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Reasons to love SpeakeasyDC:
- It's unique.
- It's fun
- It's uplifting and mind-expanding.
- It makes DC a much cooler place to live and visit .
- You'll meet interesting and creative people.
- You'll have a place to tell your own stories if you so desire, and churn your creative juices.
- You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll become a better person.
- Hearing stories is an opportunity to get a window into another's world.
- Storytelling has a particular power to create a sense of commonality and connection with others.
- Storytelling is a fundamental human activity.There's nothing else like the simple pleasure of hearing and telling a good story.
- Each story adds to the richness of our oral history.
- Live storytelling straddles the line between traditional and modern, preserving the irreplaceble character of the oral tradition while appealing to our contemporary sensibilities.
- Storyelling is for everyone. Somebodys and Nobodys.
Over-achievers and underachievers. Stoners
and teetotalers.The neurotic and the mellow. The
innocent and the jaded. The old and young. Artists and
non-artists. Bad hair, bad breath, buck-teeth, whatever.
If you have a good story, people will love you.
- We are incredibly supportive in helping those who are interested in learning to tell your own stories.
- We seek to create as many "perfomance" opportunities as possible for aspiring storytellers through live performances, TV, CD, and internet.
Who Cares?
Comments from our fans
We believe that SpeakeasyDC fulfills multiple
needs. Here are some:
 We live in a fast-paced, commercialized, and increasingly digitized culture.
We are bombarded with profit-driven media and entertainment that relies on
sensationalism and a passive audience. The experience of hearing and telling
stories at the Speakeasy feeds a desire for a connection to the real life
experiences of real people, escape from commercials and "reality" TV,
intellectual stimulation, and emotional uplift. It is a dynamic and
interactive experience between storyteller and listener, engaging the
imagination and sparking memories that bring each person's own stories to
the surface.
 The DC area is known for its theaters, but it continues to fall short on
venues that support alternative and more affordable kinds of theatre and
performance. SpeakeasyDC's open mic series is an affordable, unconventional,
quality performing arts opportunity.
 There are limited creative outlets for "regular folks" in the area.
SpeakeasyDC's open mic is accessible to anyone with a good story to tell. It
is not a stage that is only friendly to those with years of experience in a
performing art, literature, or professional speaking. Nor is it reserved for
"big names". We believe that it is vital for everyone to get a chance to
unleash their creativity one way or another.
 Often people complain of the transient nature of DC, and they express a
sense of isolation, and a hunger for community. Storytelling is a powerful
unifier. SpeakeasyDC has become a place where people feel at home and return
every month, some for years. The community has grown and strengthened
enormously over the past 8 years. We frequently hear from our audiences how
much they appreciate this aspect of SpeakeasyDC.
Comments from our fans
I never knew DC had such a wealth of local talent. Speakeasy was a
fantastic evening of fun stories, from those in our own community,
which kept friends and I talking the rest of the evening. A great sociable
alternative to happy hour!
--Lew
At the Speakeasy, the audience is alert and generous,
and the tellers give their all. If stories make us
human, the Speakeasy measurably boosts DC's humanity
quotient.
-- Julie Hantman
There's something about storytelling that's primal,
that harkens of campfires and clans sharing vital
information about life and its pleasures and dangers.
The Speakeasy fosters what I imagine to be a similar
sense of connection, of community -- only without
the fear that hungry sabre-toothed tigers lurk
in the deep dark woods behind me.
--Catherine
The Speakeasy is great because it provides such
great entertainment in a chill setting. HR-57
is a great space and the open mic opportunity provides this sense
of community because you want to support the other people
in the audience who have the courage to
get up and tell their stories.
--Sinead |
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