The Moth, a national podcast with more than 1 million listeners per week, will offer its “mainstage show” April 25 for the first time in Charleston.
You will be able to watch the curated storytelling showcase in front of a live audience as a storyteller stands alone in the spotlight, with no notes, to tell stories that range from silly to serious to life-defining.
“You get to hear these stories that you just don’t believe… You think, ‘Oh my God, and you’re here and you’re telling the story,’” said Ruby Cooper, a writer and comic based in Charleston. She’s involved with The Moth because she was a winner of another Moth program, the “story slam” competition, where people line up to take to the stage and compete for the best story.
“The stories are incredible. And there’s something really magical about a quiet, huge room. I’ve told my story to audiences of up to 2,000 people. And it’s totally quiet, not a cell phone, nothing… People are connecting on this level of being right there with you.”
Cooper became involved with The Moth because she was a winner of another Moth program, the “story slam” competition, where people line up to take to the stage and compete for the best story. Cooper’s story blew the creative team away for its uniqueness, The Moth director Jenifer Hixson said. So they brought her into the mainstage show to share that story further.
Cooper shared with the Charleston City Paper her excitement to bring The Moth mainstage show to the Music Hall this week, and share what she called the “magic” of this program.
How The Moth came into existence
Since its launch in 1997, acclaimed nonprofit organization The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to crowds worldwide. People gather, like “moths to a flame,” to hear stories of individuals coming from all walks of life. Past storytellers include astronauts, students, playwrights, a hotdog eating champion, exonerated prisoners, veterans, Nobel laureates and everyone in between, illuminating both the diversity and commonality of the human experience.
Some of those stories, recorded live on stage, are shared through The Moth Podcast, founded in 2008. To give an idea of the diversity and intrigue of these true tales, some favorites from The Moth podcast listeners on the reddit forum r/podcasts:
- In the episode called “Fog of Disbelief” an American tells the tale of being at the Fukushima power plant during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
- A woman tells the tale of her son’s death by lightning strike.
- In “A New Home,” an immigrant from Afghanistan tries to gain US citizenship.
- A doctor who is studying psychopaths to determine how their brains are different uses his own brain as the “control” and discovers he is a psychopath.
- Steve from “Blue’s Clues” talks about his date with a supermodel.
- A father confronts the man who murdered his daughter.
The audience and speaker interaction is exactly what makes The Moth special, director Hixson agreed. “The storytellers and the audience share an experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating.”
The April 25 show at Charleston Music Hall will host a diverse lineup of storytellers, including Charlestonians like Cooper, City of Charleston Poet Laureate Asiah Mae, and Tonya M. Matthews, president and CEO of the International African American Museum.
There will also be stories from Minnesota based Javier Morillo, host of the podcast “Wrong About Everything,” and veteran and fire chief George Sumner from Salt Lake City. The evening will be emceed by Emmy-nominated writer Jon Goode of Atlanta.
Don’t miss the chance to experience this one-of-a-kind storytelling event for the first time in Charleston.
Tickets start at $32 at charlestonmusichall.com. Doors will open at 6:30 pm and the show will begin at 7:30 pm. Learn more about The Moth at themoth.org.
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