Patch Athens, GA --The monthly storytelling event Rabbit Box will take up the theme "Guns: A True Story from my Life" for June. Eight locals will tell eight-minute stories on stage at the Melting Point on June 12th at 7 PM.
While the show follows the same format as usual (true stories told without notes), the Rabbit Box organizers see June's event as a kind of special and even hallowed community forum.
One of the organizers and a coach for the series, Mary Whitehead, suggested the idea: "The gun debate is so heated. We wanted to provide a welcoming environment so that people could discuss the topic through personal stories, as previous experiences so often shape each person's view on deeply felt subjects."
And there's a lot to talk about. Year after year, more than 30,000 people are killed by guns in the United States. (Of these, about a half are suicides.) More than 300 million guns are owned by U.S. civilians, and millions of new firearms are manufactured in the United States each year (almost 5.5 million in 2010, for example).
The diverse slate of storytellers for June includes Michele Chidester, Jeffrey Henderson, David Kulniszewski, Maureen McLaughlin, Kate Morrissey, Kerry Steinberg, Ivan Sumner & Marty Winkler. A ninth "crackerjack" storyteller will also relate a shorter, impromptu story if his or her name is drawn after the intermission.
Rabbit Box is geared toward adult audiences. The "Guns" show will be the 13th in the Rabbit Box series, which routinely draws well over 100 attendees.
Tickets are $5 and can be bought in advance at meltingpointathens.com/tickets. Doors open at 5:30, as many people come early to order dinner. For more information, find Rabbit Box on Facebook or go to rabbitbox.org. Reported by Patch 19 hours ago.