I believe I learned about Penelope Starr when she kindly cited this blog in one of her columns for the Tucson Citizen. I’ve followed her columns about storytelling since. I’m so pleased to present this Q&A with Penelope, which will run over the next several days.

Bio: Penelope Starr founded Odyssey Storytelling, a monthly, volunteer-run storytelling event in Tucson, AZ, in 2004. As producer and artistic director, she’s coached hundreds of people who have told personal stories at the performances. She has taught storytelling classes at Pima Community College and Casa Libre en Solano and has conducted workshops for community groups, businesses and organizations. Her blog for the online Tucson Citizen is called “Telling Stories.” Adam Hostetter joined Odyssey in 2009 as assistant producer. They are developing curriculum for bringing community storytelling “on the road” to share their knowledge of how to create a personal storytelling event with other communities. Odyssey is now a program of StoryArts Group, Inc, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation.

Q&A with Penelope Starr, Question 1:

Q: You are founder and producer of Odyssey Storytelling, a community storytelling event in Tucson in which you invite local people to share 10-minute personal stories based on a changing theme. How did you get the idea for this event?

A: The first time I went to Porchlight Storytelling in San Francisco, I was hooked on personal storytelling. Listening to an eclectic collection of people tell funny, tragic, amazing, and touching stories from their lives ran me through a gamut of emotions and admiration for each teller brave enough to get up in front of a room full of strangers and share their lives. Right then decided that I would bring this stunning event to Tucson.

And I was the most unlikely person to undertake this venture. I was a visual artist with little experience in performing arts, but I did have some experience in organizing events. And I knew a lot of people.

With some guidance about the basic structure from my daughter-in-law Beth Lisick (co-producer of Porchlight along with Arline Klatte) I jumped into a foreign world. In the past six years I have learned how to emcee, tell a story, recruit volunteer storytellers and help them form their stories, run a rehearsal, negotiate for space, get the word out and be the spokesperson. I have been interviewed for TV, written a magazine article, kept a blog, given workshops and taught classes on personal storytelling.

I have learned by reading everything I can find in books and online and from hands-on experience. I keep saying I’ve made every mistake that can be made, but then I find new ones!

Now Odyssey Storytelling is a nonprofit as a program of the newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit StoryArts Group and many more challenges are ahead. One of my goals is to go “on the road” with Odyssey and teach people in other places how to produce their own community storytelling.