Weekend storytelling takes centre stage at OutSpoken (6 photos)

Storyteller Brad Woods of Guelph entertained a small but attentive audience inside OutSpoken Brewing Saturday, both customers and staff enjoying being able to dine or have a beverage indoors as Ontario’s Step 3 of reopening continues.

“It’s absolutely brilliant (to enjoy an indoor event at a pub as a long, third COVID-19 stay at home order continues to loosen),” said the Sault’s Audrey Overman, speaking to SooToday.

“It just feels like after being in a stifling room, for a year and a half, to have the window open and the door open.”

“This is my first ‘act.’ As soon as things started opening up again (for indoor dining and beverages) this is where I came...I’m very proud of the people who have been vaccinated and who are wanting to put this virus to an end. I feel very positive about it,” Overman said, despite an approaching fourth wave of COVID-19. 

“It feels like the promise of being able to expand again, to go beyond the borders, out of the bubble again. I haven't left a 50-mile radius in a year and a half and that’s the most I’ve stayed put in my entire life. It’ll be nice to travel out of the province, out of the country and across the ocean again. It’s taken a toll. It’s going to be nice to be able to see our loved ones and family again,” Overman said.

Of Woods’ storytelling, Overman said “it was fabulous.”

“It was magical. It draws you right in. ”

“It’s totally incomparable to Netflix, absolutely,” she laughed.

OutSpoken Brewing staff are also enjoying the indoor dining and beverage availability these days.

“For us, right now, the hot spot is definitely the patio but it’s nice to be able to offer indoor service because it essentially doubles our capacity. If the patio is full, people can sit inside, if it’s raining people can sit inside. Being able to have people inside just makes everything smoother, easier, more accessible, it’s less stressful to have the option to have inside open to customers,” said OutSpoken Brewing’s Kaitlynn Cruickshank.

“For a day like today, we had the storyteller inside while operating the patio outside. It gives customers more opportunity, it gives us more opportunity,” Cruickshank said, OutSpoken Brewing’s interior able to accommodate approximately 20 customers, located at 350 Queen St. E. in Sault Ste. Marie.

“It feels more normal, except for the mask,” Cruickshank chuckled.

We spoke to storyteller Woods at Saturday’s gathering.

“It’s as simple as it sounds. I tell stories. I tell personal tales and traditional tales and true stories. I suppose it’s the oldest art form there is. I have a lot of friends who are musicians, my wife Sylvia is a visual artist, and I believe they’re all storytellers as well, and I found being in front of an audience telling a story is what satisfies me.”

Woods is a schoolteacher who tells stories as part of his approach to students during the school year and to public gatherings during his annual summer vacation travels.

“It’s really about connecting with the audience...I kind of feel like I have no choice but to tell stories. It’s what makes us human. Everybody has a story to tell.”

The Sault is among seven stops on Woods’ current tour.

Woods told four stories Saturday, ranging from that of farmers dealing with personal hardships in Scotland's Orkney Islands to his own running in the Toronto Marathon.

Woods has told stories in both small pubs and concert halls, in Canada and abroad (including the U.S. and South Africa), adding he prefers small, in person gatherings of about 25 people over video podcasts.