In May 2013, people started coming together in Harrisburg to tell stories.
They did not come to perform for each other or debate one another. Untitled was formed to give people the chance to share true stories. Guests will not hear hot takes or sound bites but uninterrupted testimony from Harrisburg residents.
“Hearing true stories, whether they’re written or whether they’re live, is popular because, sometimes, the craziest stuff is true,” said Caitlin Copus, one of the founders.
Organizing a regular event series in which people are allowed to speak before an audience might, for some, count among that crazy stuff. But, to Copus, the need for people to hear other people share their experiences is undeniable. That’s why Untitled keeps its storytelling live and local.
“You don’t really stop and listen to someone tell a whole story very often,” she said.
But that’s what you hear at Untitled, now in its fourth year thanks to Copus, host Paul Barker (the same Paul Barker who is the senior writer for TheBurg), sound designer Douglas Weaver, graphic designer (and Copus’ husband) Jeff Copus and professor Janet Bixler of Central Penn College. The whole committee works together to organize and plan every event, including finding storytellers.
“For some of our events, we’ve had everyone enter the drawing at the event, and then, at some of our events, we’ve had all pre-selected storytellers,” said Copus. “Now we do half and half—half of our storytellers know ahead of time that they’re going to tell a story, and the other half of our storytellers enter when they’re there.”
The mix keeps the events community-focused and leaves room for surprises.
The most memorable event, Copus said, was one of the first Untitled organized.
“The theme was ‘Fathers,’” she said. “It was June, so it was close to Father’s Day. We had someone tell a pretty powerful story about struggling with a poor relationship with his father who passed away. We had someone talking about how his wife had given birth to a stillborn child.”
Only in Harrisburg
Untitled strives to keep slots open for eight storytellers per event, each of which run roughly for an hour and a half.
When Untitled started, events were held monthly, but that became increasingly difficult for the small team to organize. So, the schedule is now quarterly, which, Copus said, has made them more special.
“We didn’t always have as many stories when we were doing [the events] monthly,” she said. “We’re hoping, with the quarterly format, that we’ll get a full evening of stories at each event.”
Untitled also has a new home at Zeroday Brewing Co. after outgrowing the intimate art space, The MakeSpace, and, for a time, roving every month through various places in Harrisburg.
Every Untitled event has a theme, and it was fitting that, after a transient 2015, Untitled debuted at Zeroday with “Journeys.” Before that, events like “Revolutions” took them to the Susquehanna Art Museum, “Race” was held in the Harrisburg Brethren in Christ Church, and they stopped at the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania for “Crush.”
“It was fun to go to different places and to try to bring in different audiences, but I wasn’t sure if it was the easiest thing for people who enjoy our events to follow,” said Copus.
It makes sense that a community bar would be a good fit for some organized storytelling, and Zeroday has been “gracious and accommodating” to Untitled, said Copus. It was in their new home that Untitled held Copus’ favorite event they have organized yet, “Only in Harrisburg.”
“The best themes are the ones that can be interpreted different ways so we get a really wide variety of stories,” she said.
The audience votes one story per event the winner, and the winner of “Only in Harrisburg” was a girl who recounted her experience of being catcalled and then calling out and educating her catcaller.
“Now, she still sees him all the time, and he tries to say all these respectful things that she told him to say,” said Copus.
The reason she and her fellow organizers are still doing Untitled “is probably the same reason that we started it. It’s a really nice community event,” said Copus. “Storytelling is a powerful way to connect with people and for people to connect with each other.”
A lot has changed in the past three years, and Copus is prepared to take forthcoming, inevitable changes in stride. For now, Untitled events are planned for the rest of 2016.
“Storytelling events are getting to be fairly popular,” Copus noted, citing Story Slams that have taken off in York and Lancaster. “It’s really neat that we can be a part of that storytelling community and have that right here in Harrisburg. It’s a great thing to be able to offer to people. Come out to this free event, and you can hear people and meet people.”
Learn more about Untitled Harrisburg, including the event schedule, at www.untitledhbg.com.
