‘Urban tellers’ return to Civic Auditorium

Each will tell an un-memorized 12 to 15-minute tale on a different theme, but all are intended to express vulnerability and emotional authenticity.

Each performer has a wide-range of unique stories to tell: Duddy and Howard are revered storytellers who teach workshops throughout the Pacific Northwest; McPherson works managing the theater’s podcasts and conducts workshops; Hancock lives in White Salmon and works full-time as a writing, literature and women’s studies instructor at Columbia Gorge Community College; and Bulick is a firefighter, electrician and emergency responder living in Bingen.

“Urban Tellers shows are a potent blend of vulnerability and heart, where people tell personal stories that are always about something that matters; something that made them who they are,” Duddy told the Chronicle last year.

Portland Story Theater is a nonprofit founded by Duddy and Howard in 2004. A grant allowed them to travel and share their stories, which brought them to The Dalles in 2017.

“We were thrilled to be invited back,” said Duddy.

The fact that several performers were from the area, and that Howard knew The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence, having worked for him as a paralegal in the ‘90s, was just further incentive for the group to pass through. The community response from that story-telling session was so positive that the theater group will return.

"In a time when so many of our interactions take place anonymously and online, the power of face to face storytelling is difficult to overstate,” said Elizabeth Wallis, program director for the Civic.

“Folks left last year's event with tears in their eyes."

She said proceeds from the show will go into the Civic’s operating fund.

The Civic Auditorium, built in 1921, was dedicated as a memorial for local World War I veterans. It eventually fell into disuse until a group formed a non-profit to purchase the property from the city in 1991. Today, the Civic Auditorium Preservation Foundation raises and manages funds for maintaining the Civic Auditorium’s wellbeing.

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $12 at Klindt’s Booksellers, located at 315 East Second Street, or for $15 at the door and are limited to adults 18 and older. Stories will start at 7 p.m., with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

“Urban Tellers” will be held in the Community Room of the Civic Auditorium, located at 323 East Fourth Street, The Dalles. Appetizers, beer and wine for $5.00 each will all be available for purchase.