Listening Labs:
Storytelling To Strengthen Communities
Every person has a story that matters
Listening Labs are forums in which moving stories told through powerful spoken word, music, and theatrically projected sand animation facilitate generous listening with fellow participants in conversations that are honest, intimate, and alive.
Participant Stories
Regie Gibson and Guy Mendilow have facilitated Listening Labs with organizational boards, historical societies and interfaith councils focusing on antiracism, organizational boards and historical societies. Listening Labs help participants become more visible and better understood to one another. Many of participants granted permission to share portions of their stories anonymously.
These stories speak powerfully so they are excerpted below, in participants’ words curated by Gibson and Mendilow.
If you saw me on a train you might look away and ignore my attempt to make eye contact.
But what if you knew I was once 13 and pregnant. That my mom was wrongly imprisoned. That I have survived much and am now a PhD.
If you saw me on a train you wouldn’t know I’m an artist and in a rock band — all you’d see is an aging woman — Honestly, I am not sure you’d see me at all.
If you saw me on a train you might notice my expensive clothes and think —- That person is really put-together…But what if you knew I am burned out and depressed — that my brain tries to talk me away from breathing.
If you saw me you wouldn’t know I am the unwanted son of an Argentinian nun — adopted, sent to the States to be far away from her (and her God).
Me? You’d see an African American woman, middle aged, confident —- But…since my husband died, I am always afraid…
If you saw me you wouldn’t know I am nearly deaf and hardly speak to anyone because my tongue is a Spanish island in a raging ocean of English
If you saw me… all you’d see is a white male, white collar worker. But, what if you knew I grew up dirt poor — worked in the fields with Mexican immigrants as a child… you might think I am ignoring your eye-contact — but I get nervous and very insecure. I come off like I don't care, but I do… I really do.
Such stories illustrate StoryCorps founder David Isay’s sentiment: “You cannot hate a person once you’ve listened to their story.”
Meeting People Where They Gather
Belonging interventions like Listening Labs or In Our Words are a social practice framework harnessing established processes of a team of artists, facilitators, writers, composers and theatrical designers. Each Listening Lab and In Our Words Community Portrait Live Documentary is distinct because these projects:
•Are made with, of, and for specific communities.
•Prioritize people over venues. Each phase occurs where the people at the heart of each community portrait gather, often taking theatre OUT of the theatre. Where theatrical venues are not inclusion barriers, their production capabilities (e.g. lighting, more sophisticated projection technology) enhance impact. But this is not required. (see support materials)
•Adapt. The formats — especially In Our Words — continue to evolve to meet partnering community needs, constraints and opportunities.