The renowned Studio City storytellers took their show to Sherman Oaks on Friday. This was the third year Lila Silvirn hosted the nighttime story time. There were lights, libations and laughter all served up by the superb producers under a moonlit backyard setting. We had the sultry voice of Donna Figueroa to start us off. Her husband Tony equally adept at spinning tales and delivering one liners kept things lively. And who knew Beverly Mickin was such a stylish songstress. Dan Farin delighted us with a charming story about a legendary actress now playing a new role as an apartment manager. Staging the telling like an old fashion radio drama took me back to when I was a ten years old curled up in my bed listening and laughing to the Bickersons.
We heard about:
- Santa Cruz summers, swimming pools, and the private joys of being just a tomboy.
- A stage manager dentist who dreams of having his book on the Story Salon shelf recalled the passing of a friend whose legacy was kindness.
- The lifelong lusts that women keep for young parking valets was tied up neatly in a poem.
- A fish story with tangled lines and a made up Jewish word unraveled to teach us about growing up.
- An insomniac’s tale suggested a code red might signal a hospital celebrity sighting.
- Our hostess almost made us fall out of our folded lawn chair with how a plumber’s name became an expletive.
- With the aloha spirit in the air, I went back to school and told how teaching kids how to tie a tie led to staging a musical about slavery.
- And, the old man in the moon must have had a grin when our last storyteller combined a silent retreat with monks playing charades.
All in all the night was filled with happy faces and the superb strumming of our guest guitarist John O’Kennedy who even gave us a funny Jackson Browne story. If this sounds inviting you can hear more on Wednesdays at the Coffee Fix where more tales are brewing.
