Audience Finds Treasure at ‘In a Nutshell’ June Show

Storyteller JP Frary took the stage at The Sofia to recount the discovery of a well inside his childhood home with his father. A mysterious redwood box sat at the bottom of the well. While on stage decades later, Frary relayed his personal journey to discover the box’s contents — maintaining its mysteriousness throughout.

Frary’s story was a part of the sixth installment of Sacramento-based live storytelling series “In a Nutshell” held on Monday, June 30, which drew a crowd despite last-minute changes to the lineup. The four featured storytellers ended up including Frary, Claire Hennessy, Anne Rutherford and Becky Lynn. “In a Nutshell” co-creator Keith Lowell Jensen hosted the event, with the night’s theme being “Eureka!,” which Jensen described simply as “finding treasure.”

Attendee Maryam Moosavi, a Sacramento resident who is also a past storyteller, praised Frary’s performance in particular. “JP’s story was just so well written,” Moosavi said, adding, “It was so impactful to me. It was beautiful.”

For Moosavi, “In A Nutshell” is about more than the stories shared on stage. “It’s just more of a reason to connect with people. It encourages community,” she said. “Even being back here, I’m seeing people that I saw at previous shows. It makes us feel like a little bit of a community.”

Launched in January, the storytelling series, held monthly at the nonprofit theater, has grown a dedicated local following. (Full disclosure: Solving Sacramento was a co-presenter for the June event.) Events are scheduled through the end of November.

Before the June show began, Sacramento resident and repeat attendee Kyleigh McPhillips expressed excitement for the event. “I want to be moved. I want to be deeply moved. I want to cry a little bit,” McPhillips said.

McPhillips said past events made her feel “warm,” and said: “It captured emotional depth, but also laughter. It made me feel connected to everyone around me.”

The June storytellers shared their stories about their Eureka! moments, like finding a box at the bottom of a well, the perfect set of lingerie or the courage they needed to move on from a break-up and finding one of the greatest treasures humans can find: love.

“Behind the scenes, it was a fun little roller coaster,” Jensen said about the late replacements, who covered for two speakers who were ill. “But it went really smoothly on stage. I think if I hadn’t joked about some of the things that happened, the audience wouldn’t have known. I mean, we put up four stellar storytellers, and all the stories seemed to flow well together and complement each other.”

Now six months into the monthly run, Jensen reflected on the show’s progress. “We are building a solid core audience, but we’ve still got new people coming out every time. We’re not stagnating,” he said.

The event’s growing audience includes a blend of stand-up comedy fans, theatergoers and book lovers. Jensen emphasized the importance of bringing diverse voices and representation on stage.

“We know that people want to see people different than themselves on stage, to get to hear someone else’s story, but we also know that people like to see themselves on stage and like to see stories that they relate to, and we want everyone to have that experience,” Jensen said. “If you ever see me hosting the show, and it’s just four white men after me, come up afterwards and let me know I failed.”

Looking ahead, series creators Jensen, Amy Bee and Aaron Carnes plan on expanding the program beyond Sacramento and hope to do additional shows in other towns at differing venues like art galleries or comedy clubs.

Additionally, they are working on a podcast titled “Prompt,” drawn from recordings of past shows, which will publicly premiere on July 16. “We record every show we’ve done, and we’ve already got several episodes of the podcast in the can,” Jensen said.

“In a Nutshell” will continue with its seventh monthly edition on July 25 at The Sofia, Home of B Street Theatre. Jensen said the team is excited to continue building the show’s momentum.

“We’re scrappy and ambitious, so I think that the future is bright,” he said. “We’re gonna work hard to just make this the biggest and best show that I feel like Sacramento deserves.”

As for what happens in Frary’s story, he ended the story without telling the audience what was in the box — but the context made it clear he was horrified by the discovery. He said later that “many women guess that it’s a baby in the box. Several different people have guessed that it’s evidence of some horrible crime. I’ve had a few guys ask if it’s really salacious porn. And maybe 10% of folks really enjoy not knowing.”

Frary has become a mainstay in the storytelling community, winning multiple GrandSLAM events with “The Moth,” an international storytelling tour.

“I love telling this story. … It is so delicious to walk off stage without telling the audience the big secret. Some people really react at the end. And so many people try and get me to tell them after the show. It’s an odd study of humanity to hear what people guess, too.”