Oxford Spillit Slam Invites Storytellers to Tell Their Best ‘So There I Was …’ Story

By Alyssa Schnugg

News editor

alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

If you have a great story that invokes giggles at cocktail parties and family dinners, you might just have an award-winning story to tell at this year’s Spillit Slam competition.

This year’s event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday at the Powerhouse.

The Spillit Slam is a friendly, story-telling competition. This year’s theme is, “So there I was ….”

Storytellers will have 5 to 7 minutes to stand up and tell their stories in front of a live audience. The winner will go on to the Spillit Grand Championship in Memphis in November.

Last year’s Oxford winner was long-time Oxonian Kaye Bryant who went on to win the Grand Championship as well. She will be defending her title at this year’s event.

Josh Campbell, creative director at Spillit Memphis, said those who wish to tell a story will put their name in a hat and 10 people will be selected to come up to the stage to tell their stories.

“People are also welcome to just come and watch,” he said. “We’ll have people there who will have something prepared and others may just get the courage to throw their name in. At the end, the audience will vote on the winner.”

Spillit Memphis started in 2012 and has done more than 100 story-telling events since then.

“The Spillit Slam is one of our most popular events,” Campbell said. “We’re hoping to get a good crowd (Saturday) and send the best storyteller from Oxford back to Memphis again.”

No props, no notes and no scripts are needed or allowed.

“It’s like sitting around a campfire and telling a story,” Campbell said. “We’re looking for personal narratives – not fairy tales or tall tales. We want true stories. We ask for about 85 percent true – people can embellish a bit.”

The event is part of this year’s Hoka Days celebration that began on Friday and runs through the end of the month with several events celebrating arts, local businesses, theater and food.

Upcoming Hoka Days Events

• MAC Listening Session, Aug. 9
• Spillit Slam, Aug. 13
• Big Bad Business Round Robin, Aug. 24
• Oxford on Skates, Aug. 28
• Iron Bartender, Aug. 12 (tickets at oxfordarts.com/ironbartender
• Oxford Civic Chorus Open Rehearsals, Aug. 22 and 29.
• Theater Oxford, 10-Minute Plays, Aug. 27.

Visit www.oxfordarts.com/hoka for more information.