It began long before mass media or the printing press, back when the tribe sat around the fire in the caves and recounted the day's hunt, sometimes assisted by visual aids, painted on the cave walls with various organic pigments. Even before set languages developed, there were grunts, movements, and pictures that told a story.
Sometimes the stories recounted events of the day, or retold the lives of significant ancestors. Sometimes the stories helped explain to primitive humans the workings of nature, which later became many of the myths that still exist today. Sometimes the stories educated. Sometimes they merely entertained. Stories transcend cultures, ages, continents, and religions.
Historically, those who tell the stories have been deemed powerful. In ancient times, the shamans told stories. During the middle ages, storytellers earned their way around the countryside providing amusement from house to house in exchange for food or shelter. "Sing for your supper," was a way of living.
Recently, I met a pair of professional storytellers and was able to find in their craft many commonalities with playwriting in particular, and drama in general. Sondra Singer and Helen Trencher live in the Denver area, and are storytellers, who also play and sing music and perform on various percussion instruments. Both have stage acting experience, too.
Since having a good story is so key to a successful script, I thought it would be fun to explore this timeless skill in contrast to modern playwriting. Obviously, there are many differences, but I'd rather focus on the similarities.
First, is the basics of the storyline. There must be a beginning, middle, and end; a situation and protagonist, followed by some additional force, person, or presence that changes the situation or forces the protagonist to act, and finally, there is a conclusion where the protagonist is found to either have succeeded or lost.
Dramatically speaking, the storytelling also includes speaking skills (generally involving multiple characters), the portrayal of emotions, accompanying movements, and considerable thought given to the audience; usually with more direct contact than a play would allow.
What follows are discussions I had with Sondra and Helen. I posed some questions from a playwright's perspective and here's what they had to say.
