Rochester Storytellers Project announces 2023 season. How to share your story, get tickets

Tracy Schuhmacher, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·3 min read

The Democrat and Chronicle will host its seventh season of live storytelling events in 2023.

Three Rochester Storytellers Project shows will feature entertaining, compelling, true stories told by people who live and work in the Rochester area. The dates and themes will be:

· March 8, 7 p.m.: The Adventures of Youth

· June 21, 7 p.m.: The Games We Play

· Nov. 15, 7 p.m.: Holidays

All will be held at Comedy at the Carlson, 50 Carlson Road. The venue and bathrooms are wheelchair accessible. Free parking is in a lot across the street. ASL interpreters may be provided with at least two weeks notice.

Tickets are on sale now at https://storytellersproject.enmotive.com/events/register/2023-rochester-storytellers-project. The cost is $12; a limited number of discounted tickets are available for $8. Doors open at 6 p.m. Food and drink will be available for sale.

Live storytelling events have become popular over the past decade or so. What sets Rochester Storytellers Project shows apart is that journalists curate the shows and coach the storytellers.

The Storytellers Project launched at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix in 2011. The Democrat and Chronicle has been hosting storytelling events since 2017 (they were held online in 2020 and 2021).

Become a storyteller

The Democrat and Chronicle is looking for storytellers from all backgrounds who are willing to share their true, first-person stories. Tellers will work with journalists to shape a 7- to 10-minute story around the theme of the night. Tellers receive between three and five hours of training in all.

The themes for 2023 will be:

The Adventures of Youth, March 8: Dig back into your younger days for tales of adventures, big and small. These could pertain to travel, scouting, moving to a new neighborhood or even climbing a tree. It could be about adventures in learning: Learning to drive, learning to play a musical instrument, learning to tie your shoes. Think any kind of first: First days of school, first crush, first time on stage.

The Games We Play, June 21: These stories could pertain to anything to do with sports, whether it would be competing on a team or playing pickup games in the neighborhood. Think about special times experiencing a big game: where you were, who you were with, what that experience meant to you. Board games and video games could also be an element. The games theme could also touch on relationships, be they friendships or romance.

Holidays, Nov. 15: Our 2022 holiday event was such a compelling evening that we are reprising the theme for 2023. Stories can intersect with any religious or secular holiday: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, Passover, Ramadan, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and so on. It also could pertain to Independence Day or New Year's celebrations from any culture.

To pitch your story, email TracyS@Gannett.com. Include your name, age, place of residence and a few sentences describing the story you want to tell. The Rochester Storytellers Project team will curate the evening to make sure the tellers are diverse and that there’s a mix of stories that will result in an entertaining evening.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Storyteller's Project announces 2023 storytelling events