donald also encouraged me to have 4 stories prepared just in case one that I planned
wouldn’t work following another teller. I arranged for Andy to coach me. In a weekend intensive, I
road tested those stories. We realized that one of those stories would work, and one would not. I had
to find another story. I searched my repertoire for another original story that I knew like the back of my
hand. I agonized over that choice. Finally I settled on a ghost story I had created for Furnace Town, a
living history museum, and a Scottish legend. I prepared all 3 and worked hard. I had a dress rehearsal
at my home with 15 friends. I called another storyteller shared my stories, and got feedback.
We flew to Utah for the festival. I was giddy with excitement. Finally, I stepped onto the stage, and I
was home. I remembered the feeling of being onstage and giving my best to an audience so that they
may be temporarily suspended in time, transported to another realm, and dancing with me as audiences
do. For the first time in a long time, I trusted my preparation and my talent to make the experience memorable. I succeeded.

Back at home, the Timpanogas Storytelling Festival seems like a dream, a fairy tale, a silver box
experience. The memory is stored in the silver box in my heart. The coach has turned back into a pumpkin. The dream recorded on this page.
Many thanks to everyone who made this dream come true.

Recording for Race Bridges Studio

Blog 11:  Recording for Race Bridges Studio

I had just finished a story that had been cooking for several years. It began in a workshop with Megan Hicks, and went to subsequent workshops with Donald Davis. It captured a painful memory for me about wanting to date a black fellow student when I was a senior in high school is 1968, and the serious fallout that occurred when I broached the subject with my parents.
Several months before the National Storytelling Summit, Sue O’Halloran sent all of the presenters an email asking if we had stories about civil rights that we would be willing to share on the Race Bridges Studio website. If so, would we please send her a copy?  Sue is part of this non-profit organization that provides free resources to educators, leaders, and parents to “explore the challenge of creating bridges of cooperation and community in a very diverse and often polarized world.”

The timing of her request was not lost on me. This website gets tremendous traffic, and I couldn’t purchase that kind of marketing. Was the Muse rewarding me?  Maybe my story was worthy of being posted.  Self-doubt is often a companion of mine, but despite all doubt, I sent the story off, thinking, “If not now, then when, Beth?”
Susan loved the story and wanted me to record it for the website.  And what an opportunity!  There would be a professional hair and make-up artist, a professional photographer, and a professional videographer at the NSN Summit to record our stories.  AND…the photos and the video would belong to the tellers.  The tellers would give Race Bridges Studio permission to use them! I was beside myself with excitement!
The taping was Saturday of the Summit. When the make-up artist was finished with me, I burst into a chorus of “I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!” from West Side Story.  I was giddy with excitement.  In fact, I was so flustered that the initial recording of my story was 11 minutes.  Susan was concerned.  “If a story is longer than 8 minutes, people don’t listen.  Let’s record this again in a bit.”
The second time we recorded my story, it was exactly 8 minutes long.  I was elated!  Susan was as generous as she was professional.  I am so grateful to have had this experience.  Thank you, Susan!


RaceBridgesStudio.com is a communications ministry of the Chicago Province of the Society of the Divine Word.  The Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.) is an international religious Order of the Roman Catholic Church. The materials on this site are nonsectarian in content and are meant for wide use by people of faith or no formal faith in the common task of building bridges of understanding and cooperation between very different peoples.
Please visit their website: RaceBridgesStudio.com

Inspiration

Blog #10

Inspiration
At the National Storytelling Network Annual Summit
Fresno, California
July 25-28, 2019


The annual gathering of storytellers at the NSN Summit is a rich and diverse tapestry. Storytellers of all levels of experience, from brand new baby storytellers to the veteran and world famous, gather to share their love of story and the myriad of ways it can be experienced and learned. Here are the highlights from my trek to the West Coast.

One of the first tellers to cross my path was Michael McCarty, a teller from California who works in prisons just as I do.  I was having breakfast with Donna Washington, a storyteller from North Carolina, when Michael joined us. 
“You’re Michael Mc Carty! You work in prisons!  I wanted to meet you!”
“And you’re Beth Ohlsson! I include a copy of your article from Storytelling Magazine when I hand out information on my program in prisons! I wanted to meet you, too!” I was dumbfounded, to say the least. 

Michael works in 11 prisons in California, and considers it a ministry of sorts.  He also believes in giving away books, materials, and himself in search of the stories that will heal the broken souls in our prisons.  He is a person in long term recovery, as am I, and an absolute inspiration. We were old friends just who hadn’t met yet.

From there I went to a master class, “The Magic of Podcasts” with Anna Sussman, Managing Editor and Senior Producer of “Snap Judgement” which airs on 400 NPR stations.  It was a crash course in creating meaningful podcasts, full of practical advice and guidance from a woman who has reported on the ground in 15 countries.  Again, an absolute inspiration and call to action.

The keynote address by Charlotte Blake Alston was another call to action.  She said that the stories she tells, and encouraged us to tell, go “from the middle of me to the middle of you” …right to the heart.  She was adamant that telling the stories of our nation’s history is critical to the times in which we find ourselves, as those who do not know the history of our land are doomed to repeat it.   Almost 20 years ago, I had begun work on the story of Elizabeth Sewell, the first woman doctor in the United States, and shelved that project.  Charlotte’s talk nudged my Muse, who then nudged me, to pull it back out and finish it. Thank you, Charlotte!

And then there was my workshop.  I presented “Reaching through the Cracks” my prison storytelling program to 14 storytellers.  I had written and printed my curriculum so that anyone who would be so inspired could replicate it.  The word of mouth of those 14 storytellers inspired requests for 14 more copies of the curriculum!  Woo-Hoo! Planting those seeds was immensely satisfying!
I can only hope that those who do create a prison program in their home towns will let me know of their successes and challenges.

There is so much more to tell. In the course of attending other workshops, I discovered 3 new stories that are begging to be told. Thank you Anna Sussman, Andy Offutt Irwin, and Liz Mangual and Bob Kanegis! The discovery process is such a joy!

So my friends, rest assured that the National Storytelling Network will reconvene next summer in Atlanta, Georgia, to inspire us all once again!