At the Best of Valley Voices Story Slam at The Academy of Music on Feb. 20, 10 New England residents competed without props, notes or costumes to tell the best story. The tone for the rest of the night was set by the first speaker, Bonnie House, who recounted the time that she emergency-landed her glider and set out in search of a phone. “Any time I see bee or butterfly tattoos,” she concluded, “I think of the kindness of those nudists.”
The night capped Valley Voices’ seventh season. Prior to Best of Valley Voices, the season had featured three themed story slams. Hopeful participants left an opening line on the answering machine of New England Public Media’s designated phone line. 10 of them were selected for each slam, the top three of whom advanced to Best of Valley Voices. By the time I was seated at The Academy of Music, previous audiences had narrowed down the performances.
The night began with a fiddling performance by folk musician Mia Friedman who then retreated to a chair at the back of the stage. Throughout the night, whenever storytellers entered the fifth minute of their performance, her soft music signaled that it was time to wrap it up.
The night’s stories ranged from first cigarettes to first kisses. Some tackled serious life events, like Valerie Reiss’s story of being “insufferably into wellness” before being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma or David Bulley’s story of being stabbed while hitchhiking to his girlfriend’s house at age 17. All stories, however, included moments of comedy. My personal favorite was Kim DeShields’s retelling of the first time she attempted to have sex with her late husband—an attempt that was derailed by his unexpected size. When he suggested she perform oral sex, she replied, “Honestly, I think my dentist would advise against it.”
After a story by last season’s winner Sara Sweet Rabidoux-Kelsey during which audience members cast their votes, the night’s top three prizes were awarded. Third prize went to Tasha Jones’s powerful poem about her family’s history and American anti-Black racism and second prize to Oran Kaufman’s humorous take on his wife’s hobby of raising goats. The night’s biggest prize was awarded to Sue Schmidt for “Gold Medal in the Lugebob,” the story of her childhood relationship with her family’s beloved housekeeper, a woman she would later learn had been a patient at a psychiatric facility.
You can hear stories from the night’s participants, among others, on NEPM’s Valley Voices podcast. You may even be inspired to audition yourself for the event’s eighth season. If there is one message of the Best of Valley Voices Story Slam it is that everyone has a story—although it takes a special talent to tell it.
