First of all WOAH! I have to confess, I kind of fronted to the lovely gent who books The Garrison that I could bring 50 people. In honesty, I thought we’d be lucky to get 30 (dead of winter, two months off).

Then 140 of you showed up!! It was rad! And you were an AWESOME audience. Thank you so much to everyone who came for being so enthusiastic and respectful in the stories. You were quiet in the quiet bits, loud with your laughing, and gasped in all the right places!

L-R: Robert Keller, Claire, Marsha Shandur, Anto Chan, Ashley Sirianni, Phil Lortie

Our first storyteller was Anto Chan, whose story started with him being mean to a girl he liked (who doesn’t recognise that move?), and ended with her rescuing him from the cops – and becoming his long term love. He was followed by Phil Lortie, who took us deep into the thick of some horsefly-infested creek waters – and taught us that, sometimes, you have to ignore how far you’ve already come and just turn and go back.

Our musical guest was the incredible Claire. Claire was asked to sing at the wedding of her old room-mate to her MUCH older former professor. She didn’t tell us what the song was in advance – and the point where our audience recognised that it was Don’t Stand So Close To Me was one of my favourite in TSTL history. There were horrified squeals of recognition.

After the break, Ashley Sirianni took us to my home country, on a visit to Stone Henge that had her meeting a shaman, who gave her mystical wisdom – and made her miss the bus back to London. You can find Ashley on twitter at @followthetrizzl, or find out about her upcoming stand-up shows at ashleysirianni.com. The show was finished by Robert Keller, telling a story I’ve now heard five times and STILL find gripping, about how he managed to gatecrash not one, but TWO Saturday Night Live VIP After Parties – and convince a member of the cast that he and she are old friends. I was up the back of the room for this, and one audience member spent almost the entire story with his head clutched tight in his hands. Robert’s on twitter at @TheRobertKeller and his website (which includes a list of his stand-up shows, plus news about his award-winning web series Gay Nerds) is roberthkeller.com.

Thanks again if you came. For being a wicked audience for the stories, for bearing with my giddy excitement at how many of you there were, AND for paying your ‘entry fee’ in the form of helping me put away chairs, keeping an eye out for the senior citizen I’ve lost and want to find (Julie, Polish, 6’2″, bitter, hilarious), and letting me record you for my YesYesMarsha.com videos. In case you didn’t yet see it – here’s your starring role:

The next show is this Tuesday 25th March, 7.15 for 8pm at The Garrison. More in the post after this, or you can find the Facebook event here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1412254282364007

Thanks!

Marsha

PS if you want out more about what I do when I’m not running and hosting this show (which includes making videos like that one, but usually with more practical how-to advice on how to do networking that’s actually FUN, and more wigs), you can have a look here: YesYesMarsha.com

Thanks to everyone who came to our first show at The Garrison. Man, there were SO many of you! I honestly had thought that, after two months off (and without the momentum of the BlogTO piece) only about 30 people would turn up, but it was about 140!

Thanks also for being so awesome, so respectful during the stoires, and so game. If you’re interested to see the video you starred in for YesYesMarsha.com (where, in my other role, I teach people to actually enjoy networking), you can see it here:

http://www.yesyesmarsha.com/responsibility

I’ll put a full report on here before the next show. But in the meantime, there’s a pretty good one in the Victoria College / U of T paper The Strand, on page 11 HERE. Exuberant, eh? I’ll take that!

Finally, the next few dates for True Stories Told Live – slightly wonky because I’m away in May:

Tuesday March 25th

Tuesday April 29th

Tuesday July 29th

It’s always the last Tuesday of the month, just not every month.

If you’d like to make sure you get a reminder, you can join the facebook group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/truestoriestoronto/

or sign up for the VERY INFREQUENT mailer here (I don’t post more than twice a month, and rarely that often):
http://yym.ca/tstlto

If you’d like to tell a story, all the details are HERE:
https://truestoriestoronto.com/want-to-tell-a-story/

Thanks!

Marsha

PS if you’d love to learn more about the other stuff I do – showing you how to do networking that doesn’t make you want to cry/lock yourself in the washrooms all night – then you can here:

http://www.YesYesMarsha.com

We have moved! We obviously all loveloveLOVE The Common, but our numbers have outgrown its capacity, so we’re moving to The Garrison, Dundas, by Ossington.

It’s actually a spot too big for us just now, but my plan is to have the microphone stand on the ground in front of the stage, to keep things intimate. If you’ve ever been to the WONDERFUL Trampoline Hall, you’ll understand why The Garrison feels like a natural home for TSTL!

