Stories from the Neighborhood

We invite you to join us to launch Stories from the Neighborhood!

WHAT: The idea is to gather, listen, and connect as neighbors- from kids to elders and everyone in between. Our version will be called Coventry Tales, and we hope others pop up all over Anchorage.

We’ll have a handful of storytellers (each sharing a true, personal story no longer than 5 minutes) and 2 musical breaks (by neighborhood musicians), and then we’ll linger for ice cream and coffee (decaf) outside. Your hosts will be Coventry neighbors (Arctic Entries co-founders) excited to bring the idea–started 15 years ago at Cyranos Theater and now at the Performing Arts Center–to the neighborhood.

The event is free. We hope that goes without saying, but just in case.

And it truly is for all ages. We’ll ask kids to sit together on the carpet in front of the chairs (saved for adults)- older kids among the younger ones to help keep their attention. We’ll bring crayons and paper. We’ll try to have a few kids in the storyteller and musician line-up. This is for our elders too. If you know of a neighbor who doesn’t get out much, please stop by and bring them. We hope our kids will get to know our elders as people, that we’ll all hear stories of the last 50-years in the neighborhood, running the Iditarod, delivering babies, working on the Slope, learning to unicycle, moving here recently, and more.

WHEN: May 16th at 7pm!

It’s a Saturday night during the last weekend of the school year. The program will be 45-minutes at the most, because we want kids to come and to keep their attention. Please arrive a few minutes early so that we can be settled and ready to start at 7pm. That way we’ll be onto ice cream and coffee by 7:45pm, and those with little ones can get home for bedtime.

.After the show, we’ll take stock and determine what pace our volunteer team can manage, how often we think neighbors would come, and how many neighbors may be willing to tell stories (we hope so many). We’re thinking every other month on a Thursday, but stay tuned.

WHERE: 3721 E 84th Ave (The Christian House of Prayer)

We wanted a third space for the event- not a small living room or the feeling that this might be for people who already know each other. This is for everyone in the neighborhood. We hope you meet lots of new people and that you see them again walking their dog or mowing the yard. We’re defining “the neighborhood’ as anyone who can walk to Winchester Park without crossing a busy road. If someone lives farther away and is excited about the idea, we’ll help them start one of their own.

Thank you to the Christian House of Prayer for saying yes. It is a lovely space, seats more than 100, has a stage and microphone all ready to go, and a team hosting Back-to-School events and holiday food drives. Hosting in a church could seem like a church hosting storytelling, but this is a neighborhood event that happens to be hosted in a church. To respect their space, come ready to leave mucky boots in the coat room (wear your best socks) and devices put away please. This time together will be for listening.

WHO: We have a brave cast ready for the first show!

Thank you for going first Storytellers: Retired Superintendent Lance, Graduating Senior Sadie, Retired Teacher Chris, Pastor Tobitha, Community Reporter Hannah; and Musicians: 9th grader Adele with her dad Martin, and 7th grader Suvan.

Want to be a storyteller?

Storytellers will have a chance to practice their 5-minute story with the host, so we have a sense of how the show will come together and ensure the all ages audience will be comfortable. If you might be willing to share a story or song one day, please reach out to coventrytales@gmail.com or drop a note in the “Story and Song Box” on the mailbox post at 3765 Coventry (house with the colorful trim…maybe too colorful). Thank you also to the neighbors helping organize this and to Storyworks founder and friend for advising.