How 'The Moth' Made Storytelling Cool Again
“The number-one quality of being a great Moth storyteller is willing to be vulnerable,” says Catherine Burns, the artistic director of the Moth, the celebrity-favorite storytelling event that's turning 20 this month. “What people want from them is a story that reveals their real selves. In a world where so many of our stories are filtered, it’s special to hear something real.”
It’s even more special, perhaps, that after two decades The Moth - which started in the living room of the novelist George Dawes Green and has grown to encompass events around the world as well as podcasts, radio programs, and two books - hasn’t lost its touch.
The gist is that, for its Mainstage events, five storytellers get on stage to tell true tales from their lives. The events are held about 45 times a year in cities around the world, and have drawn all manner of participants, from storytelling newcomers to experts like Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, George Plimpton, Annie Proulx, Margaret Cho, and more.
In the years since it launched, The Moth has also expanded to include open-mic nights - 10 participants, names picked from hats, get five minutes each to tell a story in one of 28 cities around the world - as well as a philanthropic arm that offers community programming and workshops in schools and prisons, among other places. (There's also an annual gala, The Moth Ball, which took place this week.) And it’s programming that’s being replicated all over. “These days there are thousands of storytelling organizations around in the world,” Burns says. “Not too long ago someone put on what they called a Moth tribute night in Antarctica, and there are Moth-style shows happening all over the globe.”
Of course, Burns says, they’re also going to keep happening at home in New York and in the various other outposts where a night of storytelling has caught on. And if The Moth is still fluttering its wings in 20 years, she says, “I hope what will be the same is people telling their stories themselves.
“The heart is always a person telling a story in front of a live audience in their own community. I also hope we’ll have expanded even more around the world, if only to share more stories.”
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