Michael SchweisheImer :  Welcome back to the Mission Story Slam Podcast, brought to you by PWPvideo. I'm Michael SchweisheImer, the executive producer at PWPvideo and Mission Story Slam. We started Mission Story Slam to share the stories of the organizations that we serve at PWPvideo. Those include nonprofits, be corporations, triple bottom line companies, and sustainable organizations, people on a mission to make the world a better place.

Today's guest was a judge at Mission Story Slam. And she happens to be the executive director of First Person Arts. First Person Arts is Philadelphia's premier storytelling organization. Their mission is to transform the drama of real life into memoir and documentary art to foster and appreciation for our unique and shared experiences.

They believe that everyone has a story to tell, and that sharing our stories connects us with each other and the world. Jamie J. Brunson is an award-winning playwright who has been at the helm of First Person for nearly a decade. Jamie, thanks so much for joining me on the podcast. Oh, Michael, it is my pleasure.

So I'm really excited to be speaking to someone in the story business, and I have lots and lots of questions for you. Okay. I really wanna dive in with your background as a playwright. Can you help me understand what is the difference between playwriting and story?

Jamie J. Brunson:  Oh wow. Storytelling is at the heart and soul of every art form.  Every art form exists to tell some kind of story. Totally through that. Yeah. Yeah. So it's really just a difference of discipline, how you tell the story. With a play you can do a memoir based or documentary play, you know, there plays out about, so truth and whole, lots of, whole lot of one person shows where they're telling their own story and then there's the fictitious drama.

I have a play that I'm working on. And there are five characters, and it's an ensemble piece. I have to be in the head of every single one of those characters and understand everything about their life and how they view the world as opposed to performing a story of my own where all I have to do is the hard work of trying to separate the me of now from the ME that existed when the story happened.

Michael:  It seems like within the storytelling community, that idea of truth of memoir and the concept of and guidelines around memoir seem to be fundamental to. , particularly story slam storytelling versus something like, why can't stories for a story slam be fictional?

Jamie J.:  You could do a fictional story slam. We choose to focus solely on true personal stories. I'll give you an example. There's a huge festival in Tennessee that happens every year and they. Feature storytellers that are telling folk tales and fairy tales, as well as people telling true stories. We just have chosen to focus solely on the true personal stories because quite frankly, there is nothing more dramatic than the truth, at least in my.  So, for example, we just did this amazing show with this local company called PWPvideo. Who? Oh, I think you've heard of them. I know. They're all, they're awesome. We just did this show called Letter to my Father, Letter to my Son, and we did it for Father's Day and we specifically, For a letter, just like the title says, A letter to your father, letter to my son.

Everyone in that show did that. They either wrote their own letter to their father or the son, except one person who did a piece of documentary art where she actually penned a letter to her grandson in the voice of her. Who had lost his life in a tragic act of violence, and that was okay because it was a piece of documentary art that she created, rooted in the truth, but very much in line with what it is that we were trying to do with that show.

When you're creating a, a show around a theme versus, I guess there's a little bit of a difference between a story slam. And a story program or show, right? Yeah, just at Mission Story Slam. It's been interesting. So Dave Winston brought that project to us because he is very talented in being in story slams himself and is won many times.

And I know from hearing from him, there's lots of rehearsal involved. But what I've seen that's interesting, that mission story Slam is. More than once. The winner whose name came outta that bucket didn't necessarily come with a fully planned story. They weren't necessarily planning to tell. Sometimes they just decide it's a good day to parachute and they jump out of the plane and good things happen.

I think that's another interesting aspect of the, that live slam atmosphere. I think so too, and I've often found that the person that won. Is generally the person that had the deepest connection to the audience. Not necessarily the best told story, but they connected with the audience in a way that moved that audience to vote for them.

Yeah. And the judges. Mm-hmm. . Absolutely. Absolutely. I've got more questions about story for you, but I'm curious, what was your experience like? Being a judge at Mission Story Slam, and I'm curious like how that experience might be different from when you're at a First Person Art Story slam. It was a very different experience in the best possible way.

I'd liken the mission story slam to our work in the department we call Applied Storytelling. You know, mission Story Slam gives people an opportunity to speak about their work and the mission of their organiz. And what I found at the mission story Slam was it wasn't just I work for X, Y, and Z and we do this, and that's why we should get the contribution.

