The Ultimate StorySLAM Is The Grand Finale Of Miami Storytelling

Moth StorySLAM Host Gabriela Fernandez and the GrandSLAM storytellers at last year’s “Fight or Flight” competition. This year, the GrandSLAM is on Friday, Dec. 13 at The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater. (Photo by Pati Laylle)

A storyteller lives in everyone. At least that is the philosophy behind The Moth, a nonprofit that is all about bringing the community together over a microphone to share stories.

How it works is the team, based out of New York, organizes a theme for the monthly events, called StorySLAM. The community gathers and some attendees sign up to share a tale. Ten participants are selected and given five minutes to tell a totally true and totally personal story that is aligned with that evening’s theme.

While the headquarters are in New York, the organization has local producers who handle the monthly shows. Virginia Lora, who lives in Miami, has been producing shows for The Moth in Miami since 2016.

At last year’s The Moth GrandSLAM, Trace Jackson shares her story with the theme “Fight or Flight.” (Photo courtesy of Pati Laylle)

“It feels like a well-oiled machine,” she says. “The events are once a month and they always follow the same format.” Guests come in, sign up, names are pulled from the proverbial hat, stories are shared, the judges in the audience give their rating, and a winner is selected at the end of the night. Simple enough.

“However, it feels like every night is different and you never know what could happen,” says the producer as she clutches her large clipboard. She goes on to say how there are guests who come prepared and it’s clear they have been rehearsing their story for days, and then there are storytellers who get inspired by the evening and sign up to share on the spot.

“This is such a great concept, to create a safe space where the community can come together and share a personal story is a beautiful thing,” says Lora.

The Moth organizes three types of events in their participating cities: The MainStage, which consists of two acts and five storytellers; the StorySLAM, which is a monthly community open-mic night; and the GrandSLAM, the end-of-the-year event where winners from monthly StorySLAMs compete. This year it’s on Friday, Dec. 13 at The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater.

Storyteller Doug Hales during last year’s The Moth Miami GrandSLAM event. (Photo by Pati Laylle)

The not-for-profit’s Miami chapter took up residence at the Sandrell Rivers Theater in 2019 for their StorySLAMs. Evelyn Sullivan, the theater’s manager, admits she is an avid listener of The Moth podcast. She relates listening to The Moth to therapy. The stories would make her laugh, cry, and think. A few years ago, she decided to reach out to their corporate offices about hosting their events at her theater.

“And that was the start of a beautiful relationship,” says Sullivan. “After all, storytelling is what theater is, that’s what theater is all about.”

In November, the theme was “Yes, Chef!,” “Strange Encounters” in October, and, in September it was “Elbow Grease.”

Christine Anglin, a local writer and Moth supporter, was in attendance that night in September and was selected to share. “I love stories,” she says of what drew her to attend Moth events. For her five minutes, Anglin shared an experience she had being a single woman at her local church. She realized that there were plenty of resources for couples or married people, but opportunities were scarce if you didn’t have a partner. So, she decided to be the change she needed and start groups and build resources for single people at her church.

Jared Bistrong competed in last year’s “Fight or Flight”  Miami GrandSLAM event.(Photo by Pati Laylle)

Other stories during the “Elbow Grease” night ranged from a former lawyer who uprooted his life in Miami to move to upstate New York for a teaching job (and then eventually moved back home). Another storyteller shared how he suffered from “pretty privilege” and decided to enroll in a challenging college course to prove he was more than just a pretty face.

Every story told on a Moth stage is recorded and has the potential to end up on the widely popular The Moth podcast. According to an associate producer for the organization, Gabriel Szajnert, a Miami native who has been living in New York and working for The Moth for the past two years, the program is on over 560 radio stations and their podcast is downloaded more than one hundred million times a year.

“We have a team of directors that curate each radio hour,” says Szajnert. “They choose the themes, they choose the topics, and they put things together. It could be stories as recent as a couple of weeks ago, or it could be something that was in our system a decade ago.”

Szajnert picks the monthly theme for StorySLAM. He’s currently in the process of selecting for Spring 2025. “We have a giant database of all these themes that we’ve come up with,” says the producer about the process. “We’ll kind of sift through that and also take learnings from popular themes from the year.”

One theme that consistently draws a large crowd is the annual Love Hurts night that takes place in February. “That is always a really popular StorySLAM that we do every year,” says Szajnert.

Whereas The Moth needs its storytellers, the audience is an equally important piece of the puzzle. (Photo by Pati Laylle

The Moth was founded by novelist George Dawes Green in 1997 and currently hosts events in 29 cities across the world. Over the years, The Moth has inspired over 60,000 people to share their stories live.

Green first had the idea for The Moth because he would invite friends to come over and they’d share their stories on the porch. “While he was telling stories, it’s said that moths would gather around the lights. They were always surrounding and listening to the stories as well,” says Szajnert of the origin.

As for being a performer, Anglin says it’s a double-edged sword.

“You’ve the lights on your face and people are staring at you, so it’s very nerve-wracking,” says Anglin. “But it’s always nice to get up there and say what you have to say. There’s a healing, powerful act in getting up and stating how you feel about something.”

WHAT: The Moth GrandSLAM Championship

 WHERE: The Black Archives – Historic Lyric Theater, 819 NW Second Ave., Miami

 WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 13; doors open at 6:30 p.m.

 COST: $33 at eventbrite.

 INFORMATION: (305) 284-8800 or www.themoth.org.

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