Long Beach Playhouse

Thursday, Dec. 29th ended the year in stories by locals at a competition held at Long Beach Playhouse.  Three events preceded the finals, and the top two storytellers from Spring, Summer and Fall shows were invited back to compete on stage in front of several hundred theater-goers.

  The rules of the game were simple.  A six minute, true story that happened to you, either read or said.  Locals submitted their stories on-line, describing their tale in a few sentences.  Mariana Williams, Producer of the event, chose the stories showing the most variety in subject matter.  Belmont Music Studios donated $100 for the winner of each of the four events.

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Hall of Fame, Grammy-winning songwriter, Paul Williams, was a guest storyteller who opened the show with a couple funny stories of his own.  He and his author wife, Mariana, Producer of the show, live in Naples. Celebrity judge, Alan Kalter, “Big Red” the announcer from the Late Show with David Letterman, also took the stage after the intermission.  Kalter regaled the standing-room-only audience with a story about an audition he went on, where he exited the meeting by entering a closet.

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The winner of LB Searches for the Greatest Storyteller is Hitoshi Horoda, who was born in Japan, and now resides in Signal Hill.  The IT Security Engineer  describes himself as a father, USC graduate, Toastmaster, and surfer.  His tale was a hilarious adventure of surfing a huge wave in Japan and coming onto shore as a surf-hero.  Unbeknownst to the onlookers, he was rescued by the coast guard just out of sight.  Upon receiving the prize he said, “ You gave me the great opportunity to speak and it will stay deep in my heart for the rest of my life that I did the contest with such a large audience.”

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The show featured stories on any subject from the top storytellers: Bobby Lux, Jeanie Frias, Jared Wilson and Hitoshi Hosoda.  (Pam Hummel qualified, but was unable to get away when her daughter’s team won a sports event. Yay girls in sports! We are happy for them both! Also, poet Autum Brown qualified, however moved to the East Coast. She sent her regards to us via email.)  

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