1. At a storytelling festival, a concert performance that features several or all of the invited storytellers (as opposed to their solo performances). The term was borrowed from vaudeville, which itself borrowed the term from the minstrel show, which was using a term that went back as far as the 17th century to describe musical medleys or variety acts.
2. A curtain in the vaudeville theatres which hid the stage; comedy or variety acts played in front of it.