Stories On Tap to be held on Saturday

May 10—SUNBURY — Stories On Tap returns to the Valley on Saturday with tales of resilience and adaptation.

The live storytelling event, which is themed "Change of Course," is planned in partnership with The Twelfth Star and the CommUnity Zone in Lewisburg. It will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Albright Center for the Arts at 450 Chestnut St., Sunbury.

"We've all had moments in our lives when we've been given lemons, and — through a combination of adaptation, luck, and the help of others — we've been able to make something out of it, like lemonade," said co-organizer Julie Hagenbuch. "The theme 'Change of Course!' was chosen collaboratively with The Twelfth Star artists and CommUnity Zone. We all have plans that we've had to reroute, futures that never come to pass. The stories on May 13 will be about going through those moments and emerging on the other side in one piece, and maybe even stronger."

Stories on Tap, which started in January 2011, is a regional project in the Susquehanna Valley that produces storytelling events and workshops with the goal of fostering community resilience through the art of oral storytelling. The last Stories on Tap event was in February at the CommUnity Zone and was focused on the theme "Loved."

CommUnity Zone receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Twelfth Star is a grantee project of The Map Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation and Mellon Foundation.

Peterson Toscano, of Sunbury, is the host of the event.

"It's going to be a mixture of intimate, funny, tender and close-knit," he said. "When people tell personal stories, it opens up people's hearts, and there's a lot of laughter. I get the sense that people will walk away feeling connected by other people."

Ten storytellers are signed up to perform, including Toscano. The stories are as varied and different as the storytellers are from each other: from traveling to Arizona to visit energy vortexes, to getting locked in a closet while 6 months pregnant; from transitioning with the support of a partner, to training in hopes of becoming a KPOP dancer, said Hagenbuch.

"It's stories of resilience," Toscano said. "I have a couple of things I can pull from, including my own personal past. I will probably share something lighter and funnier."

Hagenbuch said the goal of the event has changed over the years.

"Back in 2011, I partnered with the now-shuttered Cherry Alley Café to produce monthly storytelling open mic nights," she said. "I called it 'Stories on Tap.' Back then, they were scrappy, low-key events where storytellers got a free beer for participation, and everybody involved with Stories on Tap donated their time and resources to make it happen."

She said she viewed it as a fun night-life event.

"But after several years, I started getting feedback from attendees that they left our events feeling better connected to the community, that they felt optimistic in realizing we have much more in common with our neighbors than we have differences," said Hagenbuch. "I realized that Stories on Tap is one of many moving pieces in our region that can contribute to community unity and resilience. Another thing we've heard from attendees is that Stories on Tap allows them to pause, to turn off distractions from the outside world, and to deeply listen to others."

This is the first time that Stories On Tap is being held at the Albright Center in Sunbury.

"The Albright Center was collaboratively chosen because it's a gorgeous venue, and the folks there are doing great work in the community," said Hagenbuch. "We also want to note that it's an ADA-accessible venue."

Valley residents can sign up at storiesontap.org for a chance to tell a true story on the theme. Admission is free.