It was about my personal passion aligns with the passion of my organization, and this is why, and this is why what we do is important to the world and that cannot be understated. How important that. Dave will famously tell me over and over as I'm prepping my stories, like, remember, it's not a TED Talk.

Absolutely not. It is a passion meets purpose. Talk about why you do what you do and why the organization you do it for is the best place for you to be. And that's what I thought brought it up to a different level. It's not a commercial for a company, it's a statement of purpose. I know that just for. I end up feeling recharged afterwards by being in the presence of all of that passion and hearing people reconnect.

You know, cuz work is work, but when you can connect that passion and mission work becomes.  something at a different level. And you know, Michael, you could have just written a 200 to $50 check, but you didn't. You gave people an opportunity to tell the world about what they do so that maybe someone else listening might also write a check.

And I think that was really gracious of you and thoughtful. I do appreciate that and we always hope that people will take their stories and we, we put the videos up on YouTube for everyone so that they can share 'em. It's a, it's often a really different way to tell that story. So we love when people share them far and wide and actually try to leverage it.

So I want to ask you a question cuz I think a lot of the people that come to Mission Story Slam. . They're not slam regulars. They may not be. They may be storytellers at heart, but they're probably not story slam storytellers. Do you have advice that you give to people who are considering telling a story for the first time?

I would say first and foremost. Do it. Yeah. But I can tell you that I have seen these incredible first person arts audiences actually helping someone on stage who may fumble or who may all of a sudden realize what they're doing and get scared or nervous. And I've seen audience members say, take your time.

We're here. It's okay. That's awesome. It's, you know, incredible to be in that moment with this group of strangers connecting. And yeah, I've heard supportive, whoops and hollers at Mission Story Slam too. A little more advice kind of question. There's nervousness no matter what to, whether it's their first time telling a story or fifth or sixth time telling a story.

There's that nervousness. Do you know, what do you suggest for people to think about that or get over it or even just manage it beyond being in a good supportive room? Embrace it and use. Okay, embrace it and use it. It is energy. Ah, it is energy. And people will get it. People that say, yeah, it's my first time up here and I'm really scared.

You've got us right there. We're with you. We're rooting for you. I think that is a big thing. I've never seen an audience. I've never seen an audience rooting against anybody. No. Doesn't seem to happen. No. So let's get back a little bit to First Person Arts. You've been running first Person Arts now it's nearly a decade, right?

Yep. Nine years. So thinking again of your, um, Background and continuing work. As a playwright, how does that work inform what you do at First Person Arts? I, I think the best connection is as a playwright, I spent years and years in, in the rehearsal room developing new work and being able to, Watch an audience.

Watch for when they lean in, when they lean out. Also, directing actors to enliven a character based on my intentions, but also giving them the space to improvise. So when I work with storytellers, I'm able to do that. And then also just the work to generate a story, because when you're writing a play, it's all about action.

It's all about dramatic action. What is happening in the story? What's the inciting incident? What's the motivation? What's the day? Newmont the whole nine yards. And when I work with people who are telling their own stories, I'm able to help them reflect and shape an arc of a story from my playwriting experience.

Speaking of reflection, I randomly picked up the Sunday New York Times magazine from June 27th. There was this op-ed from Emily Ferhani Smith called, we Need to Process what We've lost In It. She was citing some actual research by a psychologist from UT Austin, penny Baker, talking about how storytelling can be used to heal from trauma.

As you were talking about helping storytellers to reflect and find those narrative arcs or find the that journey that they're gonna take, I'm, I am curious if you find that act of writing first person story and sharing first person story, if you've seen that help. People heal or cope with trauma. I was a grad student at Sarah Lawrence and I was invited to teach a workshop for youth and it was a poetry workshop cuz you know, Sarah Lawrence is really renowned for its poetry department and my job was to teach writers.

Acting exercises. And so what I began to do was combine character based sensory acting exercises that I could use to help writers write better, write more authentically. And that started it all. And it began back then, from the very first time I started teaching. And I think in all that time and literally hundreds and hundreds of workshops, I think I've only had one workshop where no one.

