Stielstra on 2nd Story

April 21, 9:47 AMChicago Literary Scene ExaminerRobert Duffer

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Megan Stielstra, the Director of Story Development for 2nd Story, has staked her career on live performance storytelling that is often emulated but never duplicated. In print and especially live, she urges the audience to come with her on adventures that can get both hysteric in pitch and absolutely still: few performers can teeter their audience between these extremes while still engaging such a personal connection. It is the story that regins supreme, that dictates what will happen on stage. Her delivery is just one part of the show, like the musicians that back her, or the singer that swaps a story duet, or the brass band parading around her. She's performed all over the city, has been published in numerous publications, tends to her one-year-old boy and took time to talk to Examiner before the opening of 2nd Story's seventh-annual wildy-successful Story Festival.

EX: We love stories of origin. How did you come into 2nd Story? How did your partnership form with 2nd Story Artistic Director Amanda Delheimer?

Stielstra: Adam (Belcuore, 2nd Story’s Founder) saw a reading I gave at the Subterranean and invited me to perform at this “little thing I produce over at a wine bar.” Wine, you know, is an excellent incentive. Later, he asked to come in and help with the writing, and that's when he introduced me to Amanda. She's a professional theatre director, and our challenge was creating--and then facilitating--an ensemble-based, collaborative art- making process blending writing, performance and music. We'd sit around having those Dream Big conversations—you know the ones, over a bottle of wine (or two) where you’re all, “Yeah!  And we’ll totally buy a warehouse and on the first floor we’ll have a theatre and on the 2nd Floor there’ll be a circus and we’ll all live on the top floor and grow our own food and make art and it’ll be AWESOME!”  We talked like that, except we actually had the motivation and opportunity to pull off the crazy dreams of what 2nd Story could be:  “ ... And we’ll, like, do shows every month!  And get DJs and live musicians and tons of different actors! and writers! And people who have no experience with either and we'll train them!  And we’ll travel to more wine bars! And vineyards! A national tour! A print anthology! And we’ll do conferences and get grants and teach outreach programs … ” and what’s wild is, we’re accomplishing those goals.

While the process really grew out of trial-and-error, Amanda and I can certainly attribute our current good fortune to the amazing team of super-talented, dedicated people we've got in all aspects of the organization: production, music, marketing, story development, performance direction, sound design, storytellers and, most importantly, our wonderful, committed audience that keeps coming back, that finds value in what we do, that recognizes the power in a simple story and, hopefully, the inspiration to tell their own.

As to Amanda and I specifically, we started as business partners and collaborators, and our friendship came from there. She's my son's godmother, the first person he reached for outside of my husband and myself.

EX: You're channeling Dionysus with a celebration of wine and stories: what is it about wine, specifically that opens up the initmacy of storytelling?

Stielstra: We've done (and continue to do!) tequila flights, bourbon flights, scotch. We've matched our stories with beer, shots, and champagne. Recently, we made our first venture into food: the chef de cuisine of Bistro Campagne paired four stories with a four course meal (OMG it was amazing. Amanda announced to the crowd that the homeade quail egg ravioli made her want to take off all her clothes).

It's important, I feel, that while the liquor is an added layer, it's not a make-or-break element of our performances. The stories can most certainly stand alone. We perform often outside of the wine bar (to name a few: AWP, Columbia College, The Center for Art and Public LIfe in San Francisco, Chicago Public Schools, helping with The Goodman Theatre's summer high school program).

That said, wine is where we started and will remain a fundamental part of what we do. There's a thousand words in a sip of the stuff, a craft of flavor, a complexity to the taste. Thematically, it connects with storytelling in such a profound way. Then, of course, there's the simple truth that when a person gets drinking, their stories start flowing. Maybe because the intoxication from wine is a slower, smoother ride than four shots of tequila? It's important to us that our audience is listening to and experiencing the stories, and that's a difficult business when you've had (ahem) a few too many. That said, we craft the stories we tell later in the evening (i.e. after our audience has enjoyed the first few wines of the flight) to grab and hold a raucous crowd.

Also: we like wine. A LOT.

EX: Ten years(for Serendipity Theater Collective). Seventh year for the Festival. Wow. Congrats. Where does 2nd Story go from here? You've recently been expanding into more regular venues, more shows.

Stielstra: THANK YOU! We're very fortunate, very excited, and very tired! Our annual spring Festival starts in two weeks and we're in the middle of a partnership with the Goodman Theatre's Taking the Stage: A Celebration of Women in Theatre series, along with several other projects (please visit our performance schedule at www.storiesandwine.com!).

As to what's next? I'll turn back to those Dream Big conversations: We have our first 2nd Story print anthology in the works. We want to take 2nd Story on tour. We 'd like to do more long-form performance storytelling, and get back to the Serendipity Theatre Collective's roots of producing original plays. We'd like to work with more people who've lived some really amazing stories and need our support in telling them--we're always striving to expand the variety of featured stories and storytellers.

Where much of this gets tricky is that we're an all-volunteer organization--everyone has jobs and families and their own art--so time is the great buzzkill. Lucky for us (and I know I mentioned this before, but I'll mention it a thousand times) we've got a fantastic team and an audience that just takes our breath away, every time, every show. We also have Amanda, who has the vision and balls and efficiency and hilarity and drive to helm our ever-growing ship. I'm in awe of her, actually.

I've also seen my kid lob wooden trains at her head.

She knows when to duck.

EX: About wine

Stielstra: Depends on what I'm eating, if I'm eating, the season, and how many glasses I've already had (i.e. I like to start with the good stuff but by the end I'll drink whatever. Always classy). That said, through 2nd Story and about a million years waiting tables, I can get my snob on pretty well.

Favorite wine for a Friday: 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc, Anjou Rouge, “Clos Fremur” Loire Valley, France
Favorite wine for a Sunday: 2007 Gewurztraminer, Spatlese, G&M Machmer, Bechteimer Stein Rheinhessen, Germany
Favorite everyday wine: 2005 Castano Monastrell  Yecla, Spain

EX: About books

Stielstra: Duffer, are you kidding? ONE book? You should know better.

Book you return to when you're burnt out: "East of Eden"
Book/work that every storyteller needs to read/watch/listen: Come to 2nd Story! Listen to the 2nd Story podcast series. or This American Life and Ira Glass'    

EX: About Chicago

Favorite chicago bar to meet a friend/lover for a story (can't say Webster's/Red Kiva): The bar at Bistro Campagne.
Inspirational Chicago point: There's a pier and lighthouse way north, off Pratt, that I love. Amanda waves hello to Buckingham Fountain whenever we drivepast. There's that bridge downtown that smells like chocolate. Outside the Green Mill at one a.m. That stretch of Kedzie between Fullerton and Logan where Red Moon used to do their Halloween spectacles--I miss those. Humboldt Park. Broadway during Pride (best party in the city).  Michigan and Rush with money in my pocket. Right now, with my kid: the Lincoln Park Zoo (what does the lion say, Caleb? WOOF!). The sidewalks in the summertime and everyone drinking outside. Quimby's and Myopic Books. The 2nd Floor of Webster's Wine Bar.
First song that comes to mind(if it's the Macarena, please disclose): Good Fortune, PJ Harvey
Favorite, as of yet, unused story title/theater company name/band name etc: Exit Stage Left, Pursued By Bear