From rescuing geese to recovering from prison: Storytelling festival highlights Nebraskans’ stories

Mary Roth and Randy Bretz met in 2011 while remodeling a playground.

Roth worked for Lincoln Public Schools and Bretz was involved with the local Rotary club. Years later, Bretz got the idea for a story festival from his wife, who had done one back in 2018. Bretz asked Roth if she would want to help since she had just retired from LPS.

She said yes, and the rest is history.

Bretz had a career in broadcasting, both as a producer and working as voice talent.

“The Nebraska Storytelling Festival is just a time when regular people get up on a stage and share a story of something that happened to them,” Bretz said. “It's that simple.”

Before she worked in communications with LPS, Roth was a journalist with the Lincoln Journal Star.

“It's a very simple, pared-down experience,” Roth said. “There's no digital stuff. There's no pictures on the wall. It's simply 10 people standing behind a microphone telling a story.”

This year’s festival, held in Lincoln, was funded primarily by the proceeds from the last festival, as well as a Lincoln Community Foundation grant. Both Roth and Bretz said they are not looking to make any money from the festival, just break even.

They began at the Lincoln Community Playhouse, in one of the 100-seat theaters but outgrew it within the first year. They moved to a 200-seat location in the Haymarket, but outgrew that, too. Finally, they landed at the Scottish Rite Theater, which has a capacity of 400.

Thursday night that capacity was nearly maxed out.

As the stories were set to begin, the crowd chattered, ordering drinks at the bar while a pianist near the low stage played music.

The night’s storytellers held a mix of public speaking and storytelling experience. Some had done it before. For others, this was their first time on stage. The stories also varied greatly, but all centered around one theme.

The night’s emcee, DeWayne Taylor, welcomed everyone and told attendees about the theme.

“Welcome to the Nebraska Storytelling Festival,” Taylor exclaimed to a cheering crowd. “This year’s theme is lost and found, and now the magic begins with the show, are you ready? Let's begin with our first storyteller this evening...Brandi Benson!"

Benson, the first storyteller of the night, was greeted by a wave of applause and cheers as she walked on stage. She was one of those who had never stepped onto a stage to tell a story, even though she taught journalism at Lincoln Southwest High School for 12 years, so she had some experience in front of crowds.

“I'm naturally an observer," she said to start her story. "I like to watch what's going on around me, and I always want to help. I always think I should help. And this past May, I may have taken it a little bit too far.”

Benson’s story was titled “Eight Precious Lives” and chronicled a day from last May where she helped move a gaggle of geese across the road and to a pond.

“Now, I would like to tell you this is an uncommon occurrence in my day to day, but anyone in this audience who knows me knows that stuff like this happens all the time,” said Benson as she laughed with the crowd.

She said she lost and found her phone and car, helped some lost geese find their home and found some human kindness in the process.

Before her speech, Benson said half of what she lost and found were material goods, but the special part was the kindness.

“In a day and age when it's kind of hard to see humanity and kindness and we feel like we're losing that, I found camaraderie and friendship and complete strangers trying to help me accomplish this goal,” she said.

Tate Vobach was in the crowd that night and listed Benson’s story, which he said was one of his favorites.

“Brandi talked about the geese,” Vobach said. “I thought that was, like, hysterical. Very, very well done, very funny.”

His other favorite was a story told by a farmer and writer named Keith Dittrich. Dittrich came from the Norfolk area to tell his story.

“I just wanted to write about the dog,” Dittrich told the crowd. “And I certainly didn't want to write about my story, so I stopped writing, and I stewed on it.”

Dittrich’s story was about a trip he took to Snake River Canyon to write a book, and how that trip went from treacherous to outright life-threatening. He called it “Into the Night.”

“That morning, I pulled out my laptop and a cup of coffee and a clear blue sky with the sound of the falls in the backdrop,” said Dittrich. “I started writing, and surprisingly, I fell into the story. I lost myself in this story.”

He also got lost in the canyon, finding his way out with the help of other hikers. On his way back home, Dittrich crashed into a swerving cattle truck, injuring the truck driver, and severely injuring himself.

