'Living Room' Stories Pull Audience Close

The inaugural performance Thursday before a sell-out crowd features stories about decision-making in Afghanistan, hospitalized child 'rock stars,' and one woman's hidden messes.

You can walk by a building a thousand times and think you know it. But Thursday night the Kentish Guard Armory on Peirce Street was transformed into a cozy salon where people gathered for an evening of storytelling. "The Living Room," an organization founded by EG resident Deb Walsh, presented "Volume 1: Beginnings and Endings," stories loosely linked by that theme. There were five story-tellers for this inaugural event, each telling true stories about some aspect of their lives. For Patrick McCrossan, only a few years out of college, it was his tale of muddling through those post-college years of uncertainty, diving into different endeavors looking for the one that truly fit.  Britt Mahrer's story was also about beginning life after …

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‘Living Room’ Makes Home In EG

The debut evening, this Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Kentish Guard Armory, features five people telling their stories.

East Greenwich has restaurants galore, the Odeum is reopening soon, and now we have The Living Room, a storytelling series that debuts this Thursday at the Kentish Guard Armory on Peirce Street. These are not children’s stories. These are personal stories told in a performance setting a la This American Life radio show, the Moth in NYC, and Providence’s own Live Bait. That’s right, big city stuff right here in East Greenwich. It’s the brainchild of Deb Walsh, who for years has been envisioning meaningful ways to bring people together. “There aren’t really many spaces where people can connect one-on-one,” said Walsh in a recent interview. “I want people to feel connected again.” Walsh said it’s especially important these days, where the …

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Elizabeth McNamara

8:31 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012

Deb Walsh tells me tonight's event is SOLD OUT. There is a waiting list.   more ›

5 Things You Need To Know Today

Town Council, Softball, Tennis & More

Five things you need to know about East Greenwich today, April 23.

Town Council meeting: On the agenda are votes to award bids on a $1.75 million sewer line replacement on Water Street and $75,000 for new LED lights for Main Street. The meeting takes place in Council Chambers at Town Hall starting at 7 p.m. Avenger home action: The Girls Softball team takes on Rogers today starting at 3:30 p.m. and the Boys Tennis team takes on Ponagansett, also at 3:30. Check with www.riil.org for weather cancellations. Tech Arts Exhibition @ NEIT: The Tech Arts exhibit by students, faculty and staff of New England Tech runs through May 25. All types of fine art and applied art will be exhibited including drawings, sculpture, photographs, paintings, handmade furniture, costumes, watercolors and more. TechArts began as …

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[VIDEO] Cole Students Learn To Use Storytelling To Teach About Bullying

"Live Bait" performer Phil Goldman helps Cole students to tell their stories and combat bullying at the same time.

 What if kids could learn about bullying and how to deal with bullying from other kids? That’s the idea behind CoLeader’s work with kids in the elementary schools, but this year they have an added tool for that work: storytelling. With funding from EG’s Cultural Organization for the Arts (COA), the students in CoLeader (that is, a collection of Cole Middle School students) are working with Phil Goldman. Goldman initiated a storytelling revue at the Perishable Theatre in Providence a few years ago to great success. He calls it Live Bait and once a month theater-goers are presented a theme - “second chances” or “fake it ‘til you make it,” for instance - and, if their name is chosen, tell a story, right then, right there. Goldman started …

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