Ex Fabula challenges Milwaukeeans to make a New Year’s resolution: stop keeping their exciting, hilarious, and tragic stories to themselves and come share them with an eager audience at one of Ex Fabula’s monthly events in 2010.

Ex Fabula—from the Latin for “from stories”—will host its third event on January 19th at 8:00pm at The Hi Hat Garage, which is located at 1701 North Arlington Place in the Brady Street Neighborhood. The theme for the night is “Busted!” There is a $3 charge at the door to support future events.

Ex Fabula’s mission is to connect storytellers with live audiences on a regular basis. The group hosted its second event in front of a packed house at The Sugar Maple in Bay View in mid-December. The theme of the night was “Second Thoughts.” Thirteen performers took the stage—including three volunteers from the audience—and shared tales ranging from “How I karaoked my way out of The Great American Beer Festival” to “The best $75 car I’ve ever bought.” The audience award went to Leah Leone, who waxed poetic about the many red flags she ignored as a 23 year old when she married an Argentine man 10 years her senior. In summary: she now happily calls that man her “ex-husband.”

Like the previous events, this third event will feature three different storytelling formats:

  • “The Solo.” Individual storytellers—some selected in advance, and some drawn at random from audience volunteers—tell true, five minute stories without notes.
  • “The Rashomon.” This format—a fan favorite at the first event—is named after Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s classic that explores multiple perspectives. Two storytellers take the stage to share their versions of the same story.
  • “The Terkel.” A question and answer format featuring one interviewer and one interviewee.

As always, audience members will crown their favorite storyteller at the end of the night.

Those who are interested in vying for a storytelling spot should put their names in the hat by 7:45 pm. The volunteer storytellers for the evening will then be randomly drawn to compete side by side with storytellers arranged in advance. Would-be storytellers should choose stories that tie in to the theme “Busted!” They should practice without notes and to the five minute time limit as they will be cut off if they run over five minutes. Storytellers should pay particular attention to the first and last lines of their stories and ensure that they are vivid and compelling.

More information on Ex Fabula at:
Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=199016988153&ref=ts
Ex Fabula Twitter https://twitter.com/ExFabula
Instructions for Storytellers – https://freepdfhosting.com/ec3babd269.pdf