"We never know what’s going to be said," says The Narrators co-host and producer Ron S. Doyle. "Sometimes I'll decide on the story I'm going to tell while standing on stage. We don't coach or edit our storytellers at all, so we don't know what they're going to say until they're saying it."
This Wednesday, May 21, The Narrators will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary with a special event at Buntport. The night’s theme is “Potluck,” but not in the typical sense. Rather than being assigned a topic like usual, storytellers will bring their own themes, sharing whatever they want however they want.
The format — unpredictable, unscripted and radically honest — is at the heart of what has made The Narrators endure through cast changes, podcast hiatuses and the pandemic. It’s a show where seasoned performers and first-timers share the same stage and where polish is far less important than presence.
“It really welcomes storytellers to do it in the way that they're comfortable with,” says co-host Erin Rollman. “If that's you telling a story off the cuff, that's fine. If it means reading it off a page, that's great. There's no pressure to make it perfect. There's some storytelling shows that require you to have polish that I'm not particularly interested in. Rawness is great."
The Narrators was founded in 2010 by Denver comedian Andrew Orvedahl, a member of the Grawlix, a local comedy group. Originally staged at the now-defunct Paris on the Platte coffeehouse, the show offered a space for performers to step away from punchlines and dive into longer-form, true stories from their lives. The format caught on quickly.
"There's never been any rules on it," Orvedahl says. "However you want to do it is cool, and it's always been that way."
By 2012, the audience had outgrown the intimate café, prompting a move to the Deer Pile, a community arts space above City, O’ City. Around that time, musician and writer Robert Rutherford joined as co-host, and Ron S. Doyle came on board to help launch a podcast version of the show, using recordings from the live events. The podcast debuted that October with stories by writer Cory Casciato and comedian Mara Wiles.
The show relocated again in 2014, this time to the Buntport Theater, where it has remained since. That same year, Rutherford moved to San Diego, and Doyle stepped in as co-host. A few months later, in March 2015, Orvedahl also left Denver to pursue television work in Los Angeles.
His departure marked a pivotal moment in the show’s evolution. But rather than ending, The Narrators kept going. Rollman, a founding member of Buntport Theater and longtime fan of the show, joined Doyle as co-host in April 2015. Together with producer Sydney Crain, who had started helping with the podcast that same year, the team guided the series through years of monthly live shows, including parking lot and Zoom editions during the height of the pandemic.
“The longevity does surprise me," Orvedahl says. "Shows don't usually last this long. When I moved to Los Angeles and turned it over, I had no idea how long it would last. Not that I thought Ron and Erin wouldn't drive it expertly, but I figured it would stop at some point. It's definitely surprising to see it last fifteen years."
Following Orvedahl's return to Denver, he officially rejoined the show he helped create as a full-time co-host. The current trio of Orvedahl, Doyle and Rollman, along with Crain, now oversee the live shows and a vast archive of more than 1,500 recorded stories.
“What surprises me most is that it still exists," Doyle says. "We've been able to keep it going for this long throughout the pandemic and everything else, and it's still maintained. There are still folks that, fifteen years later, are still coming to the show — people that were there from the very, very beginning at Paris on the Platte who still come every month and that just shocks me. It's amazing."
Along with the live show, The Narrators has had a second life online via its companion podcast since 2012, which featured selected stories from each month’s event. With over a thousand stories archived, the podcast became a discovery tool for new fans and a lifeline for long-time listeners who couldn’t make it to the theater. However, since July 31, 2023, it's gone quiet.
“There are always plans to bring it back, but the reality of that is very different,” Doyle says. “I’ve been producing other shows, including Andrew’s podcast Advice Fight, and last year I worked on an investigative series called Master Plan. That took over all the time I would’ve spent on The Narrators podcast. It’s not for lack of wanting to — it’s just bandwidth.”
Still, every live show is recorded and catalogued, which means a new season could drop at any time. Crain and Doyle regularly talk about reviving it, and Orvedahl says he’s always nudging them. For now, though, the podcast is on the back burner and the team is focused on making each in-person show worth showing up for. The May 21 anniversary event is no exception.
In classic Narrators fashion, the “Potluck” theme promises an eclectic mix. Each of the seven storytellers, including poet Suzi Q Smith, comic Janae Burris, local veterinarian and comedian Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, artist and activist Evan Weissman, Megan Sound and co-hosts Rollman and Orvedahl, will bring their own theme to the stage. No one else knows what they’ll share until the lights come up.
“There’s no excuse for the story not to be great when you’re picking your own,” Orvedahl says with a laugh.
"Although, everybody's been to a potluck where someone just brought bottled water," Doyle chimes in.
“Or that terrible potato salad with raisins,” Rollman adds.
"Yeah, so I’m sure there will be the story equivalent of that," Doyle says. "We never know what’s going to be said."
The night might include confessions, costumes or even food. (Crain says she’s not performing, but jokes that if she were, she’d bring snacks.) And while there’s no setlist or script, there is one guiding principle: show up, be honest and tell your story however you want.
“It’s this DIY, punk rock show that lets everybody tell their story in their own way,” Doyle says. “That’s what’s stayed consistent all these years. The generosity people bring — with their words, their vulnerability, their time — that’s what blows me away.”
Like all Narrators shows, the anniversary event is pay-what-you-can. “Zero dollars is a totally acceptable price,” Rollman emphasizes. “We want people to come, no matter what. That’s always been the vibe.”
Fifteen years in, The Narrators hasn’t grown slicker. It’s stayed weird, heartfelt and rooted in community.
"The goal is just to share stories," Orvedahls says. "There's no subgoals. It’s not all comedy or competitive. There's no ranking. There's no winning the night. You just show up, and you share a story. There's almost a confessional aspect to it. It's like an atheist confessional. Not that people go up and they say terrible things that they've done, but they talk about things where it does seem like they're unburdening themselves by talking about it."
The Narrators: Potluck, Wednesday, May 21, Buntport Theater, 717 Lipan Street. Tickets are pay-what-you-can. Learn more at thenarrators.org.
