A writer that makes his living mostly on stage says much of a performance can be lost if you’re going solely on memory.
Kevin Kling is one of four storytellers who’ll be sharing life stories at the annual Sounds of the Mountains Story Festival this weekend.
He says his ability to tell stories and hold an audience started really young, getting his mom to laugh as a child. Then a key moment came in college, when Kling was doing the same at a party.
“A producer of a theater was there. She says, ‘Do you want to do that in my theater?’ I said ‘What?’ She said, “Just what you did in my kitchen.' It’s taken off from there. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am.”
Kling said his experience studying theater proved invaluable, saying you learn more about how someone says a line a dialogue than what they say.
He said his approach to a performance is different for everyone, but he likes to start with the spoken word.
“I just get up and start blabbing, and see what comes out,” he explains. “And after about 10-thousand tellings, it whittles itself down into a hard story – and then I’ll write it down. So much of stories come in through the ears instead of the eyes.”
Kling said some of the most harrowing experiences in his life, including a near-fatal motorcycle accident, make for the best stories.
“So much of stories are to help us through thresholds,” he said. “I don’t know what I would do without humor – the ability to laugh at the irony of a situation is crucial.”
Kling said storytelling is much a conversation as it is a performance, and he’s learned how to work an audience. He also did commentaries on All Things Considered for years, and learned how to tell stories within a three minute time limit.
Kling says he’ll perform a mix of new and old material at the event in Fincastle this weekend, saying “it’s like putting on an old sweater.”
Also performing on stage at the annual festival in Fincastle will be Mokoto, recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award, Antonio Rocha, an award-winning storyteller in the U.S. as well as 15 other countries. and Bill Lepp, who's performed on Comedy Central, and his books and audio recordings have won a number of awards.
