The Monti, a Triangle-based storytelling organization, is hosting its 9th Annual Hippo Awards to honor its top contributors from 2016. The event is set for Saturday night at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro.
Jeff Polish, executive director of The Monti, said storytellers are not allowed to use notes in order to preserve the intimacy between the story and its audience.
“There is no reading at The Monti,” he said.
Polish founded the organization with a vision of community members coming together to share their narratives. The name of the awards ceremony has a story of its own.
Before the organization was founded, Polish and his now-wife were on a canoe ride on the Zambezi River during an African safari when their boat was overturned by a hippo.
“It was purely by the grace of the animal that we survived,” Polish said.
Much like the couple’s close encounter with the hippo, stories told at The Monti touch on the frailty of human existence and the conflicts that humans can overcome, Polish said. After his encounter with the hippo, Polish said he now seeks new perspectives from other storytellers.
Hippo Awards are distributed for best comedy, drama and overall story. Polish said The Monti stresses the importance of balancing genre variety in the shows to make sure each story is as impactful as possible.
In addition to the awards presentation, Saturday’s events will also include storytellings by both new and veteran Monti voices. There are four requirements storytellers must follow: All stories must be true, told without notes, be told in under 12 minutes and revolve around a central theme. This month's theme — confrontations — was selected because it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, Polish said.
