Speak Up Storytelling Cathy Dunn: "Roller Blades"
Nov 4, 2020
Cathy Dunn, a law librarian and vivid storyteller, performs a first-person memoir titled "Roller Blades." She recounts childhood thrills on skates, an inventive way to speed up a hill, and a sudden garage accident that turns playful speed into shock. The piece plays with withheld details, pacing, and striking word choices to build surprise and emotional contrast.
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Surprise Comes From Contrast
- Surprise and contrast make ordinary moments feel larger on stage.
- Matthew Dicks highlights playing up selfishness then rewarding a character to create contrast and surprise.
Roller Skates And The New Salem Hill
- Cathy Dunn recalls getting brand-new white boot-style roller skates at age seven and loving speed.
- She details being towed up a hill, soaring down New Salem Avenue, and her mother's warning about danger.
Hand Through Glass: A Painful Surprise
- Cathy Dunn describes thrusting her right hand through the garage door's glass and seeing a 'pond of blood.'
- Her mother initially misunderstands, calls it mischief, then ties a tight towel tourniquet and drives her to get help.