And I'm talking about children to senior citizens crying. That's intense. It is very intense. And storytelling can be a safe place for you to share your experience, share your trauma, get it out, begin to reflect upon it in a room with other people. Now, I general. Require a wellness expert in my workshops because I want a professional there in case someone gets triggered in in a way that I can't manage because I am not a social worker.

I am not a psychiatrist. I am a human being who has experienced a great deal of trauma, and through the grace of God, I'm here. And so a lot of what I do is in, in intuitive. It's very intuitive, but you need to have someone there. But to, that was a long roundabout answer to your question. Yes, absolutely.

Storytelling can help you process trauma. So how did you come to lead first Person Arts? Like what, cuz it sounds like a lot of the work that you've done over the years as a playwright really was building into. Work. It was first Person Arts had a project a long time ago called the First Person Museum and they invited people to bring objects that they could tell stories about for this museum, and I brought in an object and that was my very first experience.

Then I took a work. At First Person Arts during the festival, and when I found out that Vicky Solo, the visionary founder of First Person Arts was retiring, I, I realized that everything I had ever done, Both administratively and creatively led me to that place. And I jokingly in the interview said to the chairman of the board, I'll give you 10 years.

I'll give you 10 years . And here we are in January, it'll be 10 years. Oh, that's awesome. So you're not just gonna bail on us now. Are you ? I'm kidding. Are you kidding? Are you kidding? This is a dream job for me. You were talking about relevancy, and  earlier you mentioned both the applied storytelling and you mentioned letters to my father, letters to my son.

Tell me a little bit about the Engaging Men of Color program and that partnership and what that's been and what that, how it has resulted in some of this programming. Sure. Arthur Evans was the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health years ago, I guess it was seven years ago. He and I first met and first person Art had done a couple of performances because I believed that storytelling, like we talked about, can help process trauma.

I know mine has helped me. And Arthur came to me and said, I envision this initiative called Engaging males of Color. He said Males of color suffered disproportionately from behavioral health issues, and the department believed and continues to believe that is because of the stigma. Around talking about your wellness.

And so he asked me if I could create, if First person Arts could create a way that we could destigmatize wellness conversations for males of color through storytelling in a way that would give them access to services that would encourage them. And so we created a program called Beyond Expectations, engaging Male of Color because the way that we were working with them was innovative.

It was beyond what anyone else had been doing. And so we began to focus on stories of resilience. Over trauma at the time. I think a couple of years ago the show Empire was big on Fox. We brought in, uh, ya, who was at the time playing Hakeem in the show and we had 1200 young people and their families come out to hear him.

And seven other youth from the Philadelphia school district. Talk about their experiences and ask questions and get information about services, and we've done it from youth to seniors. We've dealt with returning citizens from incarceration. We've dealt with LGBTQ males of color, and it's been incredible, the courage and the resilience.

That we have seen from these males of color has been amazing. And our audiences are not just males of color, they're females, they are people of all backgrounds, of all sexual orientations. It's just incredible. So I think as an example of that, I want to play a portion from Dr. Bernard Hall's. Segment from the letter to my father, letter to my son.

That's titled letter to Noah in bj. I just wanna point out that the, we had a great time collaborating with you on this, and I know that our own James Robinson was able to produce this program with you and had he had an amazing journey in his own right, but let's listen to a portion of Dr. Hall's story.

But living the so-called American Dream as a black family comes with some nightmares too. Your mama and I aren't dumb or naive. We knew that there would be psychological and cultural risks that came with raising two black boys in white spaces, like the ones where we live, learn, and play. One of the earliest rudest reminders came back when you were little guys like six and four.

It was a random weeknight where your mom and I didn't. Cooking. So we went to the Chipotle less than a mile away from our house. We were in the middle of figuring out whether or not you wanted chicken on your quesadilla. When Noah asked, are we allowed to eat here, being the educator that she is, your mom answered the question with another question.

What makes you ask that? Your reply was as innocent as it was accurate. All the workers are brown and all the people eating are white. Are we allowed to eat here? Your mom and I locked eyes and without speaking knew we had two choices. One, redirect the conversation back to with or without chicken and play.

