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How Vicki Juditz
found a paying audience
(and a trip to Hong Kong)
on the Storytelling Circuit

I had a file drawer filled with lovingly typed, neatly labeled short stories no one but my mother and the members of my writing group had ever read. After a year of rejections, I'd given up sending manuscripts to college journals and other publications, but I'd kept on writing.  I enjoyed reading my stories aloud at the writing group meetings; like most of the members I was an actress and read aloud with sometimes frightening relish.
     After my friend Monica invited me to a Santa Monica story swap (and at story swaps, as the name implies, people swap stories) I began memorizing my stories and telling them at the swap and at local coffee houses.  I learned that there were storytelling groups and festivals all over the country.
     One evening, a member of the Writers Block told me that the (now defunct) Burbage Theater in West LA was looking for a show to run on Sundays at 3:00 PM.  I and two other women contacted the theater.  Because we had no set, no props, and promised to bring an audience of our friends, the owner gave us the time slot, and I became a monologist.
     When the LA Times said that I was a "born storyteller," I got a surge of confidence and decided to do a solo show, "Teshuvah, Return," the story of my journey to Judaism.  As writer, performer, and producer, I worked hard to get the word out about my show, attending all manner of Jewish events.  Once I was at a luncheon at the Jewish Federation; I sat down next to the only other person under 75 in the room.  I very casually (as if it wasn't my sole reason for attending) mentioned that I was doing a show dealing with Jewish themes.  She came to see it.  She recommended it to a friend, who also came to see it.  Now, this friend happened to be in charge of the programs for the first Jewish Festival in Hong Kong, and she invited me to perform.
     Thus, storytelling provided me with far more money and a far greater audience (not to mention far greater travel opportunities) than I ever expected from my writing.  And I am not alone.  There are many people in America who make a good living as storytellers.  They perform not only on the festival circuit, but at corporate conferences, at retreats, and on cruise ships.  I know one person who had a full time job organizing storytelling workshops for Disney.  Travel is definitely part of the job.  Donald Davis, one of the most successful storytellers in the country, seems to be on the road 360 days a year.
     If you are interested in learning more about the storytelling circuit, I suggest you investigate NSMA (National Storytelling Membership Association). This organization began about twenty-five years ago with an performance in tiny Jonesborough, Tennessee.  (Civic leaders wanted to call the event the Bugaboo Springs Storytelling Festival, but they were overruled.)  The group is now national and on the web at www.storynet.org.  The phone number is (800) 525-4514.  They can give you information about events, members, books, and local publications, which I personally have found to be extremely helpful.   You can even find out about the Cyber Cafe and Tellabration.

Vicki Juditz is also featured in our Wags section.