“I realized I was again heading into the night, and all was lost this time, but I awoke to a sublime, nearly beautiful scene of sparkling crystal glass all around me, a little bit of moonlight, drops of rain hitting my dash, the lowing of cattle,” he said to a silent yet attentive crowd.

He would be rescued from his crushed vehicle, and driven to the hospital, where he would stay for weeks.

But Dittrich survived and persevered.

“Epilogue,” he said. “I guess the end of the story is that the dog book got done, and my story continues, and I'm very grateful.”

The room erupted with applause.

Dittrich’s was not the only story with heavy themes that night.

WayofLife Wardlow told the crowd about his time being arrested, sent to prison, and how his parole officer never believed he could reform his life. Wardlow said he had lost his purpose but now had found it as a poet and advocate for at risk youth.

“They had already had a decision made about what they were going to do, and so they spent that whole time trying to justify the decision, and they weren't prepared for me to handle myself with a sense of dignity and integrity that I had cultivated over that nine and a half years,” said Wardlow. “They weren't expecting someone to actually change. They didn't plan for that. And so I was told that I had a problem with authority because I tried to hold authority accountable the same way I was held accountable.”

Dale Johnson, Nebraska Public Media’s “Morning Edition” host, told the crowd about how he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident several years ago. A 16-year-old boy hit Johnson with his car, flinging Johnson 20 feet. After recovering, Johnson and his wife, Kimberly, met with the boy and his parents at a coffee shop.

“I thought maybe he was thinking of prom; school was going to be getting out in a couple of months,” said Johnson. “But again, I couldn't be more wrong.

The parents told Johnson a police car had been parked outside their house, waiting for the announcement of whether Johnson had survived or not. If he had not, their son would have been charged with a serious crime.

“There was a pause in the conversation, and I leaned [in] looking at the young man, and I said, ‘you hit the right guy. You hit the right guy. I'm here. The only thing I lost was a leg. I'm back to work. I've traveled. You didn't do this on purpose. You didn't set out to do this. It was an accident,’” Johnson said. “We forgive you. I forgive you.”

Other stories were lighter but still had the emotional depth.

A favorite of a few attendees was Marissa Gill’s story. Her story was titled “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Intermission.” It centered around parenting and her 10-year-old son Griffin, who has autism. They were going to see “Hamilton.”

“See, for me, parenting feels like one of those cooking reality shows,” said Gill to a laughing crowd. “Where they give you these mystery ingredients and then you, like, 10 minutes to make a five-course meal, except with parenting, it's like no one's ever cooked anything ever before, and everything's on fire.”

Griffin loves “Hamilton,” and Gill said he knows every word. Griffin also struggles with sitting still, loud noises, or weird textures.

“It's like everything that goes in the pot -- I gotta make sure it's right,” Gill said. “Because I know that if you add just a teaspoon of loud noises and then maybe a smattering of unexpected changes to the plan, boom. You go from making a lava cake to making one of those science fair experiment volcanoes that's just like exploding everywhere.”

Gill prepared as much as she could, but things happen, like parking problems and Griffin getting a bloody nose. Gill said when the show started, Griffin couldn’t stop smiling and singing along. The weird texture of the chair was eventually too much for Griffin, and they left around intermission, but she said it was a success.

“I learned once again that creating these gourmet moments for my child, no matter how crazy the ingredients or ridiculous the recipes, will always be the most satisfying thing I can ever do.”

Karl Birchley was one of those who said Gill’s story was his favorite.

“I think just hearing about a neurodivergent child and the experiences and a great metaphor of cooking, that was my favorite,” Birchley said. “Yeah, she's charismatic, lovely story.”

Jonella DeLimas loves storytelling, and is one herself. She said she loved how Gill framed her story. DeLimas says storytelling is a way to connect.

“I think it's important because people need to connect,” DeLimas said. “I believe that storytelling is a way for community to come together and to feel that we're not alone.”

All the storytellers that night told the crowd how they lost and found something, whether that be a physical object, themselves or even something like childlike wonder.

Roth and Bretz say next month they will meet and discuss how Thursday’s event went. After that, they will begin picking a theme and accepting pitches from aspiring storytellers for next year.

All the stories from Thursday evening can be found at the Nebraska Storytelling Festival's YouTube page.