Dumb or two. Try to explain the socioeconomic context behind those. Employees and white patrons in ways that a six year old could understand. Needless to say, we got a food to go this day and chose the latter, and those masters and PhDs didn't prepare us for that conversation. Dr. Hall's story paints such vivid pictures and it's just so powerful and impactful.

What are you hoping that an audience takes away from this? I am hoping that they will somehow have an appreciation for what it's like to try and raise black boys today. You know, because these are real stories. These are real challenges and. I wanna change the perception of males of color. Arthur Evans said something to me that I thought was really incredible.

He said, males of color are not always seen. He said at 12 in the afternoon, a male of color walking down Market Street, pushing a stroller with a diaper bag isn't seen. But at midnight on Market Street, if he's wearing a. He can't help but be seen, and we're not seeing the full picture of who males of color are, and I'm hoping that we will begin to see and understand better our neighbors struggle.

Yeah. And so far it's been happening. That's been happening. The responses that we're getting, the goodwill, the willingness to step outta your comfort zone and learn about someone else that might not look at all like you. And also you may find some commonality in their stories.  I, I know earlier you talked about when you're doing some of your workshops that you like to have a mental health professional or some guidance with you.

Do you think. Offering safety or ensuring safety, does that end up becoming an impediment to sharing or does it provide a support that. Allows more openness. I think it allows for more openness and I'm borrowing from the moth, so I have to give them credit. They said this very succinctly. Sometimes people talk, tell stories that are about their scars, and sometimes they tell stories that are about their wounds.

Most people are telling stories about their scars, old hurts that have heal. And that the scar remains. But every once in a while someone will talk about their wound, something that is still open, something that still needs care. And when that happens, we wanna be able. Offer people some help. Having a phone number that you can give to somebody or being able to put your hand on somebody's shoulder and saying, it's gonna be okay.

Are you talking to somebody? Can I recommend some? Somebody? Thank you for sharing your story. We really appreciate that and that's gotta be a part of it. And it's not always, I'm really glad that you have those resources available and that you're so quick to share them and to take those actions when it's when someone is sharing their wounds.

I think that's important. Beyond that sort of trauma healing, I know you do a lot of work using story to help organizations. I guess maybe problem solve or help me understand, like applied storytelling, like I know you've worked. Groups disparate as like Woodmere Art Museum or the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

What are you doing when you're helping them with applied storytelling? Are you solving, basically what we do is we come in and customize storytelling projects to help improve outcomes. We've worked with Fortune 50 companies that have said we want to create a corporate culture that promote.  voice that that invites people to bring their full selves to work, including their experiences because they believe and rightly, that will improve their outcomes.

We've worked with museums that say they want to incorporate storytelling into their exhibits to more deeply connect their patrons. Let's see. Gosh, we've worked with so many people. We've done storytelling for. Who were transitioning out of the foster care system to help them to learn how to live independently by creating workshops that let them reflect on where they've been and to think about where they're going, especially to know that they're not limited by their past and.

We work with Penn Nursing to give nurses an opportunity to take the stage and share their vast experiences with one another and to connect, and not just with one another, but to people that should be informed by their experiences, doctors, administrators. I guess I would think getting doctors to listen to the stories from nurses probably gives a lot of value.

I wouldn't have thought of how much. Absolutely. How important that. Absolutely. Patients and their families. If you wanna learn how to really better manage your loved one's healthcare, go to a nursing slam and hear some of these stories. I'll tell you another really exciting case study. We just completed a project with Women's Way.

Oh, cool. And it's an innovative project where they took 10 women who have experienced economic in. And first person Arts worked with these 10 fellows to develop their true personal stories to share them with the media, the philanthropic community, and policy makers. Oh wow. The idea was that these women are not burdens on society.

They are doctors, lawyers, caregivers, architects waiting to happen if they're properly supported. And the whole idea was to change the perception of these and these 10 fellows. Unbelievable stories. Oh, I bet. And it was really an amazing experience and hopefully will change policy, public policy. I was gonna say, I love the fact that you're taking those stories to policy makers.

The work that we do at nonprofits, we're big believers in using story as a tool to affect change. So again, we go back to the bottom line, awesome Art that can be used to make our lives better.   I'm curious, what's next for First Person Arts as an organiz? , I'm thinking about platforms. Okay? Because I know being relevant, I know programming art that is relevant to the community is the right way to go.

