By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

The visitor at the front of the room scrapes her nails down an invisible chalkboard, and the audience bursts into laughter.

They know just the sound she is trying to invoke—her off-pitch voice as she attempted to sing a tune as a child.

Mary Carol Stunkel is telling a personal story titled “Perfect Pitch” to an ever-growing audience at Seabrook in Tinton Falls. Since July 2007, she and several other members of the Jersey Shore Storytellers have been meeting monthly at the retirement community to share their stories, hone their skills, and hopefully, they say, gain new members.

Sharing at Seabrook
“In ancient times people told stories only in the oral tradition,” says Bob Schulman, who co-founded the group with Stunkel in 1994. Over the years, they’ve met at various locations in the area, but when he joined Seabrook’s Priority List to reserve a home there, he realized he had not only a potential audience but potential members as well.

He coordinated a meeting time, place, and publicity with Seabrook Community Resources Coordinator Angie Crippen, and the group found a new home. Members tell personal  stories, folk tales, fairytale fables, and epic poems.

Their stories convey feelings and thoughts through the teller’s voice, expressions, and gestures.

Active audience
Each month word spreads throughout the community, and the audience grows. At a meeting in January, more than 20 people came to hear the stories, and two participated for the first time.  Lori Goldschmidt shared her memory of meeting and playing music with a renowned Italian recorder player while on a trip to Florence. And Fred Sprague shared a humorous story from  when he taught school. He garnered a room full of laughter with a punch line flawlessly delivered.

“We encourage people to tell the stories of their heritage because if it isn’t told, it’s lost—all that culture is lost,”Schulman says.