The Moth

The Moth (http://www.themoth.org/) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art and community of storytelling. It arranges and curates regular gatherings of storytellers, afficionados, and curious observers where attendees are invited to take the stage, tell a true unprompted 5-minute story incorporating a predetermined theme,...



and then be judged on it, by self-selected audience members, in competition with others.



These events, called StorySLAMs are held approximately once a week at various venues in New York City, as well as other cities such as L.A. and Chicago.

I went to an episode one Thursday on the recommendation and enthusiasm of a friend. It is crowded.



By 6:15 (for a 7:00 door) the line is around the block (It helps to have friends in the know who get there before 5 and are first in line.)



Some of the situations related, their delivery, or the details they reveal about the speaker might make a man wince or roll his eyes at what he might dismiss as someone's idiomatic airing of dirty laundry. And coming from a tradition of high-impact, absurdist, and principally participatory pursuits this would ostensibly be so not my thing.

Still, I can't remember the last time I was actually rivetted by something.