Yeah, we have the capacity as an organization to do some really great work digitally. The videos high quality, the film, high quality, the story shows great work. We also have an archive of over 12,000 story shows, 12,000 story not shows stories. Story files thousands. Yes. Yes.  Over 12,000 story files. Holy so we have enough content, my lips to God's ears, right?

We have enough content, I believe, to create ongoing programming. I think we've got enough to do something every day to release a show like a tv. And I think that's a worthy goal to move towards, to get first person arts on TV and in film. I really think we can do it and I think we can make a meaningful impact.

I think that platforms have a lot of value and I think that as we're coming back from this virtual world into our, what we remember as this in-person world, I have a feeling that there's gonna be this interest. Not just hybrid event type of thing. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . I feel like we're going to continue to want to be able to connect in other ways that are on different platforms.

And I think the other thing I'm excited about for Philadelphia, as a city and as a region, we have so many great things that are happening, and by embracing a little more access to digital platforms, I think we have a chance to really have an impact far beyond. Just the mid-Atlantic area, I think we could really have a chance to shine.

I am excited to watch that journey without question and hopefully. Lend some support as you go. Jamie, before we go, besides. Clearly, donations are always important for an arts organization like yours, but how else do you recommend people get involved with First Person Arts? Oh my goodness. We're looking for board members and volunteers especially to help us as we navigate into the digital world more that kind of expertise, wink, wink.  I would love for people to go on our YouTube channel and check out letter to my father, letter to my son. Just go to first Person Arts dot.

Or to first Person Arts YouTube channel and put in a letter to my father, letter to my son. You will not regret it. Very powerful. Uh, we're very proud of the program we're very proud of, of the work that James on our team did with you. It's, it came out beautifully. Indeed, indeed. And check out Dave Winston's story on our YouTube channel.

He's told a number of stories for first person arts and you will not be disapp. I think you have to look for him as Dave Smith, though when he tells Right. Uses his actual name as opposed to that old DJ name. That's it. You will not regret it.

Michael, we could really use,  come to our events We have our monthly storytelling shows, so check out www.firstpersonarts.org and see our lineup. and when you. Be a part of the family, be a part of the community that is first person arts. We would love to have you and I have to say, you have among the many amazing things that you've done, you have built a powerful and dedicated community and you should be very, very proud of that.

I'm blessed and I know it, and I pray that I will continue to be able. Be meaningful.  Hey, and I just wanna point out that for anyone who has not been engaged with First Person Arts before that the, your URL is F I R S T, person Arts.

No numbers or anything crazy like that. So first spelled out person arts.org. That's correct. Jamie, I really appreciate you taking so much time to take a really deep dive into the power of storytelling. Love to you Michael. Thank you for PWP and all you're doing. Oh, thank you. And I just wanna take a second to thank our audience.

They are the reason that we created Mission Story Slam in this podcast, and we just love our community of do gooders and missionaries as you like to call them, and we love hearing from them. Cheers or cheers. Let us know how we can make this podcast better. Tell us how storytelling keeps you engaged with your mission and work.

Send us ideas for the theme for our next slam, or. Just reach out any way you want to. You can find us on our website, mission story slam.org, or you can connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and we'll absolutely keep you posted about when we will be back in person for our next slam. In the meantime, please do share this podcast of friends and colleagues you think would enjoy what we're doing at Mission Story Slam.

I'd also like to recommend briefly two other podcasts I think are relevant to our audience and that we're proud to be producing at PWP. Where policy meets people is about the intersection between public policy and the real world impact on. It's from Jevs Human Services and hosted by Policy Won with a Heart, Kristin Mann.

So, and I also recommend the Mission Business podcast. It's from your part-time controller and it highlights professionals and stories from the nonprofit sector and beyond. And that is hosted by the Y PTC managing partner, Jennifer Oliva. And she weaves together fascinating interviews at non-profit leaders and other unique segments from other members of the Y P T C team.

So this podcast is produced by Dave Winston and brought to you by PWP. We are video with admissions, so find us@PWPvideo.com. We'll be back in a month or so with another episode. Until then, I am Michael Schweiss Imer, and I look forward to sharing the next story behind the story with you soon.