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September 9, 2004
• 'Jupiter Supersized’ 'Jupiter Supersized’ Urban storytellers take to the stage at the Berkshire Music Hall A brand-new Pittsfield-based urban storytelling troupe will present "Jupiter Sup er sized: Stories On Stage," spoken stories of modern life, on Monday, Sept. 13, beginning at 8. Ray Schilke has donated the stage at the Berkshire Music Hall for this event, a benefit for WordStreet, the drop-in tutoring and literary arts center in downtown Pittsfield. Tickets are $3 and will be available at the door. The "Jupiter Supersized" program is being produced by Dar lene White of Pittsfield, who de cided to create the troupe in the Berkshires after attending two performances of "The Moth," a New York City-based group of story performers featured at Mass MoCA two years ago. In a recent phone interview, White explained, "I knew I wanted to do that, to put a group together. I admired what they do -- they just get up and tell stories." Since the aim of the troupe is to be "urban and edgy," some language and content will be unsuitable for children. As White said, "The money will benefit Word Street, but it is not a WordStreet program. It's not for kids." White described her new troupe as "loose-knit performer/writers." In fact, they are all writers who are developing their talents as performers. The featured storytellers are Juliane Glantz, a newspaper col umnist, movie director, screenplay writer, and co-writer of "A Tanglewood Tale"; CD Nelsen, a teacher, writer, and journalist who has been published in numerous literary magazines and is the author of two books; Frank Tempone, founder and director of WordStreet, who has completed a collection of short stories, "Ab solute Gentleman," and is looking for a publisher; and Darlene White, whose columns have ap peared in newspapers and books and has had her personal essays featured on WAMC and NPR's “All Things Considered.” White said that time for a spoken-word open-mike session will follow the performance. "If time allows," she said, "we may let a few people from the audience come up and take a crack at it -- if they are game." The title of the show, "Jupiter Supersized," isn't meant to imply any particular topic. White said that the colorful photograph of a jumbo hamburger with a side of fries that she used on her postcard to publicize the show inspired the title. White talked about the creation of her troupe. "When Ray Schilke indicated he was open about letting people try out material," she said, "it was a perfect opportunity to put the troupe together. I thought we'd have a literary jam, but as soon as I got the date, I thought why not try the troupe. It seems like there’s an interest, and we don’t have anything like that here. Our stories are fun, edgy -- we have about 50,000 ways of saying there may be some graphic content. Our topics are very adult-oriented. We don’t want to freak anybody out -- it’s just good entertainment." White has an idea of the topics that the performers will cover, but said they'll make a final decision at their rehearsal. She said, "CD is going to do a really scary feminist rant involving red meat. My story is about post-divorce stress syndrome. Juliane’s story is about her transformation from nerd to bim bo. And Frank Tempone is the token male." Early in the evening, White will let the audience know that there will be a break at the end and then an open-mike session. She is interested in meeting other people who are interested in doing the storytelling. She explained that The Moth has monthly slams on a given topic, and finds new troupe members that way. "I'd like to do that and find new people, new talent." The Moth troupe also includes a violinist who plays music to keep the storytellers on time -- White's group, as yet unnamed, has a mandolin player who will perform that function. White has some ideas about dircting her troupe. "You have to be willing to make fun of yourself, to be funny to the audience," she said. "You can't be threatening." Storytelling is different than reading a story out loud, she added. You have to have presence. "There is an element of performance that raises it," she said. "Puts in a different zone. Literature as entertainment is what we're doing. We want to write great stories that we can publish. Most of these will be based on our personal material -- we 'gumby’ it -- there are roots in what we’re saying. And we try to be visual." White goes on. "It really brings in the excitement of writing -- I love when someone says, 'It's like I was right there.’ I want it to be really visual. When it comes to telling stories on stage, you need to use a visual approach -- it has to be palpable and tactile. I’m pushing for images, for stories with strong visual appeal." The Berkshire Music Hall is located at 30 Union St., Pittsfield. |
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