Austin's Drinking with the Saints storytelling group creates community and conversation

For Austin resident and master storyteller Bill Frisbie, the two most important words in the English language are "me, too." 

Frisbie said the phrase signals someone's desire for personal connection, and that's what he had in mind when he established Drinking with the Saints, a monthly get-together that's become a safe space for friends and strangers to swap stories over finger foods and cold brews. 

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Whether tales of triumph, love or loss, orators from all walks of life talk about their personal experiences, free of judgment, at the get-togethers at Frisbie's home. Frisbie said the goal is to form closer ties between folks of different creeds, ages, races or denominations through the art of narration.

"People just want to be heard and accepted, and I think this provides a nonthreatening place for people from all walks of life," Frisbie, 60, said. "It's almost become like church for a lot of people."

The group was inspired by a book of the same name

Frisbie, a retired Methodist pastor, was inspired by a book he found at an antique shop in New Orleans nearly four years ago. The Yorktown-native and his longtime friend, Chris Oakland, each bought a copy of "Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner's Guide to a Holy Happy Hour" by Michael P. Foley.

The book is a cocktail guide in honor of the saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, which attributes a specific saint to a day based on a Catholic calendar. Some well-known ones are St. Valentine's Day on Feb. 14, St. Patrick's Day on March 17 and the Feast celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. 

Frisbie and Oakland, 51, decided to use the name to create their own conversational hour, where they met with their friends and neighbors to share drinks, stories and laughs in Frisbie's living room.

"I thought it'd be fun," Frisbie said. "Once a month, I'd look up whoever the saint was and have that saint's drink. But it's just an occasion to have a happy hour with friends and neighbors and get to know people."

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The group met for the first time in January 2018, with the first few conversations revolving around the existence of God. Soon after, Drinking with the Saints officially formed, and the conversations grew funnier, stranger and more heart-wrenching as more storytellers poured into the group. 

The groups were small to start, but over the years, Frisbie said the membership has grown to 200 storytellers, with 20 to 30 showing up consistently each month, including when they were virtual in the first part of the pandemic. 

Champion storyteller helps Austin group find its flow

Frisbie credits award-winning orator Paul Normandin for shaping the structure of the monthly gatherings. 

At first, speakers would stand up in front of rows of guests and spin stories about their successes, failures or missteps. But Normandin, a Houston Moth GrandSlam winner and former Texas StorySlam champion, changed it from a lecture-style event into a laidback spoken word forum.

He removed the rows, placed the crowd in a social circle and modified the order of the show. Instead of random topics, the programs started with a theme that connected to the Catholic Saint of the day, and in time, Normandin said, the conversations flowed from there.

Frisbie "wanted something that was more interactive and more connected," said Normandin, 59, who also works as the dean of the Merlin Works Institution for Improvisation. "We don't have anybody stand up to tell their story — everybody just sits in a circle without a stage, and that allowed for more connective tissue."

Normandin stripped away the overly competitive environment and established a more casual feel, separating Drinking with the Saints from groups like Testify, Backyard Story Night and others he's been in and produced.

"There's no expectation for your story," he said. " It doesn't have to be perfect; you don't have to try to win. You're sharing a piece of you, and that's it. Folks just have some memories and emotions that go with them, and they share those with us and we'll be there to relate to that."

The get-togethers have become a place of community

For something that started out as an excuse for Frisbie and others to shoot the breeze over food and drinks, Oakland said it's grown into a community and place of kinship.

"It's a very safe space to be in, and it's not about making anyone feel right or wrong," Oakland said. "It's about sharing the human condition and what it is that makes us who we are.

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"There is something that is really comforting about getting together with a group of people that you may or may not know, and sharing your commonalities."

Frisbie said that's the environment he wants to stick with — a place where new and experienced storytellers can be themselves and freely share their experiences without embarrassment or shame. 

How to join Drinking with the Saints

Guests and new storytellers are welcome to attend the group's events. For information on the organization's next meet-up and how to attend, go to the Drinking with the Saints Facebook page. 

More storytelling in Austin

Join the Statesman's Austin Storytellers Project for an evening of stories about "Food and Family" at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Spiderhouse Ballroom on Fruth Street. Tickets at storytellersproject.enmotive.com.

If you would like to tell a story at the November 16 show about "Holidays," send your pitch here: gannett-nxuao.formstack.com/forms/tellastory_copy_1.