Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories told live and without notes.

Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.

The Moth was founded by the novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. The first New York Moth event was held in George’s living room and the story events quickly spread to larger venues throughout the city.

Led by longtime Artistic Director, Catherine Burns and Executive Director, Sarah Haberman, The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs: The Moth Mainstage, which tours internationally; The Moth StorySLAM program, which conducts open-mic storytelling competitions in 28 cities; The Moth Community Program, which offers storytelling workshops and performance opportunities to adults who are too often overlooked by the mainstream media; The Moth Education Program, which brings the thrill of personal storytelling to high schools and colleges in New York, and educators around the world; The Moth Global Community Program, which develops and elevates true, personal stories from extraordinary individuals in the global south; The Moth Podcast—the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award Winner for Best Podcast Series—which is downloaded more than 90 million times a year; MothWorks, which uses the essential elements of Moth storytelling at work and other unexpected places; and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour which, produced by Jay Allison at Atlantic Public Media and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, airs weekly on over 570 public radio stations nationwide. (Courtesy of The Moth.)

Tomorrow, Friday March 25 at 7:00PM, The Moth Mainstage comes to our very own Paramount Theater in Charlottesville featuring stories told by Hannah H. Smith Brennan, Muneesh Jain, Julia Lancaster, Devan Sandiford, and Dame Wilburn, hosted by Jon Goode. We can’t say for sure what experiences these storytellers will bring, but one thing is certain: We’re all ears.