Story Club Minneapolis is a live monthly storytelling show featuring both an open mic segment and a curated set of performers from all over the Twin Cities arts scene and beyond. Story Club showcases true, autobiographical stories -- especially stories that are bold, vulnerable, unexpected, and connected to the complexity of our cultural environment. No two Story Club evenings are ever alike, but each month when we wrap up the show, we feel like we’ve witnessed a new, unique little community coming together.
So! Starting at 6pm, audience members are invited to put their names in the hat for the opportunity to tell an up-to-7-minute story onstage (Requirements? Has to be a story, has to be true, has to be about you!). When the show begins at 7, three or four tellers are drawn at random to perform, and they'll be followed by our featured guests. Does this make you want to tell a story? GOOD! (Do it! Do it! Do it!)
Tickets are on a sliding scale from $8 - $15, and are available at the door, or by phone (612) 825-8949, or in advance online: http://www.bryantlakebowl.com/theater/ (see calendar for exact brownpapertickets.com link)
Story Club’s host and producer is actor/writer Amy Salloway! She’s the creator of the award-winning autobiographical touring solo plays Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?, So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!, and Circumference, as well as the two-person show Entwined. She’s contributed true personal stories to programs on MPR and CBC, and has been both a storyteller and story coach for the hit national podcast RISK! You can take memoir and creative writing classes from Amy through Minneapolis Community Education, and storytelling workshops through The Story Studio. Find out more at Amy’s Facebook page Awkward Moment Productions.
May's featured performers are Gregory Pickett and Leslye Orr!
Gregory Pickett is a Spoken Word artist/storyteller originally from Chicago, though he currently calls Minneapolis home. Winner of the Rootabaga Poetry Slam in Galesburg, IL in 2009 and 2011, he was a member of two teams that represented Chicago at the National Poetry Slam in 2009 (Mental Graffiti) and 2013 (Words That Kill. He was also the SlamMN! Storytelling Grand Slam Champion for 2017, winner of the March 2019 Moth Story Slam, and a featured speaker for the 2018 Annual Storytelling Festival hosted by Story Arts of Minnesota.
Leslye Orr is a playwright, actor, and theater instructor for all ages who performs and tours her original plays. As a speaker appointed by the U.S. Department of State, Leslye took her show, Hand in Hand, to American embassies in Latvia, Lithuania and Israel. As a sound-effects enthusiast , she was featured on A Prairie Home Companion. Born legally blind, Leslye is the author and illustrator of The People On the Corner, about playing with kids of all abilities. Leslye and her husband, theater artist Zaraawar Mistry, operate Dreamland Arts, a performing arts studio and 40-seat theater in St. Paul. For more on Leslye’s children’s book, her stuffed animal shows, or other “Orriginal” gigs, visit www.dreamlandarts.com.