NEXT SHOW:

Tuesday January 28th @ The Garrison

**PLEASE NOTE NEW VENUE**

Show starts 7.30pm, stories start 8pm sharp.

FREE ENTRY (no tickets required)

Turns for this month:

Anto Man-Ming Chan
Phil Lortie
Claire
Ashley Sirianni
Robert Keller

Hosted by me, Marsha Shandur, of www.yesyesmarsha.com.

Please do join our  Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/truestoriestoronto

If you want to find out about each new show, I send emails no more than twice a month (and usually not that often, here: http://yym.ca/tstlto
See you there!

Marsha

Our biggest show yet was also one of my favourites!

L-R: Marsha Shandur, Irma Gagnon, Alan Cross, Laura Repo, Lisa Schwartzman, Laura Di Girolamo

Irma Gangon started the evening with a story which, when she first told me (as we went through the story a month before) I cried at. Then, when I re-told it, first to my sweetheart, then my mum, I cried again both times. As she told it on the night of this show – yep, more weeping from me. All this about a story which – for most of it – had the audience howling with laughter. You can find out more about here on the excellently 60s-looking website for her alter ego, Yoko Sanchez, HERE.

Alan Cross followed, with a story about how dumb luck led him to get the then-biggest job of his career – and one that would change the course of his life forever, bringing him to Toronto, and eventually leading to him to work with (and learn some great wisdom from) William Shatner. Who, brilliantly, he referred to as “The Shat”. You can find his *fantastic* – and very informative website HERE, and you can follow him on twitter, HERE.

I often tell prospective storytellers that a central relationship is an important component to a story* – but that this relationship doesn’t have to be with a person. Our musical turn for the evening, Laura Repo, told a story about her relationship to her street – a street that I had been aware of before, but now feel completely differently about. You can find out all about her – and hear her wonderful music, HERE

*this is something I learned during Sage Tyrtles AMAZING storytelling workshop. If you’re interested in storytelling, you must do this. HIGHLY recommended. http://tyrtle.com/workshops/

Following the break was another Laura – Di Girolamo. She had a cautionary tale, the short form of which could be, “Don’t think that the best way to get back with your ex is to star in his arthouse film about two people who do it and then become joined at the crotch”. Yep, that actually happened to her. I tried to see if we could link to the film, but she (completely reasonably) pointed out that none of the other people involved in this masterpiece had consented to us making it this public, so I’ll have to leave it to your imagination. You can, though, find out more about Laura, HERE.

Our last turn of the evening was fellow (to me) ex-Soviet, Lisa Schwartzman. Her story actually provided me with one of my most favourite EVER moments of True Stories Told Live Toronto. She was telling us about her family moving from then very anti-semitic Belarus to Canada – via a year or two in a tiny town in Italy. At one point in the story, a young man walked up to her (drop-dead beauty) mother and asked something in Italian – “esta una puttana?”. As Lisa said this – before she translated it to English – about five (Italian-speaking) people in the audience GASPED, then we all laughed in surprise that they had. It was so rad.

If you came along, thank you SO much. Thanks for coming, thanks for being such a totally fantastic (and totally respectful) audience, and thanks also for helping me out with some bits for the videos I make in my other life, at YesYesMarsha.com.

As you’ll see in the post after this one, we’ve now moved home to The Garrison, and moved show days to Tuesdays – still the last one of the month, usually every other month. The next show is there on Tuesday January 28th, 2014.

Thanks!

xMarsha

What a cosy, busy evening!

L-R: Lisa Bozikovic, Amanda Wyman, Kimberley Huie, Bonnie Chan, Zebulon Pike, Marsha Shandur

Amanda Wyman kicked off the show, with a story of living near a seniors home full of “characterful” residents, and her face-off with a particularly LOUD one. Bonnie Chan then told us how she turned her first year wedding anniversary party into a Law Of Attraction celebration – and used the Law Of Attraction to make it happen. Like me, Bonnie shows people how to do networking that’s both successful AND fun – and you can find out more about how, here: http://networktogrow.com/. Our musical turn for the night was Lisa Bozikovic, who told us about a rough time at school which could have been emotionally disabling – but, due to some youthful psychological coping mechanisms, she survived. She then sang a song so good, I could barely speak to her afterwards. You can hear some of her (amazing) music on her website, here: http://lisabozikovic.ca/

The second half began with Kimberly Huie making us salivate, then (in my case) cry a little, as she recounted a foodie trip, the last with her beloved mum. Kimberley is, among other things, a brilliant actor, and you can find her website at www.kimberlyhuie.com. Our final story came from Zebulon Pike – a gent who Blog TO called a “seasoned storyteller”. He gave us a story about being an awkward teenager – and how he had the chance to spend his summers being non-awkward – and, let’s face it, a bit of a rock star – in the Faroe Islands.

