— By Matt Golec, 2/29/24

Lebanon, NH and White River Junction, VT

Brandon Arvesen had a story to tell, which was making him nervous.

He and his wife had arrived early for The Mudroom, a live storytelling event at the AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon. That June night, Arvesen and six other people would tell true, autobiographical stories in 10 minutes or less to a full house of about 100 audience members.

Arvesen wasn’t a stranger to talking in front of groups. He’s an assistant professor of writing at Colby-Sawyer College, so he talks in front of students all the time. But expectations for a paying audience who’d come to experience art while being entertained are different, Arvesen explained.

Plus, his story about searching for his birth mother felt personal and revealing, as autobiographical stories tend to be. What would the audience think?

His wife assured him he had a solid story, but it wasn’t until he could feel the audience react positively as he talked that he relaxed. “But everything leading up to even that first breath in front of the microphone?” Arvesen said. “It's all anxiety.”

The Upper Valley boasts two regular storytelling events: The Mudroom, which runs quarterly at AVA, and Junction Arts & Media’s Story JAM, a smaller, more intimate story circle that meets every other month. Both have events in March (the 14th for The Mudroom, and the 21st for Story JAM) that organizers hope will bring people together through storytelling.

“I think human beings are craving connection, and that room is a group of people who said, ‘I want to hear a story tonight’,” Arvesen said. “I want to be in that space where I'm hearing true stories about human experience, and I think it's the most intimate thing that we can get.”

Reflecting on his Mudroom experience, Arvesen said he’d “100 percent” do it again. He found the audience warm and welcoming, and encourages those who might feel nervous — as he did — to take the leap.

Sheryl Trainor, who works for AVA and stewards The Mudroom committee, agrees with Arvesen.

“It is a great audience, and it's an audience that is very supportive, always ready to be delighted by what the evening will offer,” she said. “A lot of these people have come to The Mudroom over and over and over again. They're fans.”

The Mudroom started about 10 years ago by Emily Ridgway, a former board member, who modeled it after The Moth, a storytelling organization that broadcasts on public radio stations.

AVA announces a theme for each Mudroom that storytellers are free to interpret. Last year, when Arvesen spoke, it was “Wrong Turn.” For March, the theme will be “Promises.”

Chico Eastridge tells a story to The Mudroom. Photo courtesy of AVA Gallery, as is the banner photo above.

Before each Mudroom, AVA puts out a call to storytellers, inviting people to submit written descriptions of a story they might tell. Those chosen practice their stories with The Mudroom committee, who help polish and streamline the tales to keep within the 10-minute time limit.

Stories need to be truthful, first-person accounts. There’s no reading from notecards or memorizing a text; as Trainor explains, “Just tell a story as if you were sitting down with friends.”

Good stories share common elements: some action to move the story forward, a theme or message for audiences to take away, and a structure that mixes light and heavy moments to hold it all together.

Everyone has at least one good story in them, Trainor believes, and The Mudroom organizers are always seeking new storytellers.

“We want younger voices,” Trainor said. “We want people of color to come and tell us their experiences.”