Wisconsin Story Project moves from cancer to community-building

A man's first reaction to learning he has testicular cancer is usually not, “Hey, I really need to tell a bunch of strangers about this!” It certainly wasn’t the case for Wisconsin Story Project’s founder and co-producing artistic director Mike Lawler, but he’s come around to the redemptive powers of storytelling. Lawler and his friend Talish Barrow—two Madison theater vets—began the Wisconsin Story Project as a way to gather stories for a documentary theater project called Cancer Stories (running May 28-29 at Overture Center).

During its two-year existence, WSP has also grown to include semi-regular storytelling gatherings called “Storyshares.” The next will be held on Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Project Lodge. The evening's theme is “On The Spot," and the show will also include music from Madison-Minneapolis avant-jazz band Volcano Insurance. The topics are intentionally broad, and anyone is invited to hop on stage and partake. The stories can be rehearsed or informal—hell, participants can even sing a song. There are no prerequisites or rules—all folks need is a pulse and something to say. In advance of Thursday’s Storyshare, we spoke with Lawler and Barrow to better understand the value of this grassroots movement.

On how it works
Talish Barrow: We’re inspired by This American Life and Radiolab. There’s a theme, but where that takes you is up to the individual. People come up and tell a story. They tend to be about five minutes long. We alternate between the stories and the band. So far, people have been willing to get up and talk. It’s really kind of amazing how it works. I believed in this in theory, but I was worried it could be a disaster. Some people get up and tell practiced party stories, and others get up and say things they weren’t planning to say. It’s amazing and very revealing. It’s a safe environment. After people told stories at the first Storyshare, the mood in the room changed. There was so much goodwill circulating. You don’t normally see that happen spontaneously.

On the power of story
TB: We walk around in our shells we have to put on just to get through the day. We have to say, “Look, this is my identity I’m performing, please accept it at face value.” People have these other parts of themselves they don’t display on a daily basis. It’s just a testament that on some core level we do want to be connected to each other. For perfectly legitimate reasons, it can be daunting. When you carve out a little time to say “All I’m going to do is listen to or tell a story,” it slows us down and reminds us we’re a community.

On drawing in new performers
Mike Lawler: We’ve worked hard to make the events simple and unfettered by guidelines. They bring people together who aren’t natural performers, and aren’t the types of people who would normally do this. They’re not actors or comedians. You’re just telling a story like you’re at a party. A recently retired woman told me how she now lives an enclosed life interacting with the same people. She said: “It’s so predictable we could interact in a coma.” People are telling stories they’d normally reserve for their friends, not strangers.

On how WSP has affected its creators
ML: As an artist, Cancer Stories was a way of dealing with a world I was put in against my will. I learned that that there was a whole community that surrounded me and my wife in a meaningful, hopeful way. People came out of the woodwork. I learned we all matter to one another, and there are times when we need to pay attention to the people around us, make them a part of our lives. It’s been cathartic.