Telling our story: ancient tradition sheds new light on island character

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 20, 2016

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Writer Wendell Berry once said that if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are. The sense of place — both the spirit of the land and the character of the community — has long been a beguiling subject for many a writer and storyteller.

Last April, islanders Mary Shakelford and Shirley Ferris put out a call for residents to tell their stories about what it means to live on Vashon. The culminating project, “Heart of Vashon: Telling Our Story,” is a literary reading slated for two performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Heron.

With submissions from 150 people and over 300 pages of printed material, Shakelford and Ferris had their work cut out for them to develop a script that would convey the collective story. Working with director Michael Barker, Ferris and Shakelford chose excerpts from poems, essays, reflections, stories and more to fashion an integrated narrative that will be read by a cast of 14 islanders.

“It’s hard to say whose piece is in the script,” Shakleford said. “No one is the star. Our youngest (contributor) is nine, and our oldest is over 80. It’s multi-generational.”

She said the team felt honored by the trust writers extended to allow their work to be excerpted.

“We have not changed words, but we have taken apart sentences,” she said. “I hope that what we have will reflect what will please people.”

Ferris added that the script is really everybody’s words.

“We’ve forgotten who wrote what as the stories began to echo one another — the sense of community, Vashon as a healing place, tolerance or acceptance or the spontaneity of life,” she said. “We were reaching out for a collective story.”

Shakelford was quick to add that in no way is this “the” collective story of Vashon. She said the idea was to peek into a shared story about place and connection.

A connection dear to her heart is that the event will be held at the Blue Heron, the home of Vashon Allied Arts (VAA) for many years and the former Odd Fellows Hall.

“The timbers that built the building come from Vashon,” she said. “There’s a vulnerability that comes from sharing a poem in front of one’s friends and then seeing them at Thriftway. It is about community arts, and it’s all there in that wood.”

Ferris said that while they received some lovely historical stories, the submission parameters focused on what it means to live on Vashon now. Those stories, plus others too long to be included, will be part of the archived record held at the Heritage Museum, one of the project’s four sponsors.

Voice of Vashon is another sponsor. The station has a grant to do art on the air, Shakelford said, so they are hiring a videographer and will make the taped show available by a link. All-Island Forum and VAA are also sponsors of the event.

It is clear that Ferris and Shakelford are excited about the final project. Shakelford said there is something mysterious and magic about the story that is coming through during the rehearsals.

Ferris said, “It is important that the story be shared. It gives you a sense of belonging and makes one’s life bigger than it was.”

Tickets are available at the Blue Heron and at vashonalliedarts.org. Seating is limited, and the show is expected to sell out, so purchasing tickets early is advised.