With his maroon suit and orange bowtie, Cory Howard created a fun and engaging environment by turning storytelling on its head and having the audience tell their stories instead.
“Campfireball is whatever we do together,” said Howard.
Howard created “Campfireball: The Reverse Storytelling Show” as his capstone project for graduate school. It was an interactive audience show, where the audience told their stories, instead of the storyteller.
The event was on Feb. 10. The show lasted from 8 to 9 p.m. and was free to the public.
The event took place at the Fischman Gallery, owned by Nancy Fischman. The Fischman Gallery is an art gallery that takes donations to help war efforts in Ukraine.
This was the first storytelling event at the Fischman Gallery. Fischman hopes there will be more at the Fischman Gallery. There was a full house and even needed more chairs for the audience members.
Howard was not alone in his hosting, he had three assistants: Jennifer, his sound system, Rodger, his sock puppet, and Belinda, his whiteboard. Two sign language interpreters, Lindsay and Andrew, also assisted.
Howard described the event as a safe space for the tellers’ and audiences’ guard to be let down, entering each others’ experiences. He talked about storytelling as a job with three facets: story, audience and storyteller.
Howard said the event should have two outcomes: to learn about other people and to engage in three-dimensional stories and experiences.
“In one hour, I hope a room of strangers become a little less strange,” said Howard.
Howard discussed the “power of story” and how he hoped that people could take that away from the show.
Howard emphasized that there should be no pressure on audience interaction, if they did not want to. The attendees did not have to participate, but observing was part of the storytelling. He emphasized the importance of both speaking and listening in storytelling.
“It’s going to be a journey,” said Howard, “Let’s just try some stuff.”
There were many activities during the event including “Rock, Scissors, Paper,” “The You Show,” “Anonymity,” “Closing Number” and “Curious versus Benevolent BBQ stories”. Each event focused on audience interaction. “Anonymity” allowed people who did not like to speak in public to participate by writing on post-it notes given before the event.
Howard said his “gift from the universe,” his “Campfireball Cosmic Coupon Book” was another activity at the event.
There was a bail-out word “Moonshine” for people who did not want to talk anymore.
Inspired in the summer of 2020 by a visit to his grandmother on her deathbed, Howard derived his capstone project from game shows like “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune.”
Howard has continued working on his capstone for the past two and a half years. He still has to write the 40-page paper about the event in the next two weeks.
Howard said even after he graduates, he hopes to continue storytelling as a career, especially in the community like the Asheville Fringe Festival and libraries.
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