Holding Court in the Telling of Tales

Lipman, Doug
Improving Your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work or Play
Atlanta: August House, 1999

I wonder about the first story told on earth. Did it convey a dire need, an imminent danger, or was it intended to make another tribesman laugh? One of the most skilled storytellers I know is my Uncle Raymond. He conveys family history in a way that keeps all the nieces and nephews on edges of their seats. I would like to believe that every family has an elder who holds court at family gatherings. As I read Doug Lipman’s Improving Your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work or Play, I found myself reflecting on the best experiences I have had with solo artists, comedians, puppeteers, politicians, class clowns, mimes, dancers, collage artists, and relatives raising a glass to family misadventures at gatherings and celebrations. Storytelling is an ancient art that will never be lost. But Lipman, who has been telling stories for over 25 years, focuses in on various formulas and techniques that create a good story.

I was immediately struck by the way that Lipman articulates his ideas in easily digestible segments that combine technique and practical elements of storytelling. For example, he speaks about the “bad second performance” and offers his views on why the second time you tell a story or joke, it fails. Lipman contends that a story falls flat in the second telling because the teller is trying to recreate what worked the first time the information was conveyed. Conditions change and so should the story. I mulled this over and compared it with accepted professional standards in theater, where unions say that once a show opens, it should be “set,” meaning that actors should provide the same performance every time. Dangers of proceeding otherwise include instances when an actor may find her or himself standing in areas of the stage that are not lit. In theater, the hard task that actors have is to find ways to “keep it fresh” and to deliver a monologue or story in a way that resonates for the current audience and conditions, while keeping the mechanics of the performance consistent for the other actors and for the stage manager who is coordinating lighting and sound cues.

I have the impression that some of the public schools I visit as a teaching artist have removed or reduced physical fitness, music, choir, speech and voice, and drama from the curriculum in order to focus more time and resources on test-prep. Perhaps as an unintended consequence of such focus, I have noticed that many of the students I encounter experience more comfort and ease with the written word than with spoken narrative expression. In the section titled “Transfer of Imagery,” Lipman, who started his career as a pre-school and music teacher and later taught math and science, provides a conceptualization of oral, as compared to written, narrative that might help educators and students understand and perhaps newly value the unique opportunities that storytelling provides. He also conveys challenges and offers practical exercises that can help budding storytellers connect with the oral narrative. Tone of voice, gesture, and facial expression are some of the topics covered.

In review of Lincoln Center Institute’s 2009-2010 theater repertory and in thinking about LCI’s focus on imagination in teaching and learning, I see how valuable a resource Improving Your Storytelling can be. As teaching artists and classroom teachers approach curriculum planning for units of study focused on the performances of David Gonzalez, there are many sections of Lipman’s book that will illuminate aspects of storytelling and offer ideas for exploration of various storytelling skills. For example, (if appropriate to the “line of inquiry” developed for the unit) it is possible to draw concepts from Lipman’s chapters on “Oral Language” and “Your Voice” that may just spark enough activity ideas for multiple instructional sessions. These ideas are versatile enough to engage the various different ways that students learn.

For units focused on the Puppet State Theatre Company’s The Man Who Planted Trees, Lipman’s chapters on “Imagining Fully” and “Kinesthetic Imagery and Characterization” could help educators encourage students to open up their imaginations by focusing on what they see in their mind’s eye and get them to convey this through some form of expression. As part of exploration of the principles behind puppet theater, these ideas might also help them develop ways to express character and story using inanimate objects.

The National Story Project, inspired by the work of Paul Auster, has given rise to a new popularity of oral history in mainstream America. As a teaching artist working with several arts-in-education groups throughout New York City, I have noticed an increase in programs that include oral history based projects. Improving Your Storytelling offers ideas that could help students develop strategies and skills for this work.

Improving Your Storytelling can engage students in a multiple ways. All students, especially the class clowns, might study in the best traditions of our greatest comedian-storytellers. They may elevate their technique beyond one-shot jokes and learn to add nuance and narrativity. One day, maybe they, too, can hold court as they pass down their family history to the next generation.

Click here to learn more about Doug Lipman.

Click here to purchase this book.

Click here to find a library near you that owns this book.

Authorized to borrow resources from LCI’s Resource Center? Click here to send an e-mail request (please include your name, address, relationship to the Institute, and title of the resource you would like to borrow).