Untitled finalists, clockwise from top left: Stuart Landon, Rachel Moore, Maria Thiaw, Tracy Kerchner, Ellen Hartman, Elizabeth Piscioneri
The first story Tracy Kerchner told moved the audience to tears. The theme of the night was “Homecoming,” and Kerchner spoke about her 11-year-old son, diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013.
At that storytelling event, hosted by local group Untitled, Kerchner, 41, talked about bringing her son home after brain surgery and a month-long hospitalization.
“We didn’t know then how much he was understanding, or how much of a recovery it was going to be,” Kerchner said. “It was overwhelming. But then I started thinking. The Sunday before he was diagnosed was the Boston Marathon bombing. That bomb went off and killed an 8-year-old child, and a family went home incomplete. I was bringing home my child, who was suddenly very different, but I was bringing my son home, and they didn’t get to.”
Kerchner’s story about the perspective she gained through that experience was voted the best story of the night. Thanks to that win, she’ll be one of the storytellers featured at Untitled’s “Grand Slam” event at Midtown Cinema this month, where the theme will be “Unexpected.”
Untitled was founded in 2013 by Caitlin Copus and a committee including her husband, Jeff, sound designer Douglas Weaver and Central Penn College professor Janet Bixler. Participants at Untitled events tell true stories without the use of notes. Each night of stories has a different theme, and Copus said the topic the committee chose for the Grand Slam is intentionally vague.
“Normally, when we select a theme, we’re also trying to find storytellers we think will have a good view on that theme,” Copus said. “For the Grand Slam, we’re going to have some of our best storytellers, so we wanted to pick something we thought would be open-ended.”
Each person slated to tell a story at the Grand Slam has won the night at a previous Untitled event, held quarterly at Zeroday Brewing Co. Copus said audiences have grown considerably since the events moved to Zeroday in the beginning of 2016.
“I think the combination of beer and stories has been a good one,” Copus said. “It’s a fun place to be. They have great beer and food, and they’re wonderful people. I think it’s helped us attract a great audience. Since we’ve been at Zeroday, it’s been crowds of 60 to 80 people—pretty much standing room only.”
To accommodate the larger audience expected for the Grand Slam, Copus and the committee decided to move next door to Midtown Cinema, where she expects there will be a seat for each attendee. Untitled will return to Zeroday in April.
To prepare for the Grand Slam, Kerchner said she first brainstormed ideas that fit within the topic of “Unexpected.” Though her “Homecoming” story was an emotional one, she said most of her stories, which tend to center on family life, are upbeat and funny.
“When my son started cancer treatments, I left my job, got pregnant and had another baby on top of the three I already had,” Kerchner said. “I talk about my family a lot, about the surprise of being pregnant at 39, about the 10 years between my two youngest children. I tend to naturally push away all the heavy stuff that comes with that, so the stories are more lighthearted.”
Kerchner said, despite her family’s support of her storytelling, she attends Untitled events alone.
“The first time I went was right after my baby was born. I brought her with me the first few times, until she got too mobile,” Kerchner said. “Over time, Untitled got to be a nice outlet, an evening when I could look forward to getting out of the house and doing something really different.”
Copus sees the Grand Slam as an opportunity to introduce Untitled—and the art of storytelling—to a much wider audience.
“I hope people will leave understanding what a great art form it is to have someone get up there and tell a story,” she said. “You learn such interesting things about people, and you feel like you really get to know them. They’re telling true stories from their own lives, and that’s a great moment to connect with someone.”
Untitled records its storytelling events, and podcast versions of stories dating back to September 2015 are available for free on the group’s website. Copus urges unsure prospective audience members to listen to a podcast or two.
“I think, once you start hearing people tell stories, you just want to hear more of them,” she said. “And we want to make sure we can bring great stories to as many people as possible.”
Untitled’s Grand Slam event will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. at Midtown Cinema, 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online through Eventbrite. For more information, visit www.untitledhbg.com.
Author: Kate Morgan
