Greetings from Sarasota—
Last weekend I was out in the middle of Old Florida at Westgate River Ranch. It’s both a resort and a working cattle ranch. Rodeos. Haunted stables. And a newly finished water park, which honestly felt pretty out of place.
When I did my half-marathon training run Sunday morning (gotta love ten-milers!), I started so early it was pitch black. I ran on the access road that led from the highway to the resort proper, and the streetlights were spaced far apart. In those gaps between lights, I may as well have been on a treadmill. A dark vacuum. I had no sense of moving forward.
I did, however, have a sense of… Dude. Is this smart? Are there bears or coyotes tracking me right now??
I didn’t haul my Subaru Outback and Hoka sneakers all the way out there simply to run and avoid the line dancing. I was there as a coach for Own Every Room, an intensive storytelling workshop.
(The next Own Every Room will be in early March. As soon as registration opens, I’ll let y’all know!)
We had over 30 nervous, eager students joining. While Monty and Stacey handled logistics and kept us focused and on time, our coaching team—Michael, Doc, and myself, led by the incomparable Scott Mann—got down to work.
We dug deep. We invited every student to share a story, and not just any story, but a scar story, or a story about leaving tracks and legacy. Stories of loss. Stories of recovery. Stories of joy and family and discovery and forging meaning from the chaos of lived experience.
Scott set us up, led us through big ideas and purpose. Michael offered brilliant ideas about structural integrity and the messy, under-the-hood logistics of crafting narrative. Doc held a sacred space for everyone’s emotions, which gurgled and burbled and splattered and steamed. I focused on sensory detail and the instrument—warming up body and voice, getting the story from the teller’s lips to the listener’s ear.
We got below the damn water line, to that place where all humans are… HUMAN.
That’s the power of stories. They cut through the noise. They swim beneath the churn. They bypass beliefs and biases and assumptions and resistance. In a world hell-bent on dividing us, stories offer connection.
Stories are not “facts.” They are truer than facts, as long as the teller operates in good faith: always in service of the listener, never in service of an ideology or a “sale.”
Because these are true stories, I bring a lot of my memoir work into these events. Here’s the thing… memory is fallible. Memory isn’t literal. Memory is aroma.
Memory is also inherently limited by a singular point of view. How could one person’s recollection possibly be the whole “truth”?
There is humility and grace in telling stories. There is vulnerability. As we sat around firepits on Saturday night, bellies full of barbecue, idly waving away humid-heavy mosquitoes, we told stories.
It sounds so simple.
The most transformative things in our lives usually are.
BOOK EVENT
Ibis Books author DAN LANDON will be appearing at the South Bradenton Library (6081 26th St. W.) next week on Tuesday, October 7, from 3-4pm.
This event is free and you can hear a few of Dan’s stories (and he has a TON of stories!) about his many years working on Broadway as a theater manager.
If you just can’t wait to start reading (he’ll be selling paperback copies at the event), you can check out the ebook and print-on-demand paperback over at the Ibis Bookshop.
The Page&Stage Podcast
Good news / bad news!
Good news—I have landed multiple commissions and am neck-deep in rehearsals for world premiere shows. Thus the production flywheel of my two podcasts has slowed down.
I’ll be getting them out to you as able, but will also be doing some archive-dives in the meantime.
Speaking of! Check out this cut from Season 1, when I interviewed my fellow storycoach Michael Davis. Yes, the same. Michael Davis I raved about earlier in this newsletter.
Michael Davis, a renowned speaking coach, shares his compelling journey from being a child scared of public speaking to a well-seasoned speaker. A discouraging incident in first grade left him wary of audiences for decades. Then Michael found Toastmasters, which dramatically shifted his perspective and skillset, paving the path for his coaching career. This episode explores the power of storytelling and communication, as well as how personal experiences and even pets can enrich one’s journey in life.
You can listen on the Substack App, and all episodes are also available on Apple or Spotify
Quick reminder that you are welcome to comment on this newsletter. I do my absolute best to respond to every comment, so if something I’ve offered above tickles that question/comment/complaint nerve in your reader-brain, I’d love to hear about it.
And if there’s a storytelling topic or issue you’d like me to address—writing, acting, directing, speaking, whatever—email me directly at jason@jasoncannon.art. If I don’t have a ready answer, I’ll make it my mission to go find one.
Thanks as always for reading, and have a great weekend—
Jason “I took all the peanut M&Ms home to Rebecca” Cannon
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