Storytellers Play Truth and Dare at Backfence Roulette

The live storytelling event challenges performers to come up with true tales on the fly.

Frayn Masters and Mindy Nettifee host Backfence Roulette (Courtesy of Backfence)

Some people call the storytelling event Backfence Roulette a live game show. Others say it’s a version of truth and dare. Founder Frayn Masters says it’s all of the above, plus a “marriage of improv and storytelling.”

See for yourself Thursday, Oct. 17 at the Alberta Rose Theatre for the second 2024 edition of Backfence Roulette. Five contestants (all experienced live storytellers) come up on stage and spin a custom game show wheel packed with story prompts. The storyteller then has five minutes to come up with a true, five-minute story based on the prompt—which they did not get to peek at before the show—and then tell it on stage.

At the end, the audience votes for their favorite story. The winner and one lucky audience member each receive a few hundred bucks worth of gift certificates and prizes.

As the most recent roulette winner, professional skateboarder Willis Kimbel will be the first of five storytellers at the Alberta Rose. In March, Kimbel told a story of being the new kid in a town in Maryland and bonding with a bird he named Luke. His prompt: “fall, y’all.”

Other Oct. 17 storytellers will be strongwoman and model Gabi Dixson, six-time roulette winner Shannon Balcom, tattoo artist Ciara Lynsey and performer and writer Jason Rouse. Backfence artistic director Frayn Masters will host with Mindy Nettifee and Chaach will DJ during breaks in the program.

“There are so many ways to tell stories, from casual to more structured, and I feel like there’s such a place for all of it,” says Masters, who founded Backfence in 2008. “The thing I like about roulette is it’s kind of both of those things because storytellers don’t necessarily know what kind of story they’re going to tell that night.”


GO: Backfence Roulette at the Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St. 503-719-6055, https://tinyurl.com/bdfd9ejs. 7 pm doors, 8 pm show Thursday, Oct. 17. $22-38.

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