It’s a big night for Ruth Russell. She stands at a microphone, in front of a crowd, and she begins to tell a story.
But Ruth’s story really begins two months earlier, when she attended a meeting of the Charlotte Storytellers for the second time. On that rainy Monday in Uptown, she would first tell the story of her journey toward becoming a professional businesswoman. It was a nerve-wracking experience.
“I was super, super nervous walking in, but by the time it got to me telling my story, I was a lot more relaxed—especially hearing other people’s stories,” Ruth said.
After telling their stories, the storytellers can choose whether or not to receive feedback from each other. Ruth did. The feedback is both positive and negative, but the group strives to create an atmosphere where all of the feedback is constructive and compassionate. After two meetings, Ruth is inspired.
“It’s good to be a part of something that’s not in your typical realm of work and life. Just escaping that and having a place to come to and be part of something different,” she said.
Every Monday, the Charlotte Storytellers meet in an airy co-working space, and each week, they tell stories around a different theme. But the meetings begin with check-ins, in which attendees take turns sharing a snippet about their day or their life.
The check-ins give members a glimpse into each other’s worlds while also leaving those worlds outside. Here, the focus is on the stories and the community being built inside. Afterward, the group goes through some warm ups taken from the world of theater. To a newcomer, they can feel silly or downright weird. But together, the check-ins and warm ups cultivate an atmosphere of openness. Only then can the stories begin.
The founders of Charlotte Storytellers believe that a story doesn’t have to be radio-ready to be valuable—that by listening and valuing the stories that have made ordinary people who they are, they can enrich the empathy and understanding in their community.
One of the group’s three co-founders, Nora Orton, said, “There is a different type of joy in hearing a story where maybe the caliber isn’t the same as someone whose job it is to tell stories, but it’s so real. It’s just like, ‘Yep, that’s what your life is like, and now I know.’”
But encouraging more democratic storytelling is a mission that’s evolved. Nora says that at first, she “just wanted to have people to drink beer with.”
And it worked. Now, Nora has lots of people to drink beer with, and many of them were at the group’s quarterly showcase. This showcase’s theme is “Growing Pains.” This is where Ruth tells her story, under a canopy of white Christmas lights. The audience sits in the dark, on pillows, couches, and folding chairs. The atmosphere is cozy. Over the past two months, Ruth has incorporated feedback from the Monday night meetings and workshopped her story intensively with fellow performers. The story is slightly different and more polished, but it’s still undeniably hers.
At the Monday night meetings, it was hard to see the effect of the lofty ideals set forth by the co-founders. But at the showcase, it was hard to miss. A diverse crowd sat enthralled as the performers told stories of college crushes and postpartum depression. And nothing but a microphone separated the storyteller from the audience.
You can hear Ruth’s and other stories on the Charlotte Storyteller’s podcast.