The Story of Storytelling in Park Slope

The back room at Pacific Standard on Fourth Avenue was packed with people sipping West Coast beers and listening to a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology talk about discovering that she had prosopagnosia, or face-blindness, a disorder that prevents her from remembering people’s faces.

“Oh no!!” someone in the back gasped as the storyteller, Naomi Azar, tells about hugging the lady who works in the school cafeteria, thinking she was her best friend.

This was just the beginning of the night for Story Collider, an evening of science storytelling hosted by physicists Ben Lillie and Brian Wecht at Pacific Standard.

“I come from a science background,” said Lillie, “What I do now is try to tell people how science has touched people’s lives.”

Lillie and the Story Collider show are part of the quickly-growing storytelling phenomenon in Park Slope.

 On any given night of the week, Park Slope folks in search of a good tale can easily find a venue in the neighborhood set up with a lone microphone, a real or makeshift stage, and many-an-amateur taleteller eager to share their thoughts. 

 Storytelling as an art form is about as ancient as the spoken word itself. But as a form of performance, it’s relatively new. Its rise in popularity over the last decade might be attributed to shows like NPR’s ever-popular “This American Life” or the success of the Moth storytelling series rooted right here in New York. 

Once a week at different venues in the city, Moth holds story slams. As its audiences grew, the need for more venues has became apparent. Finally in 2008, the Moth held their first non-Manhattan slam at Union Hall right here in Park Slope.  Jennifer Hixson, Senior Producer of the Moth Story Slams admitted she was hesitant to move to Brooklyn, but was proven wrong on the first night.

"I'd underestimated how many Moth lovers already hail from Park Slope and nearby Brooklyn and were thrilled to have something in walking distance from home,” said Hixon. 

 Soon crowds became so overwhelming that they had to move to a bigger venue. Now, on the first Monday of the month, the Moth story slam takes place on Fifth Avenue's Southpaw.

Jenna Brister, who hosts storytelling shows every Thursday night at Belleville Lounge on Fifth Avenue is not surprised at all that the booming storytelling community has embraced Park Slope.

“It’s a destination for living and going out. It’s really accessible. And it’s just a nice place to go and see a show,” she said.

Bellville Lounge has hosted storytelling in their lounge for years, first hosting a show called Speakeasy Stories before Moth was even on the scene. After it ended its long run, things just all just fell into place for Brister, a comedian and Park Slope resident.

“There was something nice about doing a show and not getting home at 2 a.m.," says Brister.

But its not just convenience that makes Park Slope home to the most storytelling shows outside of Manhattan.

Nisse Greenberg, who’s show Storytelling at Perch started around the same time as Brister was getting started at Belleville, accredits the community feeling both in Park Slope and within the group of storytellers themselves.

“We advertise each other’s shows. All these shows are helping each other out,” said Greenberg.

Lillie credits Greenberg, Belleville’s Brister and Miguel de Leon at Pacific Standard for bringing a lot of the storytelling community to Park Slope.

De Leon not only brought in Story Collider, but also hosts and performs in Mimsy, the improvised storytelling troupe at Pacific Standard, and brought the bar its newest addition, the show Standard Issues.  He believes that the variety of shows they offer reflect the diversity of the neighborhood.

“For Mimsy, its people who want to see something different in storytelling. It attracts a different crowd then Story Collider.  And Standard Issues is making our problems your entertainment. Every theme they have seems like a great theme for therapy. It’s the most vulnerable show that we do," he said.

Brad Lawrence, a Moth Grandslam champ and writer, hosts Standard Issues with his wife Cyndi Freeman. He and his wife also live in the neighborhood and he believes its not just the diversity in Park Slope, it’s the savvy of its residents.

“It’s a young population of early adapters.  They are already familiar with the idea of listening to a long narrative form that doesn’t have a laugh every five seconds,” he says.

 At Story Collider the audiences was completely absorbed as a copy editor unraveled the excruciating tale of a very painful urinary tract disorder that effects every facet of her life.

To de Leon, the communal nature of Park Slope brings out his favorite part of the storytelling show experience.

“We want to sit down and learn more about you and your story,” said De Leon.