The Moth Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary In 2017

"In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we've pulled together an ambitious lineup of shows and events for 2017," says Catherine Burns, artistic director, The Moth. It's thrilling to do this work, and we're proud to provide a platform for the personal stories that are shared every year on The Moth's stages around the world. 2016 was a challenging year for a lot of people, and we believe in the power of stories to help people find common ground with their neighbors. To listen with an open heart and an open mind and try to understand what it's like to be someone else takes real courage, and sometimes it is easier to try to make sense of the world one story at a time."

Over 5500 stories will be told from The Moth stages in 2017; show schedule highlights include:

• 469 StorySLAMs, which will include an Atlanta, Georgia debut in March
• 42 Mainstages including returns to old haunts such as St. Louis, MO and Portland, OR, as well as premieres in Anchorage, AK; Vancouver, CAN; Elko, NV; Salt Lake City, UT; San Antonio, TX; and Baltimore, MD
• 16 GrandSLAMs, including inaugural GrandSLAMs in Madison, WI; and Down Under in both Sydney and Melbourne
• 16 Education StorySLAMs throughout the year, marked by All-City High School shows in the Summer and Fall
• 8 Community showcases including showcases at NYC's Lincoln Center coinciding with the UN General Assembly in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• 2 Book Release events in March  - one at The Royce Theatre in LA and one in New York City
• 1 20^th Anniversary Moth Ball -- the annual fundraiser for the nonprofit, slated for June 6^th

Also slated for 2017: The Moth's second book, THE MOTH PRESENTS ALL THESE WONDERS: True Stories about Facing the Unknown (Crown Archetype; Hardcover; $25.00), which will be published on March 21. Edited by Catherine Burns and featuring a foreword by Neil Gaiman, ALL THESE WONDERS is a spellbinding celebration of 20 years of Moth storytellers who have stepped up to the microphone and bared their souls to a crowd of strangers. ALL THESE WONDERS features 45 stories, told on stages around the world, from voices both familiar and new. Alongside familiar names like Louis C.K., John Turturro, Tig Notaro, and Hasan Minhaj, and authors like Meg Wolitzer (The Interestings), Adam Mansbach (Go the %&# to Sleep), and Jessi Klein (You'll Grow Out of It), readers will encounter musicians, doctors, pastors, high school students, journalists, NASA scientists, and more.

Book signing events and a themed-SLAM series in cities around the country will take place in March in celebration of the release.  For more information about 20^th anniversary celebrations, go to www.themoth.org.  

About The Moth
The Moth is an acclaimed non-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, which is celebrating its 20^th Anniversary in 2017. Since launching in 1997, The Moth has presented over 20,000 stories, told live and without notes to standing­room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth conducts seven ongoing programs: The Moth Mainstage, which tours internationally, has featured stories by Malcolm Gladwell, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, John Turturro, Molly Ringwald, and Tig Notaro, as well as an astronaut, a pickpocket, a hot­dog eating champion and hundreds more; The Moth StorySLAM program, which conducts open mic storytelling competitions in 26 cities; 21 in the US plus Sydney and Melbourne, AU, London, UK and Dublin, IE; The Moth Community Program, which offers storytelling workshops and performance opportunities to adults who are too often overlooked by the mainstream media; The Moth High School StorySLAMs, which bring the thrill of personal storytelling to high schools in New York and educators around the world; The Moth Podcast, which is downloaded more than 44 million times a year; The Moth Corporate Program, which provides industry-specific storytelling solutions; and Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour which airs weekly on 450+ public radio stations nationwide.

SOURCE The Moth

Related Links

http://www.themoth.org