MIDDLEBURY — November marked the first of a storytelling series launched by Middlebury UndergrounD and Bundle. The Nov. 1 event “Memorable Dishes” focused a curated open-mic night on tales of food and flavor, and local storytellers had quite the appetite to get up and share.
“We are happy to report it was a packed house and a powerful evening featuring a range of high-quality storytelling,” said Lisa Mitchell, cofounder of MUD. “For our next installment, we invite the community to tell their tales profiling many types of love.”
On Friday, Jan. 24, from 5:30-7 p.m., MUD and Bundle invite community members to tell their unique stories in “LOVE, REALLY (.!?…)” This evening will again be a free, curated, Moth-style series, hosted at Bundle, the pop-up event space on Main Street in downtown Middlebury. The evening invites all participants to dig deep into their memories and tell their best five-minute tale of love.
“Maybe your pet tarantula is the object of your affection. Perhaps you love tacos almost as much as your first-born child. Or maybe you want to tell about the time you learned a lesson about love you’ll never forget. Whatever the theme of your love-inspired story, we want to hear it,” Mitchell said in a press release.
For those wanting to come to listen, the event already has several featured presenters lined up to keep the emotions flowing.
Betty and Victor Nuovo of Middlebury, will share thoughts on being married over six decades. “We’ve been married 66 years,” Victor said, “so our love affair has had a lot of time to take root and grow.”
Doug Engel is going to talk about how much he loves the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op. “I have a very humorous story about the Co-Op and I have done some comedy stand-up so this could be quite funny,” he said. Fair warning.
Sarah King, a Ripton-based singer-songwriter will tell her love story in song. She just released her album “What Happened Last Night,” and she’ll play one of the tracks, “With You,” which she wrote about two weeks before meeting her husband.
Other speakers will include: Gretchen Ayer, talking about an exotic, short-lived romance with a man she met in Ecuador. Alexandra Muck, who shares the painful but key decision not to move forward with marrying her fiancé. Ken Levine’s exploration of “being love, rather than being in love.” Mary Carone’s first understanding of unconditional love, and more.
Come feel the love on Friday evening at this free event open to all. RSVPs are required. Sign up on the Facebook event page or email [email protected]. In lieu of an entry fee, all donations will be given to WomenSafe, a local non-profit, human service organization committed to ending domestic and sexual violence in Addison County.