Vulnerability is the by-product
Tips, tricks, inspiration, and encouragement for storytellers of all stripes
Greetings from Riverview, Florida—
This week I’ve been coaching at Riverbend Retreat with an amazing cohort of In Your Bones Strategic Storytelling students.
I also get to learn from / trade notes with this band of similarly tall coaching colleagues—
All nine of our students have been digging deep. Over the last few months they have unearthed, crafted, and curated their stories, and now we’ve come together to get them up on their feet.
It’s part camp, part therapy, and all repetition! Practice practice practice rehearsal practice.
Watching them all level up in real time is extraordinary and exhilarating.
Stories about kicking cocaine and heroin, and then going back to those same deadly streets to save others. About overcoming accidents and injuries. About the challenges of entrepreneurship. About losing 120.3 pounds and doing an Ironman. About getting the worst possible phone call, the one where you’re told your loved one has cancer. About losing your son on the battlefield.
More importantly than the subject matter, every story transforms their lived experience into a tool of connection and healing.
It’s an honor to listen, to bear witness, to offer suggestions, to jump down in the metaphorical mud and get dirty with them.
Also, so many gems get dropped by my fellow coaches…
Suffering is just pain multiplied by how much you resist it.
Either you own your story or your story owns you.
“Silent” and “listen” share the exact same letters.
The essence of storytelling is hope.
Change your standard from perfection to connection.
But the zinger that walloped me Wednesday was during a discussion of vulnerability.
“Be vulnerable” sounds so easy, yeah? But it’s not. It’s dangerous. It’s taking off your armor and laying down your weapons. It’s leaving yourself open to attack.
And if you make yourself too vulnerable, it can backfire. The emotions that erupt during your story can interfere with your ability to tell it.
As the storyteller, it’s your job to take care of your audience. They need to feel comfortable enough to become vulnerable, to lower their shields and accept the human truths you offer.
For example, one of our students, during his first attempt to tell his story out loud and in person, literally could not finish. He hadn’t processed the trauma. He wept. He choked. His story writhed around in his throat like a venomous snake.
But, through patience and self-kindness and coaching and encouragement and work, by the next afternoon he was standing tall, holding space for everyone else, telling his story with humility, confidence, generosity, and grace. And when that snake tried to slither up his throat, he paused, breathed, felt his feelings, and let them go. We saw the real-time struggle. And his courage gave us strength.
By going through the agony of vulnerability, he found his authenticity.
And when he put that authenticity into the service of relatability, lo and behold, vulnerability in the audience was the beautiful by-product.
Rehearsal is the time for you to exercise vulnerability. Performance is the time for you to invest in relatability. The one-to-one relationship. Chatting across the table. Bellying up to the bar.
When you tell your story with a focus on relatability, vulnerability is the by-product.
100 Plays
The next episode of 100 PLAYS will hit your inboxes first thing Monday!
In this episode, I talk about the joy and anxiety of auditions, holding a safe space for actors, and the power of a committed cartwheel.
You can listen on the Substack App, and all episodes are also available on Apple or Spotify.
Or, if you want to put a face with a voice, the video version will be available on YouTube.
The Page&Stage Podcast
A reminder to check out my two-for-one podcast conversation with Maria Schaedler-Luera and Will Luera!
Will Luera and Maria Schaedler-Luera join me to discuss their new roles as co-executive producers of Lifeline Productions and their deeply personal project, ENTANGLED. They explore how improvisation and theater support mental health, the power of vulnerability in storytelling, and the balance of family, creativity, and leadership. From the origins of ENTANGLED to advice for aspiring artists, this episode offers an inspiring look at how art, connection, and courage intertwine on and off the stage.
You can listen on the Substack App, Apple, or Spotify.
Or, if you want to put faces with voices, you can watch the video version of this podcast over on YouTube.
ENTANGLED
Speaking of ENTANGLED, it’s time to get your tickets!
The show opens next week and runs May 15-25 at the Cook Theatre on the campus of Asolo Conservatory in Sarasota.
Created and performed by acclaimed improviser and storyteller Will Luera, this electrifying production is equal parts hilarious and heartfelt. Blurring the lines between personal narrative, and theatrical innovation, ENTANGLED takes audiences on a ride through identity, self-doubt, and the moments that define us.
Sidenote—I’ve been honored to be a part of this show as a dramaturg and storycoach. I’ve watched Will start the process of writing and starring in this show all eager and bright-eyed, and then held his hand when he suddenly realized just what the heck he had gotten himself into! Very much like the process of CLOWNS LIKE ME—and very much like a river flowing!—Will has dug deep and landed in a place of inspiring vulnerability. I’m impressed by and proud of him, big time.
Click on the purple button and grab yourself some tix!
Thanks as always for reading, and have a great weekend!
Jason “Four Tall Coaches” Cannon