Gift For Gab Analysis

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Urban Nest: Gift For Gab—Getting to Know Portland’s Storytelling Scene

There is something amazing about a live storytelling show. The intimacy between the storyteller and the audience can be almost palpable at times. Whether it’s the nature of the story being told, the artistry of the teller, or just something about hearing a true story told live from a firsthand witness is practically irrelevant. What matters, for the devoted audience members attending contemporary storytelling shows, is that they connect on a real emotional level. They laugh along, cry along, and leave the venue feeling that their lives are somehow transformed, expanded through the experience.

And, though it may seem like the local storytelling scene has had its day in
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Back Fence PDX has been entertaining storytelling fans since its coffee shop beginnings back in 2008. In the years since it has spawned two spinoff series, the ever-popular ongoing Back Fence PDX: Russian Roulette show and the now defunct Back Fence PDX: Reel Stories series, which highlighted local storytellers relating the inner workings of the film industry.

The two remaining shows, bring in storytelling talent from around the country. Mainstage is held every other month at the Alberta Rose Theatre in North East Portland. Russian Roulette is held bimonthly at Disjecta in North Portland, and features seasoned storytellers telling true stories from the hip based on subject areas chosen live and at
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Storytellers tell ten minute stories on a theme, and hosts banter between themselves, the crowd, and a live band in between stories.

4 – The Mystery Box Show

A sex-themed storytelling show that has been entertaining audiences for years, The Mystery Box Show takes place every other month at the Alberta Rose Theater in North East Portland. Host Eric Scheur brings as many as eight storytellers from all walks of life (including the sex industry itself) onstage to tell true, personal sex and sex-themed stories.

5 – Mortified

Another storytelling show that began elsewhere and has seen chapters sprout up throughout the country, Mortified brings storytellers onstage to reveal some of their most embarrassing memories by sharing the artifacts of their youth. Stories, diary entries, poem that reveal the truth of childhood on stage for all to see, laugh at, and completely relate to. The Portland installment of Mortified is held every other month at the Alberta Rose Theater.

Storytelling is a Portland

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