Putting Stories Together to Make a Show

PUTTING STORIES TOGETHER
TO MAKE A SHOW

by Kelly Swanson
President, North Carolina Storytelling Guild

November, 2006


Somewhere along the way, I have realized that people are more interested in buying a show, than in buying Kelly Swanson the storyteller. Especially if you give your show a cute and catchy title like “It’s all fun and games ‘til the hair gets messed up.” Please don’t use that title for your show. I’m already using it.

With the holiday season quickly approaching, it makes sense to talk about how to put stories together to form a holiday show. Christmas is usually my biggest season with the number of holiday parties (churches, businesses, private parties, etc) that are looking for entertainment. So I’m going to show you how I put together a Christmas show. You will find that this process can be easily applied no matter where you take your storytelling.

I’ve made a list of the process that I go through to put a show together. I am using Christmas as an example, but you can see how it would work no matter what your theme.

Start by thinking where you plan on taking your show, and what kind of audience you want to target. For the sake of example, let’s say that you want to do a show for kids. You will probably have to be more specific than that because performing for toddlers requires something different than performing for fifth graders. Let’s say that you want to reach a wide span of ages. So we’ll focus on first through fifth grades.

Then think about what kind of message or theme you would like to have. In this case we have already decided that it’s Christmas. I can tell you right now, that you may have trouble selling that to the schools so you might want to call it a holiday program. Or call it a Christmas program and sell it to churches. It’s up to you.

Decide on a message or a common theme that you want to have in your show. I’m going to choose “Christmas around the world” as a theme for this example. If you want to use that theme, go ahead. If everybody did a show on that theme they would still be different because we would choose different ways to do that. So our theme is Christmas is around the world, and we want to show how children in other cultures celebrate Christmas. Not all cultures celebrate Christmas. So you may decide to change your theme and do something about holiday traditions in other cultures. Or do something different – like Christmas through the ages in America – the traditions back through time. Your options are endless.

Now decide the length of your show. I would suggest 45 minutes - no matter what you do or where. And I would recommend that you do not do one story that is 45 minutes long. I suggest that you do short pieces (all five minutes or less) and piece them together. You might want to have some extra stories ready in case someone asks you to perform longer. And because you are putting short pieces together, you have the flexibility to take away pieces if there are any last minute scheduling changes, or if you are asked to do a thirty-minute show. There have been cases where I was about to walk on stage and was told that I needed to cut ten minutes because we were behind schedule. Be prepared to be flexible.

Now choose stories that represent your theme. Find stories about how children celebrate Christmas all over the world. Look in libraries or on the internet. If you have relatives from other countries, ask them, and you will have some personal stories in there too. You could talk about food, costumes, songs, toys, parades, Christmas hymns and where they originated, etc.
Find things to put in between your stories that will break them up yet tie them together as well. You may want to read a poem, sing a song, do a dance, etc.

Find other things that will make your show interesting and/or educational. If you are good with Power Point, bring pictures. Dress in costume. Bring props that represent the different areas of the world. Have music playing in the background. Do an audience participation game. Ask them questions. Bring a doll from each area you talk about. These are just ideas. I’m sure you can come up with others.

Put your stories together so that there is a good balance. Alternate the funny with the serious. Don’t do two long stories and then three short ones. Do a short, a long, and then a short.

Now learn your stories and practice your show

Give it a catchy title that will make people want to come. I kind of like “Christmas Around the World” as the title. But you can choose whatever works for you.

You might want to design some sort of picture to accompany the title. Clip art is fine. Or try drawing something yourself. Be careful with clipart and make sure that it is not copyright protected.

Write a one-paragraph description of the show that will make people want to come
Do a flyer or a brochure or a postcard about the show and send it out to groups who may be interested. People starting booking for Christmas shows in early October all the way through November.

Decide how much you want to charge for your show and how much you are willing to negotiate
If you have the means, tape the show on your laptop, burn it on CD, and make copies. Put on a cute label with your contact information. Sell the CD at the event.

Ask clients if they have the means to videotape it. Wouldn’t it be great to get it on tape? Then you can sell it at all of your future events, year after year.

Once you have performed your show ask your client to write a testimonial letter about that show (referencing the show in their letter) and then you can send it with your flyer the next time you try to sell that show.

Now wasn’t that easy? Good luck putting together your own show.

Kelly Swanson

It's all fun and games 'til the hair gets messed up

www.kellyswanson.net