“Fillet of Solo” article by Julia W. Rath

The three-week storytelling festival “Fillet of Solo”, assembled and produced by the Lifeline Theatre, is currently playing online through February 28, 2021. The 2021 version of this yearly event features a wide variety of storytellers of various distinction: 97 stories in all. These personal narratives by individuals and groups of storytellers can be easily accessed via the Lifeline Theatre website. The stories vary by topic and length of performance. The viewer simply has to select the recording(s) they wish to watch, at any time in any order. Live events, such as workshops on storytelling and interactive panel discussions, are at an additional charge and round out the offerings available to the remote audience.

“Fillet of Solo” was originally conceived of by Sharon Evans, who established the festival in 1995. In a normal year, the various participants were able to gather in Chicago’s Glenwood Avenue Arts District and travel to multiple venues to present their narratives live and in person. But due to COVID and restrictions on social distance, this is the first year that all the offerings were migrated online onto the Lifeline Theatre website.

It makes more sense to describe my impressions of “Fillet of Solo” in an article rather than as a review for several reasons. In general, it wouldn’t be fair to give one rating for the entire virtual assemblage, considering how very different each of the narratives are. But perhaps more importantly, a number of these recordings have been plagued by less-than-perfect production values, resulting from the use of nonprofessional audio and camera equipment… since we’ve all been told to stay at home due to the pandemic. In fact, as a sign of the times, a large portion of the presenters discuss COVID and its effects: largely that of being or becoming lonely due to the lack of human contact. Many artists express their need to reach out to others and even to bare the deepest parts of their soul to them. Thus COVID has become the newest backdrop for revealing personal vulnerabilities amidst the personal histories.

Since the virtual festival is headquartered in Chicago, most participants relate stories having to do with daily life in the city or its suburbs or they recount an extraordinary experience that takes place here, or they share some memory with Chicago as the setting. But more generally, the bulk of these autobiographical tales describe what it feels like to be a person who is marginalized from the mainstream culture or is part of a sliver of culture that few people are familiar with. In turn, the presenter may simply describe their discomfort (or even their uniqueness) in somehow being “different” in one way or another from their fellows.

For example, Rose Abdoo, a woman of mixed Lebanese and Dominican ethnicity, dislikes the categorization of Americans into labels. In her segment called “Boxes”, she quotes Barack Obama who once said, “I am less interested in how we label ourselves than how we treat each other.” Jimmy Carrane in “World’s Greatest Dad” expounds on what it means to have a grown up with a horrible father and how he wants to be a much better role model for his young daughter. One of my favorite stories is one told by Connie Shirakawa, called “The Homeless Ghost”, or “the search to find the ghost that lives within us all.” She describes the intersection of her life in a 17-room boarding house with a historical account of Japanese-Americans who were interned in American concentration camps during World War II. Another highlight is “One Inch” by Marcia Wilkie, where she states: “The great ocean of truth is overwhelming. By an inch do we measure.”

The individuality inherent in each story (plus the occasional musical composition) helps to create a cacophony that makes watching the entire event worthwhile. The best part is being able to pick and choose exactly which performances to focus on.

“Fillet of Solo” runs through Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. CT on your computer!

You may choose to purchase a single ticket or a Festival Pass. A single ticket entitles viewers to access all videos and to watch them as many times as they wish until the virtual fest closes. In addition, the Festival Pass includes live events including storytelling workshops and panels that feature storytellers from throughout the world.

Tickets/passes are available now for purchase by calling the Lifeline Box Office, 773-761-4477, or by visiting www.lifelinetheatre.com.

Ticket prices are “Name Your Price” (suggested donation of $20) for access to the gallery of recordings, and $45 for a Festival Pass. You may choose to upgrade your single ticket to a Festival Pass on the Lifeline Theatre website or through the Box Office at a later time.

For more information, please call the Box Office or go to info@lifelinetheatre.com.