These story sessions help connect the community of Johnson City through personal experiences, brought about through ETSU’s Storytelling program.
The Regeneration Story Slam has taken place in Johnson City for many years now. During the outbreak of COVID-19 however, they had to move the slams online.
As with many other events during that time, the story slams were affected. After transferring online they became more of an opportunity for an open mic night rather than a friendly competition.
The head of ETSU’s Storytelling department, Nancy Donoval, was able to share information about the story slams since then.
“The department is just really happy after two and a half years of it being online to start back up,” with in-person events,” Donoval said.
Now that they are able to hold the story slams offline again, there is an opportunity to attend one every month during the academic year. This event has a new theme each time it occurs, as well as a prize for whomever wins the slam.
Themes this year were chosen by students within the program.
“The staff put out a call for what [the students] would like to see,” Donoval said. They used that feedback in order to choose a theme for each slam.
The crowd turnout for the Regeneration Story Slam is typically decent, it primarily consists of ETSU storytelling students and the Johnson City community. In fact, it’s not only the students that choose to share a story.
“We have as many community members put their name in to tell a story as we do students,” explained Donoval. Something that makes this event more accessible to the entire community is the fact that it is completely free of charge. The hosts have a donation box set up, but there is no pressure involved at all. The donations go towards the prize of the night, or they go into renting the venue space for future slams to take place.
An important feature of these events is the casual atmosphere created by the venue and the emcee of the night. The only constraints are that your story should fit the theme, and not be much longer than five minutes. This leaves a lot of opportunity for comfortability in sharing your personal stories.
The winner of the night is chosen by the audience as a whole. They are asked to place a vote for their favorite story based on the way they were affected emotionally, the craftsmanship of the story and the performance itself.
While the competitive aspect is what people are drawn too, that is not why people continue sharing stories.
“I think storytelling in general as an art form brings a sense of connection and a sense of community,” Donoval shared.
The goal of the Regeneration Story Slam is for members of this community to share their real life stories with one another. Sharing our personal experiences helps bring people together, through the good and the bad.
If you would like to experience the last Regeneration Story Slam of the academic year for yourself, visit @etsustorytelling on Instagram for more information.