The next show – the last of 2013 – is on Weds October 30th. It’d be lovely to see you there. Find out more HERE.

If you’d like to come and tell a story at a TSTL in the new year, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me on marsha@yesyesmarsha.com

If you want to learn more about what I do the rest of the time – or just find out how to take the ick out of networking, my website is here: http://www.yesyesmarsha.com

Finally, you can get a little warning ahead of each show, by signing up to the (not very frequent)  email list here:

http://yym.ca/tstlto.

You won’t get more than two emails a month (often not even that), and I will never, EVER, give your email to anyone else.

Thanks, and hopefully see you on October 30th!

Marsha

The last TSTL of 2013, and it’s going to be a busy (and awesome) one!

Come and join us, for free, on Wednesday October 30th. Five lovely stories, one song, a sweet crowd, a super bar and the best coffee in Toronto.

After the Blog TO piece, it’s likely to be a busy one, so if you want to guarantee a seat, come a little early.
(The Common is the kind of cafe where you can come alone with a book or a computer, and no one will think you’re peculiar)

The show starts 7.30pm, stories start 8pm sharp, whole thing finished by 9.30pm (you can be in bed by 10).

Weds October 30th @ The Common on Bloor, 1028 Bloor Street (by Dovercourt, near Dufferin)

**PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE FOR THIS MONTH***

Turns for this month:

Irma Gagnon
Alan Cross
Laura Repo
Laura Di Girolamo
Lisa Schwartzman

Hosted by me, Marsha Shandur, of www.yesyesmarsha.com.

If you’re on facebook, there’s an event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/679569335389510/?source=1

Also please do join our  Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/truestoriestoronto

If you want to find out about each new show, there’s a quiet mailing list (you won’t hear from me more than twice a month, and often not even that much) here: http://yym.ca/tstlto
See you there!

Official write-up of Wednesday’s show coming soon, but in the meantime, there was a lovely piece about True Stories Told Live Toronto in BlogTO.

http://www.blogto.com/arts/2013/09/true_stories_told_live_is_like_the_moth_for_toronto/

Thanks very much to Tania Haas for writing it.

Marsha

True Stories Told Live is like The Moth for Toronto

Posted by Tania Haas / SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

On Wednesday night, The Common on College Street West transformed from a bustling one-room coffee house into an intimate theatre where stories were told to a room full of welcoming strangers.

The room was packed and by 7:30 p.m. people were sitting on the floor, while latecomers gathered at the entrance. Yet, the room was still but for the sound of the passing College streetcars. And then the stories began. Equipped with one mic and an amp, storytellers stood up and revealed.

Amanda Wyman was first and told of her interaction with a lonely and senile neighbor at the old age home next door; a nine-month pregnant Bonnie Chan spoke about her unexpected one-year wedding anniversary party at a Great Gasby-like estate near Vancouver; and actor Kimberly Huie described the powerful role that fine foods played in the final road trip she took with her mother.

The audience laughed and cringed with singer-songwriter Lisa Bozikovic’s tale of high school shaming and how music offered her a cherished escape. Lisa ended her story by picking up her guitar and singing This is How We Swim – her wistful and powerful voice attracting passersby on the sidewalk outside. The crowd exchanged wide-eyed looks at their luck at the unexpected concert.

Bonuses like that and moments of genuine intimacy can be expected at Toronto’s True Stories Told Live(TSTL). It’s a simple concept. A bunch of people have a drink in a small room in West Toronto, while listening to other people telling true stories. Like the popular podcast and New York-based non-profit organization The Moth, TSTL offers a stage to both the professional and amateur raconteur.

There are four rules: the story has to be true. It has to be about you. No notes. Not longer than 10 minutes. What makes it different than other storytelling groups? Music is allowed and stories can be enhanced with a song. It’s free. And it’s curated. While all are invited to participate, it’s not an open mic and presenters are chosen well before.

Marsha Shandur, a recent British transplant and former radio presenter and music manager, was hooked after attending her first live storytelling performance in London, describing the experience as “profound and moving.” Once in Toronto she discovered the already dynamic adult storytelling scene: 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling, Raconteurs, Storytelling at Caplansky’s, storytelling workshops with Sage Tyrtle,Tales of … at the Rustic Owl, and undoubtedly more.

