Kindergarten recall
Tips, tricks, inspiration, and encouragement for storytellers of all stripes
Greetings from Sarasota—
This week I had lunch with my parents. I’m lucky they live close by and we get to lunch often.
They downsized two years ago, which initiated an extended purging phase. So many boxes of accumulated life stuff! And not just theirs, but Grandma and Grandpa’s.
This means every time I visit, I leave with some little treasure they’ve unearthed from the myriad totes and sacks and filing cabinets and folders they are slowly but surely banishing from their closets, lanai, and carport.
All about process, yeah?
This week, here’s what they handed me…
We moved soon after. I don’t remember any of those kids. The K student teacher I think I remember. Cathy, maybe? Did my parents rent her the upstairs flat?
I shared these pics with my memoir class as a prompt. Because even if those faces didn’t ring any bells, boy oh boy did the memories come flooding back, and memoir prompts are all about unleashing the memory kraken.
I don’t mean memories as fully realized narratives. I mean flashes. Images. Random details. Snatches of voices and sound. Pieces of this and that. Impressions. Feelings.
Running the 50-yard dash on Field Day and feeling like I was flying… or was that a dream?
Seeing a bigger kid bully a smaller kid during physical education—I think we were learning how to square dance??—and planting my hands in the bully’s back to send him sprawling… then the immediate tidal wave of remorse… then getting detention…
Forging a note in my crooked first-grade chicken scratch, signing my mom’s name, trying to avoid the lesson on how to swish mouthwash… why was I so afraid of mouthwash?
Memoir is not autobiography. Story is not reporting. Facts are not truth. Facts are bricks in the winding road of truth.
“History” and “story” are etymologically connected. Both come from the Latin “historia”—meaning account, narrative, or tale.
Even more compelling... the Latin derived from the Greek, which originally meant inquiry.
We shape history via inquiry. And telling stories is HOW we inquire.
There’s even more cool etymological overlap in Middle English, but the key point is this…
Curiosity drives stories. The what, how, and why of our human experience.
I tell my memoir students all the time: memoir is exercising insatiable curiosity about yourself. The same applies when working with playwrights and actors to transform their lived experience into theatre.
When you dig into yourself to unearth your stories, you aren’t trying to report facts. You are inquiring about the human condition. And memory is full of question marks.
Excavating your stories and telling them to others creates shared history.
You don’t have to tell everyone’s story to have an impact.
Just tell yours.
LIFELINE PRODUCTIONS 2026 Season Announcement!
My good friends over at Lifeline Productions have big and wonderful plans for 2026.
Lifeline harnesses the transformative power of theater, storytelling, and film to illuminate mental health challenges and dismantle stigma.
Through creative expression, Lifeline fosters empathy, connection, and healing, ensuring every voice is heard and every story is valued.
2023 brought CLOWNS LIKE ME, which in 2024 went Off-Broadway.
2025 brought ENTANGLED.
Both world premieres, accompanied by talkbacks and workshops.
Amazing people doing awesome things.
But 2026 is gonna bring TWO world premiere shows and an even wider array of workshops and events, both virtual and in-person. The tools and support you need to cope with whatever mental health issues you may be dealing with… Lifeline is here to help.
This is storytelling in action!
Check out the 2026 Season Announcement video below. I’m incredibly honored to be working on both of next year’s shows, storycoaching the first and writing the second.
The Page&Stage Podcast—next episode landing Monday!
In this episode, I’m joined by playwright Jackie Goldfinger, actor L. James, and director Sue Wolf. We explore the multifaceted world of theater, focusing on the importance of storytelling, the challenges of playwriting, and the unique experiences of military veterans in the arts. We discuss the development of the one-person show BACKWARDS, FORWARDS, BACK, highlighting the role of virtual reality in modern storytelling and the impact of PTSD on both characters and audiences. Our conversation emphasizes the need for trust between directors and actors, the significance of compelling characters, and vital support organizations for veterans.
You can listen on the Substack App, and all episodes are also available on Apple or Spotify.
And if you want to put faces with voices, the video version will be available over on YouTube.
Be sure to comment or hit me up with any questions/comments/complaints, thanks as always for reading, and have a great weekend—
Jason “Fashion Icon” Cannon