by Mike Kane

I went to film school so I know a little something about the moving pictures. I work in television, so I understand how it all works. The writer weaves a tale. The director has a vision (and takes some liberties), and in an unspecified amount of time, the director comes back with film that loosely resembles its original script. SpeakeasyDC Artistic Executive Director Amy Saidman called me in October and told me about a new partnership with the DC Shorts. The idea was simple: you tell a story on stage. Read More

by Mike Kane

I’ve grown as a performer.

The irony of this is that it was a failure, not a monster success, which allowed me to realize this.

Let me bury the lead no longer: I bombed.

Maybe “bomb” is not an accurate description, but I was super disappointed with my performance.

I should set this up so I don’t sound like a wackadoo (oh, who are we kidding?).

I told a story the other night at SpeakeasyDC’s Second Tuesday.  If you read any of my previous entries, you know I wasn’t feeling good about it.  I found out that morning that I would be going first after the host’s story.  I always like going first.  Get it out of the way and hopefully you can actually recognize that there’s a show going on afterward. Read More

by Mike Kane

Have you ever had a credit card bill that was due at the end of the month?  And rather than logging on to get an idea of the damage you’ll be facing, you panic and just decide to ignore it?  Like, you literally sit down, launch your web browser and start typing in the URL for your credit card’s website, then delete it and just head to Facebook instead?

That’s been me this week, except the obligation has been rehearsing my story, not paying my credit card bill.  And instead of logging onto to Facebook, I’ve been logging onto Facebook.

It’s ironic that tomorrow’s open mic theme is titled, Half-Baked,  because that’s exactly what my story is: half-baked. Read More

by Mike Kane

I was talking to a fellow storyteller this weekend who said she was thinking of launching a new open mic in Washington DC.

Her reason: she felt like all of the open mics in DC are too high stakes.

Interesting.

There’s no doubt that the SpeakeasyDC’s second Tuesday shows at Town are high stakes; I mean, you’re performing in front of 300 people.  300 very eager, encouraging, and enthusiastic people, but 300 people nonetheless.  And then there’s Story League’s open mic, which is a story contest.  By nature, that competitive element raises the stakes.  And then there’s a few other shows that are a mixture of art forms Read More

I’m telling a story at a wedding on Saturday.

I mean, on stage.

Oh, there will be alcohol there, which means I’ll crush as many beers as my feeble stomach will tolerate and then I’ll regale my table with sob stories of high school rejections and the scars that remain.  That happens at every wedding I attend.  But I’m talking about the story I am going to tell on stage.

At the request of the bride. I need to make that distinction as I have hijacked at least one other wedding, getting on the stage with the microphone and telling an unsolicited story about the groom and another girl he dated years before.  It went over like gangbusters, if the gangbusters were asked/forced to leave by the father of the gang they were busting. Read More

by Mike Kane

If you’ve ever attended a SpeakesyDC open mic, you know that feeling when the MC says, “okay, coming to the stage is a first-time storyteller…” It’s a feeling of excitement, dread, concern and suspense.  Will they be awesome?  Is this person the new storyteller that everyone will be talking about on the way out of the show later that evening?  Or will the nerves of this first-timer get the better of them, make them a fidgety mess, and tell a boring story that brings the show to a halt?

I’ve seen both.

Yesterday, I attended the official rehearsal for SEDC August’s open mic, Baked: Stories About Summer.  It was the same scene as always.  Seven storytellers (three were not in attendance) were sitting around a table.  Stephanie Garibaldi was at the head, her stopwatch out and ready as she prepared to scribble notes for each story. Read More

A quick recap of my life right now: There’s an open mic in August under the theme of Baked: Stories About Summer.  I have acid reflux pretty much around the clock at this point because I signed up for that open mic even though my “story” is in shambles.

To make matters worse, the Story Workshop (my shower) is leaking from the second floor into the living room, meaning that solo practice times are pretty much reduced to my car rides to work at this point.  Have you ever tried to rehearse in your car?  Here’s how it goes:

“Once upon a time there was… MOVE!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF A ‘PASSING LANE,’ YOU SORRY SACK OF – Ugh. So, once upon a time, there was a little boy named Mike who only wanted to – OH, BY ALL MEANS, CUT RIGHT IN, YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF – no, focus.  So, seriously, once upon a time – I HATE THIS SONG!  WHO LISTENS TO THIS SH –“ Read More

by Mike Kane

Since the moment you read the first word in this blog post (yes, the word “since” just 15 words ago), Sunday, July 22 just got a few seconds closer.   And that means that the run-through for SpeakeasyDC’s open mic just got a few seconds closer.  And instead of spending every waking moment honing this “story” of mine (and I put “story” in quotations because calling my yard sale piece a story at this point would be like calling the new Katy Perry concert movie a “documentary.”  I mean, yes, it’s in the theaters, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves) I’m sitting here wasting my time counting the number of words between “since” and “just.” Read More

by Mike Kane

Her email came on Saturday.

Subject: Confirmation & Next Steps for Aug 14 Speakeasy

The email came from none other than Stephanie Garibaldi, SpeakeasyDC’s Director of Education.  And she minced no words in her opening lines of the email:

Dear Mike,

Congrats! You’ve been confirmed as one of our open-mic performers for the August 14, 2012 Speakeasy on the theme: Baked: Stories About Summer.

What did I do to warrant this sort of attitude?

Oh yeah, I signed up through their website.  Why?  Why would I do this? Read More

by Mike Kane

I did two shows in two nights this past weekend.  I did Vijai Nathan’s birthday show at Fan-Freaking-Tastic on Saturday, and, to my knowledge, Arlington, Virginia’s first storytelling event: Story League’s show at Bus Boys and Poets in Shirlington.  As expected, both shows were so much fun, all of the performers were awesome, and the world is beautiful and filled with flowers and puppies.

However, there is something greater than that I want to talk about today.

Before Fan-Freaking, I was sitting outside Chief Ike’s, having a drink with my wife.  As we’re talking, Jessica Piscitelli Robinson, the woman who heads up Better Said Than Done arrived with her husband.  Read More