A Boone, North Carolina, muralist works on a piece at the Chautauqua Festival.
A Boone, North Carolina, muralist works on a piece at the Chautauqua Festival.
Reverse storytelling delights
Cory Howard reacts to a suggestion from an audience member at the library.
Cory Howard presents Campfireball at the library on Monday.
On Monday, Cory Howard led a group of junior story-ologists through the discovery of a never-seen-before dinosaur and unearthed a never-heard-before story along the way.
Campfireball, a reverse storytelling show that’s part mad libs live and part Mr. Rogers, was held Monday at the Wythe County Public Library. With dinosaurs on the menu, Howard and the Campfireball participants didn’t disappoint.
A graduate of East Tennessee State University’s master’s degree program in storytelling, Howard led the newly sworn in group of story-ologists through madcap dance breaks, struggles with the proper pronunciation of triceratops and left lingering questions like how Danzig the dog got his name and why on one has thought of making spaghetti and cheese as a main dish.
Howard, who has turned the act of telling stories inside-out, allowing audiences of all ages to write their own tales in the moment, is the master of the improv ideal of “yes, and,” guiding the young folks at the library in bringing to life the tale of the Two Thousand Fifty-Six-asaurus named Mommy, with a frog-shaped stomach, two brains, ropey muscles and big googly eyes.
Film features familiar face
Formato
At some point, nearly everyone has turned on their television and seen an actor who reminded them of someone from their hometown. If residents of Wytheville tune in to the Lifetime Television Network on Friday, June 26, at 8 p.m., they may experience exactly that feeling.
Richard Formato, a prominent Wytheville resident for the past 30 years, will appear as a co-star in the television film The Woman With Three Husbands.
The 66-year-old actor has been actively pursuing his lifelong dream of working in show business for the past three years. In 2023, he won a charity auction bid for a pitch meeting with a top HBO executive.
"I had an idea for a film, and when I won the bid, I thought it would be a quick dinner and maybe 45 minutes of conversation," Formato said during a June 16 telephone interview. "The pitch meeting lasted almost five hours, with encouragement for me to get into acting classes and start the hard work of becoming an actor."
Those words were ones Formato had hoped to hear his entire life.
"Ever since I saw Burt Reynolds on the screen when I was 12 or 13 years old, I wanted to be an actor," he said. "It is a dream that's been rolling around in my head for the past 50 years."
The show business bug appears to run in the Formato family. Richard's daughter, Lily Formato, recently auditioned for Saturday Night Live and spent time in Chicago at the famed Second City honing her improvisational comedy skills.
Lily Formato also made Wytheville history by becoming the town's youngest business owner. At just 18 years old, she launched the Formato Fine Arts Gallery on Main Street, which she continues to own and operate today.
As for Richard, his first acting credit came via his contact at HBO who out Formato in the Emmy Award-winning television series The Sympathizer, where he performed in two scenes alongside Robert Downey Jr. He next appeared in Tender Loving Care, an award-winning short film produced through the University of Southern California. In that film, he portrayed a traditional Appalachian grandmother, a character inspired by his own mother.
"My mother was one of 10 children," he recalled. "She grew up on a tobacco farm. When I improvised a line from something my Mom would have said, the director said, ‘you know, that’s great… we are going to keep that in.’"
Emmy Award winner Jacob Young serves as Formato's acting coach and facilitated a meeting with Dame Joan Collins at the premiere of A Murder Between Friends. The premiere also connected him with musician and actor Frank Stallone; the two later shared a dinner with singer Michael Feinstein and remain in touch. Formato has also appeared in the television pilot The Club, directed by Truman Hanks, son of actor Tom Hanks.
Additional credits include co-starring in the television miniseries Riding Into Love and the short films and lead actor in Regarding the Beauregards — now being adapted into a feature film — and Kiss Me Sharkly. He also appeared as Scott Barclay in the television series Reel Revenge: Divorce Director Strikes Back.
His role in The Woman With Three Husbands, however, is expected to introduce him to his largest audience yet.
“With 2 million viewers average for the premier, It will be the biggest audience any of my acting has ever reached," Formato said. "The Lifetime brand is one of the biggest in television movies."
Formato also joked about the current state of the entertainment industry.
"My timing is always terrible," he said with a laugh. "The movie business is under tremendous pressure and the film and television industry are really experiencing some difficult challenges."
Though he has spent time in the bright lights of Hollywood, Formato says he has no intention of leaving his Wytheville home.
"I will be here until I die," he said firmly. "The great thing about the industry since the pandemic is that you can do your auditions remotely."
Formato's home office is equipped with scripts, a teleprompter, and everything else he needs to audition. He submits auditions through specialized software used by actors and talent agencies. Top agencies review submissions and issue callbacks when interested. If Formato lands a role, he travels to the production location for filming before returning home once the project is complete.
For Formato, no destination compares to coming back to Southwest Virginia.
"The best part of any trip is coming back into that 24382 zip code," he said in closing. "There is nothing better than returning to Wytheville, where the air is crisp and the grass is green."
Inn at Foster Falls reopening
The Inn at Foster Falls is reopening on July 1.
The Galax suite at the Inn at Foster Falls.
An aerial shot of Foster Falls
The Inn at Foster Falls, the first and only inn located within a Virginia State Park, will reopen for guests on July 1, with online reservations available now at innatfosterfalls.com.
Set along the New River inside New River Trail State Park, the historic 10-room inn offers restored guest rooms, private baths, and sweeping views of the river and surrounding mountains. Guests step from the porch directly onto the 57-mile New River Trail, with biking, hiking, horseback riding, paddling, and fishing nearby, along with the historic Shot Tower and Foster Falls.
"We're proud to welcome guests back to one of Southwest Virginia's most unique places to stay," said a spokesperson for the Inn. "Whether it's a quiet weekend, a special occasion, or a basecamp for a day on the trail, the Inn at Foster Falls is open and ready."
Reservations can be made directly at innatfosterfalls.com or by phone at (276) 282-8373. The Inn is located at 180 Orphanage Dr, Max Meadows, VA 24360.
