The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will open its doors during First Friday to showcase the talent of Richmond native Slash Coleman, as he tells stories from his book The Bohemian Love Diaries.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will open its doors during First Friday to showcase the talent of Richmond native Slash Coleman, as he tells stories from his book The Bohemian Love Diaries. Award-winning storyteller Slash Coleman is an author, performer, and storyteller. You may recognize his name from those included in the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee where he performed for the first time in 2009 as the youngest storyteller on the National circuit. He is perhaps best known for his one-man show and PBS special, The Neon Man and Me.
Though he originally wrote fiction, he soon abandoned this practice in favor of autobiographical work. “The truth that I live was much stranger than any fiction I could come up with,” Coleman says. “I’ve lived such an unorthodox life that I found, in my books, the more I stick to the truth the more unusual it is.”
All of Coleman’s work is centered on his own life and experiences. For this reason, he refers to himself as a “memoirist.” His writing is sometimes called “unorthodox,” a term which Coleman accepts openly. “Because it is a memoir and because my life was so unusual, it can’t help but be unorthodox,” he says.
Until The Bohemian Love Diaries was published, Coleman made his living as a professional storyteller. Prior to performing at the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee, Coleman had identified as a writer, musician, and comic. On the national storytelling circuit, he discovered his identity as a storyteller. “When I went there and got on the stage, I kind of found out who I was,” Coleman says. “I felt like, ‘Wow, I’m a storyteller.’” Since then, he has performed at multiple storytelling festivals and received numerous storytelling awards.
Prominent ideas in Coleman’s work include creativity, a topic especially dear to him due to the legacy of his family as prominent artists in various mediums. His childhood spent bouncing around the art studios of his family members allows him to chronicle his past in an entertaining array of stories. Another main issue dealt with in his work is all types of love, be it romantic love, love of family or friends, and love of place. This theme is perhaps most resonantly dealt with in The Neon Man and Me, dealing with the death of his best friend, neon sign artist Mark Jamison.
Coleman has spent the past few years in New York City, deciding to leave the Richmond right after high school. After returning to Richmond in 2000 due to the death of his best friend, his book The Neon Man and Me went on to become a PBS special and win multiple awards including the 2005 Groucho Award for Best One-Man Play. Coleman is now spending more time in Richmond to work on his upcoming book and perform.
Because Coleman’s fan base in Richmond may have seen him perform his best stories over and over again, Coleman wants to take his VMFA performance as an opportunity to tell a few different stories. However, he won’t make the actual decision about which stories to tell until he takes the stage on Friday night. “I tend not to give readings so much out of my book but actually perform my work onstage,” he says.
This is a practice that has been informed by his time on the National Storytelling circuit, where he learned from master storytellers from all over the U.S. These storytellers rely completely on the oral tradition of their craft and do not physically write any of their stories. When the time comes to get on stage, the storytellers read the mood of the audience, in order to determine which stories to choose from their repertoire.
Coleman has incorporated this practice into his own performing style, and says, “Usually I’ll have a set of stories and get up there. Based on the vibe I’m getting, I’ll choose my stories based on that. That makes it more of a conversation between me and the audience.” This practice creates a unique performance catered specifically to the audience, making it a more inclusive experience for the viewers.
What’s next for Slash Coleman? He’s in the process of writing a new book with his father centered on his childhood experiences in Chester playing baseball. That book is due out in 2015. Meanwhile, he’s also writing a TV pilot for The Bohemian Love Diaries. Additionally, The Bohemian Love Diaries is up for the Library of Virginia Book Award. Coleman says if he receives the award, he will tour through all ninety-five counties of Virginia, visiting at least one library in every county to do book readings and performances of his stories.
Slash Coleman will perform at the VMFA on Friday, September 5, from 6 PM-8PM. For more info, click here.
