WYSO is bringing The Moth Mainstage to the Victoria Theatre in Dayton on April 10. The event offer a mix of local and national storytellers.
To find out how the show is put together, we spoke with Sarah Austin Jenness, the director for the Dayton show and executive producer of The Moth Radio Hour.
This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
The Moth Mainstage in Dayton
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton, OH 45402
When: April 10. Doors open 6:30 p.m., stories begin 7:30 p.m.
Tickets:https://www.daytonlive.org/events/moth/
Sarah Austin Jenness: The Moth is all about true personal storytelling and we've been around for over 27 years now. We have more than 600 live storytelling events all around the world every year. And we choose the freshest and most interesting and surprising stories for The Moth Radio Hour. And as part of those 600 shows, we have what we call a Mainstage where the stories are 10 to 12 minutes and there are five stories in a show, and we produce many of them in the states all through the year. And those shows include some local storytellers too. So it's like the best folks we've met through the year and then some very bright local storytellers.
Jerry Kenney: We were lucky enough to see the last show when you came to Dayton, and it really was so great hearing from local speakers. There's such a variety and there's a real connection that happens between the audience and the storyteller.
Jenness: When done well, stories are very connecting, and we specialize in helping people share stories, whether they see themselves as a storyteller, or maybe they don't see themselves as a storyteller, but they have an incredible story to tell.
"I love to say that these are stories that only you can tell."
We have directors who will work with people one-on-one in the weeks leading up to the show to help them pull all the pieces out and put them back together to, make sure they feel really confident and have one arc and stakes and all the good things that go into a compelling story.
Kenney: Can we talk a little bit more about the submission process and how you choose your stories?
Jenness: Sure. People come to us to tell stories through different avenues. We have a pitch hotline. You could go to www.themoth.org and pitch us right on the site. And in a pitch, it's usually about two minutes, and it's the bones of a story that you would love to tell.
It doesn't have to be perfect. It could just be an idea. But it's some kind of a choice you made, something where there was a meaningful question in front of you, and you had to make a decision. These stories, if you're a Moth listener, they can be very, very funny — like laugh out loud, gut-busting funny. And they can very serious, and some of them are sad. Many of them have all of those: they're very connecting, they're real. I love to say that these are stories that only you can tell.
That's a great place to think about it, a great to start. What are the stories that your friends ask you to tell over and over again? Oh my gosh, I'm so excited that you get to meet my best friend. You'll never guess what she went through. Tell her the one about the blank blank blank. You know, these stories that really make us who we are.
"... as a director, I want stories that are going to help the audience feel very nourished to start conversation, to help people feel closer when they leave the theater than they felt perhaps when they walked in."
We have open mic storytelling slams in many different cities around the country. If you're not close to one of those. You know, I suggest that you call in with your pitch because we listen to all of them. We get hundreds every month. And with each of these traveling shows, we always try to have at least one local storyteller. And local could mean within 20 miles. I mean, one of the stories being told in Dayton on April 10, the gentleman is not from Dayton, but he has a scene that takes place in Dayton. And then we have another person who lives in Dayton, So in some ways we try to curate the show with stories that really work together but speak to the place that we're in.
I think of it like quilting sometimes. You start with one story and then, oh, what kind of story will complement that? And then what story complements that? And then, what are we missing? Because you always want the audience to go on a ride, an emotional ride. You want stories that are surprising and you want story that are funny. And as a director, I want stories that are going to help the audience feel very nourished to start conversation, to help people feel closer when they leave the theater than they felt perhaps when they walked in.
Kenney: Let's talk a little bit more about behind the scenes. So you've got your storytellers picked for the Dayton appearance and you're in the final week of production. What is everyone doing?
Jenness: Sure, so we have a theme. The theme is More Than Meets the Eye. And each one of the storytellers is going through final rounds of their story crafting. So they work with me and with other directors to tell their story over Zoom, over the phone. And what we do as directors, we make sure all the pieces are there. We make sure there's a clear emotional arc, that the storytellers aren't trying to tell their whole life story in 10 minutes, that they feel confident with the different beats and the plot points of their story.
But beyond the plot, there also needs to be the reflection, the emotion. That, I think, is what really separates a Moth-style story from some others. This isn't just, and then, and then, then this happened. It's really how you felt about it at each step of the way. which helps us to feel close to the storytellers and it helps us open our minds and think of all the different ways that people experience this world.
"This is really meant to be more like you're having a coffee with a friend and you thought of a story you wanted to share."
We've got a lot of storytellers who are making their appointments with me, like a story therapist and going through their story and trying some different things, trying some elements. There's no one right way to tell these stories. but I want the storytellers to feel really confident and excited to share when they get on stage.
Kenney: That's really interesting because there is a kind of a beat and a rhythm to the stories and if they're not professional storytellers, that's great that you guys can kind of work this out as they develop their ability to tell the story.
Jenness: And sometimes people will think there is one right way. Maybe they'll write it out and they'll try to memorize it. And I always say, look, I love the theater, but this is not a memorized monolog. You're not acting out the story. And in fact, people come to see these beautiful storytelling shows because they want to hear you, get to know you. And, you know, they don't know how you worked the story out ahead of time and you lived it. So you could just think to yourself, well, what happened next? And what did I think about what was happening right in front of me?
This is really meant to be more like you're having a coffee with a friend and you thought of a story you wanted to share. There's a real sense of personality that you get from the storytellers. And so, as a director with The Moth for all these years, my hope is that they feel incredible when they stand on stage. All storytelling told on stage is just incredible because audiences spend time listening. You sit in the audience and you actually listen to somebody. And I just love that about these gatherings.
And then more times than not, the storyteller leaves the stage and says, "when can I do that again?"
Kenney: I imagine this has gotta be great for you and the other mentors and producers in that the job is always changing. Even though it stays the same, every story is different. And so is there a lot of chatter between the producers? Like, oh, wait till you hear this, or you have to hear this.
Jenness: Yeah, of course. Of course. Many of us have worked with The Moth for quite some time. It gives me a great sense of meaning and purpose. It makes me feel like I'm helping people. I love to help people share their stories. And that said, we have a lot of directors now and a lot of producers and we're working on so many shows. I think that storytelling and story listening is more important than ever from everyone in the world. And we get really excited about each other's stories that we're working on.
In some cases, we'll state "Listen to this draft along with me and see what you think and see if you have any tips or comments to help them flesh out this one part." In other cases, we'll wait until the story is told on stage and then all of the creatives at The Moth will listen to the stories after the fact in audio and that's how we decide what moves on to the radio.
We all have deep and long and, in some cases — very funny — conversations about these beautiful stories from all over the world and what resonates and what kind of new themes we can come up with to again share them on an even larger platform. Because at our show in Dayton, which I'm so excited about, I've never been to Ohio. I'm thrilled to join you. There are a certain amount of people who are in the theater, but once it goes on to radio, millions of people get to hear these stories, and it's just ... the impact is profound.
