Congrats to First Person Arts' Grand Slam winner, Steve Clark
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
In his storyteller bio: "His celebrity doppelganger is Bob Saget." Arguable.
First Person Arts
As usual, last night at First Person Arts' Grand Slam ("Philly's biggest storytelling showdown") the event space, this time at Underground Arts, was standing room only. The popular grand event, a culmination of a season's worth of FPA Story Slams, was hosted this year by Corey Cohen, and brought 11 storytellers together to weave some words on the theme "Out There."
Steve Clark (another item in his storyteller bio: "He carries his favorite book, Infinite Jest with him just about everywhere. He secretly hopes you are impressed that this is his favorite book"), who has made it to the Grand Slam for the second time, took home the win for his rafter rousing tale of personal awkwardness and hope that the girl for him is somewhere (you guessed it) out there. He also quoted lyrics from the boy band Five, which should really be the automatic win for any contestant, we think. Congrats, Steve.
Other tellers regaled the crowd with similarly hilarious and touching tales (besides one vaguely offensive story that used inappropriate terminology for transgender people - know your audience, storytellers), on topics like...
-Being a phone sex operator
-Being an escort and having to wash the "filth and shame" off yourself
-Divorce, and finding yourself after
-Growing up in the Northeast and being weird: "If it was normal, it wasn't for me"
-Being young and scared in a new city, and being robbed by a guy who looked like Snoop Dogg
...and more. As always, the slam proved to be among the best events in Philly in terms of making an audience feel like a community. These people, and their stories, are so very real, so very relatable, even in their most painful moments. Especially then. It takes a lot of guts to get up on stage and talk your way through the human experience, but to the storytellers, I say: we're so glad you do it.
