EXIT POLL: HR MASSMOUTHING AT COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE

HELPING OUT WITH MASSMOUTH AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE WEDNESDAY 4.11.12

What brings you to the Coolidge Corner Theater?
I’m here for the Final Storytelling Slam. I help out with Massmouth during the regular season unofficially.

So you’ve heard a lot of these stories throughout the year. Does that make the final one more or less exciting?
I actually haven’t heard many stories this year. I’m in grad school student teaching and I just had a baby, so I’ve made it to, like, two story slams this year.

But after seeing the show, how do you feel about this year’s crop of finalists?
I think they’re great. I’m not a super high believer in judging art or whatever, but the people who tend to win are good at their craft and are a little more finely honed. The stories tend to be better at the semi-finals and the finals. I think at the end of the year people are more confident and their stories are more crafted.

Do you prefer the dramatic and serious stories or the silly and funny ones?
I just like a well-told story. Funny stories are a little easier for me to digest, but I’ve heard some really heartbreaking and terrifying stories that have some kind of catharsis involved.

I remember this one story by a girl –a sweet little thing– who told a story about her cocaine addiction and the day she realized she had to stop.

Super intense. My heart was like bam, bam, bam. Given the choice, though, I’d rather hear a comic story. But I like it with depth and meaning.

You just said that you had a kid recently. Do you plan on telling stories to your kid?
Well this is kind of an adult-mode. Right now, we’re playing a lot of music around my house. I’m a guitarist, but you can’t fit a guitar and a baby on your lap at the same time. Lately, I’ve been busting out the ukulele and singing. Eventually we’ll start reading. I’m really excited to get back into Winnie the Pooh, The Wind and the Willows and that kind of stuff. This kind of story-telling isn’t inappropriate for kids, but I don’t think they’d get it.

Beer doesn’t taste as good to kids as Coca-Cola, you know?