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story slamm

Dayton Story Slam wraps up Season with Last Open Mic

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Sandra Combs, Story Slam regular

Story Slamm Dayton is set to host it’s 8th Open Mic Storytelling event on Tuesday the 18th at Wiley’s Comedy Joint in the Oregon District. The Story Slamm hosts tellers from all walks of life and uses The Moth Storytelling format.  

Stories told at Slamms are all told live and in the first person. Stories are personal, true and are told around each month’s theme. April’s theme is “Something Old, Something New”.

November Story Slamm winner, Nate Washington!

The public is welcome to attend and contribute a story. Storytellers are encouraged to prepare a 5- minute story relating to the theme and place their name in the hat. Tellers are drawn at random and the best story of the night, as voted on by judges selected from the audience, wins $50 and an invite to the Grandslamm event to be held on May 23!

Doors open at 6:30pm, $5 gets you in and stories start at 7:00pm.   Cash bar and appetizer menu available.

DMM TICKET GIVEAWAY
If you’d like to be DMM’s guest at this show just leave a comment below about why you we should pick you and we’ll select 2 winners to be added to our guest list for a pair of tickets each.

Wanna Hear Some Great Campfire Stories?

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14492591_1312137845464087_4535451101588627085_nDayton’s Story Slam event returns to the stage at Wiley’s Comedy Joint on Wednesday the 19th this month. In the spirit of The Moth, Dayton has its own monthly storytelling stage. Presented by Dayton Most Metro and produced by Shelly Hulce and Bryan Suddith the event welcomes anyone with a story to tell.

 

The rules ares few and make the storytelling experience accessible for anyone who enjoys hearing a good storing or telling one. The Moth rules are simple. Stories are told in the first person, are always true, are about 5-6 minutes in length, are unscripted (no notes) and are told on the theme of the night.

This month’s theme for Story Slamm Dayton is Campfire Stories. The event is held at Wiley’s Comedy Joint at 101 Pine Street in Dayton’s Oregon District. $5 door charge and a cash bar is available. Storytellers simply put their name in the hat and 10 storytellers are selected at random for a spot on stage.

Audience members judge the stories and a winner is chosen to take home a $50 cash prize. Visit Facebook.com/StorySlammDayton to see videos from last month and find tips to craft your story.

Can’t make this one, then be sure and add November 16th to your calendar when the theme will be Stories of Endurance.  Its a nod to the end of the elections.

Dayton’s Story Slamm Returns To The Stage Bigger Than Ever

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ssMore than 10 years ago Shelley Hulce began to gather fellow fans of The Moth podcast for Story Slams. Story Slams are similar to Poetry Slams but a bit more structured. The premise was simple. People sharing true stories, in person, unscripted and live. For more than a decade a small group of storytellers have been meeting in coffee shops, libraries and bars in and around Dayton.

In February I traveled to an official Moth event in Louisville to watch how the event is produced. I was pleasantly suprised to see that more than 300 people came out to a venue to listen to great stories.

First some background:
The Moth organization was founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green in New York City. Green wanted to recreate those sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. He began to host events in his apartment, then in bars, and now in theatres across NYC and hosted around the world.

The Moth story slam rules are simple. True Story. Told in the first person. Without notes and told live. Each month the Moth hosts story slams and the events are centered on a theme. Storytellers come prepared with a story on theme and put their name in a hat.

I was chose to share a story in Louisville in February and was selected that nights Story Slam winner. I knew I had to create a similar event in Dayton.  This month the Dayton Story Slamm kicks off with Stories of Failure at Wiley’s Comedy Joint in the Oregon District. Storytellers should come prepared with a 5 minute story on the topic of Failure. 10 names will be chosen to share their stories and judges will score each story. The winner leaves with $50 cash and title, Dayton Story Slam Champion!

Judges will be looking for the following in each story:
Does the story have a beginning, middle and ending?
Was there a hook to the story, did it grab the audiences attention?
Was it near the time limit of 5 minutes.
Was the story related to the theme.

You don’t need to be a storyteller to attend or to enjoy the evening. If you are a fan of The Moth Radio Hour, Radio Lab podcast, Snap Judgement show or this American Life on NPR,  you will enjoy the pace and entertainment that only live storytelling provides.

Admission is $5.00 and the bar will be open. Stop in and tell a story or sit back and enjoy a few of Dayton’s best sharing theirs.

Details on the Story Slamm Dayton Facebook page.

The Return of the Story Slamm

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jssaahc-story-slam-2Shelly “Gladgirl” Hulce had an idea. An idea to connect a community. An idea to have some fun. An idea to share some great stories.

A fan of The Moth radio hour, she contacted the national team, but was told Dayton wasn’t quite big enough to bring the show there. So, she started her own storytelling program in 2012.

As Story Slamm was just passing its one year anniversary in Dayton, Hulce shared with Sharon Short, “We’ve become very distant in our culture. We have mass communication and social media, and so we can hear and read each other’s stories, but rarely do we get in the same room, look into the storyteller’s eyes, observe their movements, while hearing a story. For the storyteller, it’s about giving a piece of yourself to the listener. For both storyteller and listener, it’s a deeper connection than reading or hearing the story from a distance.”

In 2013, Gladgirl stepped back from coordinating Story Slamms when other endeavors took priority. Story Slamms lost a bit of momentum, but the idea was always one that sparked a concept of community and fun for Dayton Metro Library Special Collections Manager and local actor Jamie McQuinn. Regarding bringing Story Slamms back to Dayton, McQuinn says, “I missed it. It was always a great time and I hated that it went away. I contacted Shelly and we thought this would be a great way to bring it back and connect people to the Library.”

Story Slamm is a great night that comes with some rules. McQuinn sums it up, “Tell a short story. First person. It happened to you. It should be “true”… It can be funny, or sad, or surprising. Tell your story in ten minutes or less. No notes or props. Don’t have a story to share? Come and listen. It is always entertaining.” (If you want some inspiration – check out some stories here.)

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The crowds come for various reasons. Some people enjoy an expanded, first-person storytelling experience that expands beyond 140 characters. Others are practiced storytellers around the dinner table, and want to bring their favorite family tales to the public. Some just enjoy sitting back and being entertained.  Patrick Hillier is a frequent attendee and fan of Story Slamm. He shares that he loves the event for the blending of the casual environment with the “intimate nature of sharing and learning about each other through tales from our lives.  You get a chance to tell a short but interesting story from your past or sit back or just listen and maybe learn something.”

The final Story Slamm of 2014 will be at the Huber Heights Branch of the Dayton Metro Library on Tuesday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Six-eight presenters will each tell a 10-minute story based around a “Thankfulness” theme. McQuinn hosts.  To fit everyone in, storytellers are asked to register by contacting Jennifer Spillman at 937-496-8611 or [email protected]. If you’d rather just sit back and listen, advance registration is preferred by not required. Judges or a small audience will vote on the best story based on uniqueness and delivery; best story of the evening wins a prize!