Marsha decided the market was far from saturated and took her storytelling friend Erin Rodgers’ advice to “add to the cannon of huge storytelling groups in Toronto.” The first Toronto TSTL was last February. Marsha chooses the line-up, organizes the events and works with the storyteller about a month before the performance. “People open their souls,” says Marsha. “I think storytelling will change the world.” Her October through April 2014 line-ups are pretty much booked. She’s now booking for May.

If the overflow at Wednesday’s evening is any indication, Marsha’s assessment of the city’s adult storytelling market is accurate. It’s an intimate night out, that starts and ends relatively early. You can be in bed by 10 p.m. A welcoming and fulfilling social alternative to the bar scene, TSTL offers connections without great risk or required intoxication. Just show up, and listen. Or, maybe eventually, share.

One of the stronger performances of the night came from seasoned storyteller Zebulon Pike. He talked about his adolescence being divided between two distinct cultures – his father’s Toronto and mother’s native Faroe Island, a seemingly mystical place where one summer he got to second base.

True Stories Told Live 2013 season concludes October 30, not to resume until early 2014. Luckily for eavesdroppers and exhibitionists and everyone who falls in between, there are lots of other options.

True Stories Told Live July was HEAVING!

L-R: Chloe Creavalle, Teagan Gacuk, Alicia Cox Thomson, Sage Tyrtle, Chris Budd, Marsha Shandur

Everyone was squeezed into The Common and, after some technical hitches, we began the stories unusually un-amplified. Thankfully, the massive crowd did a perfect job of being completely silent in the quiet bits (though still laughing and gasping in all the right places). Added to this, low lighting that night meant we all felt quite a lot like we were around a camp fire. (This has given me plans to do a TSTL around the fire pit in Dufferin Grove next summer. I’ll keep you posted!)

Chloe Creavalle kicked off with a beautifully moving story about how the death of her parent’s parent – specifically her mum’s dad – made her see her ma in a completely different light. No longer just Mother and Provider, but now Daughter, Wife, Woman.

Alicia Cox Thomson then took us to Rome and a school theatre trip, where her bunch of teenagers in black unitards almost got arrested for reenacting the book of genesis (X begat Y births and all). Totally odd and totally hilarious.

Chris Budd then had us in stitches and swooning, as he told us how he proposed to his (now) wife, and almost had her fall out with her own mother in the process. Although not a musician by trade, he was our musical turn for the night, as part of the proposal involved a ukelele, an ipod with a backing track he’d sung himself, and some new lyrics to an old song. I strongly suggest you look at his (brilliant, by the way) new music blog, indiemusicfilter.com and you can find his fantastic music publishing company Bearsuit at bearsuitpublishing.com.

After the break, Teagan Gacuk made us all clutch our hearts in empathy at her story of how mean elementary friends can be, then punch the air as she triumphed through, and eventually realised it was the best thing that could have happened. You can find Teagan – and learn how to pronounce her last name – at rhymeswithclassic.com.

Finally, the lady I always call “Sort of the Queen Of Storytelling in Toronto – except she’s much too nice and normal to be a Queen”, Sage Tyrtle made us gasp, laugh, cry, and then cheer so loudly that strangers looked in from the street, as she told us about a love story, played out through the early days of the internet, and still going strong today. You can find out more about Sage at www.tyrtle.com and, if you like storytelling, you MUST do her BRILLIANT (and very reasonably priced) workshop. Next one is September 21st, find out more HERE.

The night was hosted by me, Marsha Shandur. You can find out what else I do (and how to network in a way that’s actually fun) at yesyesmarsha.com.

Thank you SO much to all the turns, and to you if you came and were one of the fantastic audience members.

If you’d like to get these updates sent straight to your inbox (you’ll never get more than one or two emails a month, and often less than that), then you can join the TSTLTO Family here:

Want to hear about the shows before they happen?

Sign up to our (no more than) twice monthly mailer by clicking here!

The next show is

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25th, 7.30-9.30pm.
The Common, College (by Dufferin)
Free entry.

If last month was anything to go by, I’d recommend dropping by early if you want a seat.

If you feel like you have a story in you, I’d love to hear from you. Just drop me an email to truestoriestoronto@gmail.com

Marsha

Enjoy a summer evening in a gentle fashion, with five more True Stories, this Wednesday 31st July.

Free entry. Booze bar + the best coffee in Toronto available before the show and during the break.

Night starts 7.30pm, stories start 8pm sharp, whole thing finished by 9.30pm (you can be in bed by 10).

Weds July 31st @ The Common, 1071 College St
(by Dufferin)

Turns for this month:

Chris Budd
Alicia Cox Thomson
Chloe Creavalle
Teagan Gacuk
Sage Tyrtle
Hosted by me, Marsha Shandur

See you then!

https://www.facebook.com/events/348060301993295/