@ Ryles Jazz Club with Laura Packer in an afternoon of great stories about love - in error.
10 stories of love hosted by Laura Packer and co-host Ian Thal
LauraPacker.com

Love in haste, recount at leisure. Bring us stories from your adventures with Eros.
Ian Thal is a playwright, poet, mime, puppeteer and actor, and has worked with Cosmic Spelunker Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, i Sebastiani, and the Dresden Dolls' Brigade. His film roles include that of the mime in the upcoming David Fincher film, "The Social Network." His play, "Total War", was named a semi-finalist in the 2009 Dorothy Silver Playwriting Competition. His poetry is forthcoming in Crude: Poems at the End of the Age of Oil (Pudding House Publications) His work also appeared as part of an installation during the 2003 Boston CyberArts Festival. He has taught mime and commedia dell'arte at the Huntington Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Brookline Community Center for the Arts and Open Air Circus.

Read more about story slams here:

What is a story slam ? Based on a poetry slam format and similar to American Idol, a story slam is a contest of words by known and undiscovered talent. Like the Moth, massmouth posts a theme on it's website (www.massmouth.ning.com) and story slammers will sign up on the night to tell a 5-minute short story on the evening's theme and a lucky ten names will be drawn at random from a bag. Other audience members may feel moved to join in on a judging team. Like the famous Moth story slams in NYC, there will be 3 teams of 3 judges. Unlike the Moth, each set of 5 stories will begin with a short-short feature by one of the judges. Listeners will be engaged in story improv games and other interactive entertainments between each 5 minute feature.

Each of the featured 5 minute stories is judged on how well it is told, how well it is constructed and how well it honors the time limit and relates to the theme. The 3 highest-scoring tellers are awarded prizes and an opportunity to perform at the "the big mouthoff" April 20th in Boston at the Copley Library. Prizes will be awarded at each slam. There is a $7.00 cover - $5 for students/seniors.

Real stories and 5 minutes - 5 minutes means...5 minutes. You loose points if you use the 60 second grace period to wind up. Real stories have a beginning, middle and end. And they have a point. You are clear about why the story is important to you and why you want to tell it. Retelling any folktale, myth or fable is fine. but people are expecting real life adventures. No retelling of literary works and if we discover that you have pirated someone's story - you will be disqualified from all competition and prizes. (copyright laws apply, besides, this it is storytelling NOT recitation). No poetry unless the poem is original,5 minutes long and tells a story.

massmouth Cambridge Story Slams are funded with partial support from the MCC and the City of Cambridge Arts Council, and generous in-kind contributions from Toscannini's, The Enormous Room, and Ryles Jazz Club.