The Shepherdstown Opera House opened its doors for the first time since 2018, for the opening storyteller of the 11th season of the Speak Story Series. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Speak Story Series started out its 11th season in its usual way, by featuring a storyteller’s performance on the second Tuesday of the month. However, unlike in previous years, a couple of unusual elements played a major roll in kicking off this season.

“We’re thrilled to be the opening concerts of the opera house!” said Speak Story Series Secretary Carolyn Rodis about opening the season in the Shepherdstown Opera House. “We’re it for the month of February, so we’re thrilled to be holding the premier performances here.”

According to Speak Story Series, Inc. 501(c)3 founder and storyteller Adam Booth, moving from Shepherd University’s Reynolds Hall to this new location was an excellent way to start off Speak’s second decade of bringing acclaimed storytellers to speak in Shepherdstown.

“This is a fantastic space for Speak, because the dimensions of the house make it into an intimate experience. Storytelling, in my opinion, should be an intimate experience. And it’s not too big!” Booth said, noting large venues are unsuitable for creating the ideal storytelling environment. “It’s right here in town, so people can go to dinner beforehand, come over and see the show and then walk home afterward, if they happen to live in town. I think it’s great!”

Tuesday night’s concert by Priscilla Howe, “The Story of Tristan and Iseult: A Medieval Classic,” was a nearly sold-out performance, Booth said. As has been the case since Speak returned to an in-person format, following its online-only performances during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the concert was also live-streamed to ticket holders who could not attend in-person — an option Speak’s new location had no trouble continuing to offer.

“We had people from around the world tuning in last night, with the live stream,” Booth said on Wednesday night, as he welcomed community members into the Shepherdstown Opera House for another 11th season development.

“We’ve expanded to two nights of concerts! All season long, we’ll be giving each of our storytellers two nights to tell different stories,” Booth said. “It was time for us to grow. We really thought about growing like this last year, for our 10th anniversary season. But with continued concerns over COVID and illness, we just decided to transfer that idea to this season.

“Each of our 10 storytellers this season will give a Tuesday night and a Wednesday night concert,” Booth said. “So far, all of the program information they’ve sent us indicates they are choosing to do two very different evenings of programming. Which is another benefit, because with many other storytelling events around the country, you don’t have that freedom to show your range. You’re just giving one program!”

Along with the two nights of storytelling, the Speak artists will also continue the tradition of telling stories to local students, during their visit to Shepherdstown. The case was no different with this month’s artist, according to Speak Story Series President John Deupree.

“We’re just trying to add value to the community with all of these different events,” Deupree said. “This month’s artist, Priscilla Howe, went to Morgan Academy today and did a workshop for the kids! Almost all of our artists do workshops like this — they’ve done Job Corps, they’ve done schools — it’s a public outreach opportunity.”

One additional new item coming up later this season, will be the performance of the first-ever story commissioned by Speak. After a countrywide search, Diane Macklin was selected to complete the commission, based on the stories of Zora Neale Hurston. Macklin will be performing the commissioned work, during her Speak concerts on Sept. 14 and 15, Rodis said.

Zoom live streaming of the Speak Story Series will continue to take place for the foreseeable future, for the Tuesday night concerts. To order tickets or learn more about the rest of the 11th season, visit info@speakstoryseries.com.