On September 27, 2016, two women from Better Said Than Done, Jessica Robinson and Mary Foxworth, hosted an Oral Storytelling Workshop during the Fall for The Book Festival. Their purpose was to help their audience “hone [their] own storytelling techniques and build… confidence [in] presenting [their] own tale in front of a crowd”. Although the workshop failed to meet the goals stated in the Fall for Books summary, it was still a successful performance because Foxworth and Robinson used the feedback loop to continuously monitor the audience’s response level in order to teach and engage the audience.
Setting and Context The performance occurred in the Johnson Center’s Meeting Room F. The physical context of the performance included the chairs …show more content…
These performances were framed by Foxworth and Robinson. The two women gave the audience a prompt of “first times”. Robinson began with a story about her prom date. Although the story was entertaining, the audience’s response was minimal with only a few members clapping. However, placing Robinson’s performance in context, Foxworth and Robinson had asked the audience members to come up with their own 2 to 4 sentence stories. It was very likely that the audience was not engaged with Foxworth’s story because they were preoccupied with creating their …show more content…
One audience member volunteered during the icebreaker. “My first time in an ambulance in a foreign country”. This verbal performance marker along with the audience member’s position in front of the meeting room signaled to the audience that a new performance was about to take place. As she reached the end of the story with the ambulance stopping at the red lights, the audience’s laughter in response to “Why am I in this ambulance?” marked the end of the performance. Both the performer and listeners had indicated that they found the performance humorous. The audience’s laughter provided the performers’ feedback.
It should be noted that the audience responded more vigorously to members who had volunteered to tell their story in comparison to Foxworth or Robinson. It is likely that the audience member expects the main performers, Foxworth and Robinson, to be skilled in oral storytelling. However, when a member of an audience goes up, it is seen as brave because of their more novice status in comparison to Foxworth and Robinson. Thus the response, clapping and laughter, was louder. This feedback was encouragement to these novice storytellers.
Setting and Context The performance occurred in the Johnson Center’s Meeting Room F. The physical context of the performance included the chairs …show more content…
These performances were framed by Foxworth and Robinson. The two women gave the audience a prompt of “first times”. Robinson began with a story about her prom date. Although the story was entertaining, the audience’s response was minimal with only a few members clapping. However, placing Robinson’s performance in context, Foxworth and Robinson had asked the audience members to come up with their own 2 to 4 sentence stories. It was very likely that the audience was not engaged with Foxworth’s story because they were preoccupied with creating their …show more content…
One audience member volunteered during the icebreaker. “My first time in an ambulance in a foreign country”. This verbal performance marker along with the audience member’s position in front of the meeting room signaled to the audience that a new performance was about to take place. As she reached the end of the story with the ambulance stopping at the red lights, the audience’s laughter in response to “Why am I in this ambulance?” marked the end of the performance. Both the performer and listeners had indicated that they found the performance humorous. The audience’s laughter provided the performers’ feedback.
It should be noted that the audience responded more vigorously to members who had volunteered to tell their story in comparison to Foxworth or Robinson. It is likely that the audience member expects the main performers, Foxworth and Robinson, to be skilled in oral storytelling. However, when a member of an audience goes up, it is seen as brave because of their more novice status in comparison to Foxworth and Robinson. Thus the response, clapping and laughter, was louder. This feedback was encouragement to these novice storytellers.