Tag: storytelling
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Common Storytelling Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The great joy of being a first-time storyteller is that your entire life is new stage material. Everyone has those three or five great stories that they’ve been dishing from bar stools and dinner tables for years and years, so it’s natural to GO THERE when you decide to get your feet wet on the… Read more
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Standup vs. Storytelling: Part Three | Audience
I once read about an experiment (somebody else read about it and told me about it) where five gorillas were placed in a metal cage with a cement platform in the middle of it. Above the platform were bananas. Any time one gorilla climbed the platform to get the bananas, the others were administered an… Read more
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The Tax Man Cometh
Whether you filed your 1040 months ago or have spent all day going through receipts, scribbling down numbers, searching for the post office with the latest possible drop-off, and downloading Form 4868 (automatic extension), we all know there’s a deadline at 11:59 PM. There’s no escaping taxes. In fact, only one other thing is certain… Read more
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Finding Your Story
One of my favorite things about teaching storytelling is helping people find their stories. Often, I will hear from would-be storytellers “but I just don’t have any good ideas” or “I just have no idea what on earth I would talk about onstage.” Thus, addressing the question of “storyfinding” has become the first order of… Read more
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Video Extras with Alison (March 2015)
Joining us for Video Extras, this month is first-time teller Alison, who stepped up to the mic after taking a storytelling workshop with Better Said Than Done. Think of this as the commentary track to Alison’s story from our March 2015 show, Earth, Wind, and Fire: elemental stories. Watch her story below and then read on for… Read more
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Friends of Reston Storytelling Videos
Thank you to everyone who attended the storytelling benefit show at Walker Nature Education Center. Better Said Than Done storytellers, with your help, raised nearly $800 for the Friends of Reston for Community Projects. Also, a special thank you to the evening’s volunteers, which included most of the Friends of Reston Board. A personal thanks… Read more
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Standup vs. Storytelling: Part Two | Content
Some high school friends and I began writing a book back in the mid-90s about casual humor called “We’re So Serious about Comedy, It Isn’t Funny.” We’re still waiting to hear back from some publishers. We dissected all comedy into what we called The Four “C”s of Comedy. Those Four “C”s are Content, Context, Timing… Read more
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Storytelling in Reston’s Nature House
Better Said Than Done got it’s humble launch at the Walker Nature Education Center in Reston, VA back in 2010. Our first and second storytelling shows in Virginia were fundraisers for the Friends of Reston. We continue to honor that tradition by hosting one or two storytelling fundraisers a year at the Reston Nature House.… Read more
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This show’s a natural
Celebrate the arrival of spring with a night of storytelling by Better Said Than Done at Walker Nature Center! All proceeds benefit Friends of Reston, whose projects include camp scholarships, green building initiatives, environmental education, and the restoration of natural areas. Earth, Wind, and Fire: elemental stories Saturday, March 21, 2015 8:00 PM (Doors open… Read more