by Ex Fabula blogger Steph Kilen

photos courtesy of Art Montes

“Emergency” is a relative term – making it a perfect theme for March’s Ex Fabula event at Stonefly Brewery. Two first-time storytellers kicked off the night. Alicia Wahl told of an unfortunate night working back stage at an open-air opera theater in Santa Fe during monsoon season. Apparently it is tricky to keep large pieces of scenery from blowing away while assuring the lead soprano diva that the crew has no control over nature. Lauren Poppen was taking a leisurely hike in the woods with her boyfriend, when she twisted her ankle. Stuck in particularly rough terrain, it took not her boyfriend, not the park rangers nor the EMTs, but the whole fire department to get her out.

Kristia Wildflower’s decision to use the ladies room at bar time might have been a mistake; she came out to find everyone, including her husband, gone and the bar dark and locked. That’s a problem, but the real emergency came later when, still stuck at the bar, she received a call that her husband had been in an accident and might lose his leg.

Bob Murray, who won Audience Favorite earlier this season, told a story that could be titled “Panic at the Four-Plex” about a crazy night at his apartment involving his neighbors, looting of beer and ice cream, police at the door and a guy cheating on his girlfriend with her best friend. How was Bob supposed to get any sleep?

Sometimes you have to make up an emergency to get out of a situation. Luckily for Conn Hagen, he and his buddies “remembered” they had left a pizza in the oven upon realizing the woman he was about to go home with was a man.

Cindy Grover readies herself for whatever emergencies may come her way through “anticipatory disaster fantasy.” It came in particularly handy while she was a high-risk obstetrics nurse. Bud Dombro also spoke of life and death situations in his story about a “search and destroy mission that turned into an emergency evacuation.”

Another previous Audience Favorite winner, Brooke Maroldi, explained why, when she was in third grade, a old Irish priest told her “your soul is in a state of emergency!”

The final storyteller of the night was also the Audience Favorite. Not Anja didn’t have one big emergency, but spent a few months living in a state of several small emergencies. Along with an entertaining story, Not Anja shared her cure for getting rid of fleas: sing to them, move your bed around to confuse them and throw on some lavender and chamomile for good measure.

If an emergency of your own kept you from March’s Ex Fabula, you can recover by attending the next event on Tuesday April 12th at the Bay View Brewhaus.  The theme is “Theory and Practice”, and it’s your last chance to be crowned Audience Favorite and earn yourself a spot at the ALL STARS event in June. Be there by 7:45 to put your name in the hat for a shot to bring your story to the stage.

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