Amy Cohen's first brush with performing in The Stoop Storytelling Series – which will take the stage Friday as part of the Columbia Festival of the Arts – was in December, when she was plucked from a Baltimore audience to share a real-life tale about the holidays.
Cohen, a Kings Contrivance resident and special education resource teacher for Howard County public schools, is Jewish.
Nonetheless, she launched with ease into a seamless, standup comedy-like riff on the merits of trees, decorations and presents, which were not part of her life growing up on Long Island where "there was no Christmas anywhere."
"I didn't know anything about people buying wrapping paper and storing wrapping paper, and bows and ribbons," she says, until she began to discover all the attractive components of Christmas culture as an adult, like home-baked cookies and the film "Elf."
"Stoop storytelling is about true stories told by the people who experienced them, and I loved listening to the program," said Cohen, who had first seen a Stoop performance in Columbia a year ago. "When they picked me, I had a blast."
Her voice was animated in that impromptu appearance, and she peppered her first foray into storytelling with elements of glee. A natural storyteller was born.
Cohen will be one of seven to take the stage, all of whom answered a call for people willing to share a real-life tale on the theme of international travel.
The Stoop's mission is "to showcase the extraordinary stories of ordinary people," according to Jessica Henkin – co-founder, co-producer and co-host with Laura Wexler.
She described Cohen's story as "well-told and emotionally intelligent."
"Amy's a great observer of people," she said, and her approach is a prime example of storytelling as it should be, which she described as "the ultimate way of connecting."
Henkin, who has an improvisational comedy background and is a full-time employee of the Baltimore city school system, met Wexler through a mutual friend.
The pair chose the name "The Stoop" in 2006, she said, in order to form a triad with two other well-known storytelling series – The Moth, in New York, and Porch Light, in San Francisco. The name also pays homage to the iconic marble stoops of Baltimore.
While five of the June 10 storytellers hail from Baltimore, a second Howard County resident will be part of the show and will tell a "funny and poignant story" involving the typical American abroad, Henkin said.
If time permits, a couple of audience members may be selected to come onstage and share an anecdote, she said.
"We wanted to get stories that are diverse in content and to include storytellers who have equally diverse backgrounds," Henkin said about their selections, which include a Peace Corps volunteer and a musician from Uganda.
Cohen's story focuses on four cousins who came from Israel to visit America and the invitation she extended to them to spend one night at her home on their way to sightseeing in Washington.
"The plan was for them to stay overnight and leave the next day, but they stayed for a week due to a serious illness that [overcame] them," she said.
Cohen, who is 54, said the cousins were ages 6 to 35 at the time and didn't all speak English.
"There's so much to the story — so many perspectives and so many mini-stories within," she said. "I must've told it 50 times to family and friends."
Cohen said one of the best parts about participating in The Stoop Storytelling Series has been the instruction from the founders.
"The coolest thing is getting a time limit and getting coached as to how to make the most of that time," she said. "They help you make salient points and to focus on what the experience meant to you and how you can use it going forward."
Dave Simmons, programming coordinator for the Columbia Festival of the Arts, said that what appeals to him about Stoop Storytelling is what it's not.
"I like that it's not a lot of technology; just the storyteller at a mic," he said.
"It's incredible how well the stories are crafted and how they have unique characteristics that define a moment in someone's life," Simmons said. "These people come out of their career shells on the theater stage and do an astonishing job."
Laura Wetherald, a chief of Howard County's Department of Recreation and Parks and a festival board member, said she went to her first show to try something new.
"You become so totally engaged in these stories even though you have no idea where they're going to go," said Wetherald, an Ellicott City resident.
"It's the unscriptedness of the event that makes it so fun and interesting, and the stories people share can be life-changing."
If you go
The Stoop Storytelling Series will be presented June 10 from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center, 7246 Cradlerock Way, Columbia. To purchase tickets for $15, go to columbiafestival.org or call 410-715-3044.