Do you like listening to stories? Do you have stories to tell? Then check out the Asheville Moth StorySLAM! It's a monthly competition, where the stage is open to any and all with a story to tell on the evening's theme. The SLAMs are production of The Moth. The schedule and themes are listed at the bottom of this post.
Blue Ridge Public Radio, which airs The Moth Radio Hour on Sunday nights on BPR Classic, is the sponsor of the Asheville StorySLAM. Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.
The Asheville StorySLAM happens (usually) on the 3rd Thursday of every month at The Mothlight* in West Asheville. Tickets for the SLAMs are available one week before the show at 3 pm ET, at The Moth.org, and typically sell out within minutes.
Asheville Schedule January, 2020 - June 2020 (with descriptions for interested storytellers):
1/16/20
ADVENTURE: Prepare a five-minute story about an experience outside your usual sphere of comfort. Dangerous outings, dubious cohorts, uncharted territory. The joy of the unknowing…the terror of the finding out. Escapades, romps, and walkabouts. May the force be with you.
02/20/20
LOVE HURTS: Prepare a five-minute tale about a love that made you go OUCH. The agony of deferred love! The misery of good love, gone bad! The anguish of one-way love! Bring stories of your heart, kicked to the curb by the people or places or things you love...or used to love. Love that "Hurts So Good" also welcome.
03/19/20
CHALLENGE: Prepare a five-minute story about a feat that tested your mettle, sanity or patience. Triumph or defeat. Inch-by-inch success or major overhaul. Defeating the cocky know-it-all or walking past the spider web without freaking out. Throwdowns, duels, unbearable ultimatums. Bring us your tales of defying the odds, confronting that fear, or with any luck, rising to the occasion.
04/16/20
EARTH: Prepare a five-minute story about EARTH. Communing with nature, digging up dirt, or saving our blue marble. Cooling or warming, believing or denying, uniter or great divider. Bring us stories of Mother Nature, Smokey the Bear and other salts of the earth.
05/21/20
SIBLINGS: Prepare a five-minute story about the people who shared your childhood. Brothers, sisters, the family dog, or those so close it's only right to call them family. Best friend, chief rival, mortal enemy. The folks who stole your clothes or your parent's attention. Be they your North Star or cautionary tale, tell us about the people who wrestled with you over who gets what, the bathroom, the bedroom, the TV remote, or that last piece of pie.
06/18/20
ENTHUSIASM: Prepare a five-minute story about going full force. RAH RAH fervor and rearing to go. That high-energy, can-do spirit that gets things done—or ensures that everyone wants you dead. New love, new job, first day of school….LETS DO THIS! Sustaining interest, inspiring new zeal and reigniting the fire. … and the inevitable PUSH needed to get over the finish line.
