Story District is THE place to be. And it’s our NEW NAME! We just started the process, so it will take a while to get all our ducks in a row, but we are excited to get a new look and a fresh start. READ MORE

In Case You Missed It: SpeakeasyDC's Evan Milberg, recaps Fool's Rush In: Stories about acting rashly, being naive, and attempting feats that the wise avoid presented April 1st, 2015 with partner the Human Rights Campaign. READ MORE

Chris Kingsley is the Chair of the SpeakeasyDC board and Associate Director of Local Policy & Advocacy at the Data Quality Campaign. A longtime show-goer, Chris decided to step up to the plate and lead our board of directors during our rebranding. Here he speaks with us about plans for the future and how he's trying to meet the bar set by former SpeakeasyDC Chair Mike Boyd. READ MORE

SpeakeasyDC needs a new name and we want your input! Although the initial push to change our name is coming from a dispute over the trademark, we are seizing the moment and excited about using this as an opportunity to fully communicate how we have grown and changed since we first adopted that name in 1997. READ MORE

We are beyond excited to announce another batch of stand-out stories for SpeakeasyDC’s 5th annual Top Shelf, a showcase of the best stories of year. We will be at our largest venue ever -- the historic Lincoln Theater which seats 1200! We've already sold over 300 tickets, so don't wait. Last year, we did two back-to-back shows at the 9:30 Club and sold out 1300 seats well before showtime. READ MORE

A team of documentary film-makers created a short film that captures a behind-the-scenes look at SEDC's process and SEDC's most recent show Atonement. We thought it turned out beautifully and wanted to share. Thanks to Stone Soup Films!  READ MORE

SpeakeasyShorts is a new type of film competition – a collaboration between filmmakers and storytellers. Eight filmmaking teams have only 5 days to write, shoot, edit-and screen a film based on stories from eight local storytellers. The kicker: none of the teams know anything about the stories before they are presented. Interested in acting? READ MORE

We are putting together the 2015 season of SpeakeasyDC’s 2nd Tuesday monthly. Find out how you can vote and help pick our 2015 show themes READ MORE

Now’s Your Chance to Become a Sucker! Valentines Day 2015 is a mere 150 days away, and that means we are looking for stories for our signature, powerhouse Valentine's Day specialty show Sucker for Love (SFL). SEDC Storycoach and Sucker for Love Director Stephanie Garibaldi shares a little background on how to succesfully pitch your story for one of the biggest shows of the year. READ MORE

Well hello good people of the Americas! I’m back from the UK and it was an amazing trip! Given that Jeffrey and I were completely wankered the entire time, I don’t remember much. I’m kidding. I hardly drank because I was too busy shagging sexy British storytellers.  Well… that’s not true, either. My trip was actually rather wholesome. Oh well. READ MORE

A group of English as a second language students from the Washington English Center joined SpeakeasyDC for our 2nd Tuesday Show at Town Danceboutique based on the theme of Crimes and Misdemeanors. ESL teacher Allison Kirsch reflects on the experience here.

SpeakeasyDC and DC Shorts are excited to announce the return of Speakeasy Shorts. In its third year, SpeakeasyShorts is a unique competition invented by SpeakeasyDC and DC Shorts that brings together the two art forms of live storytelling and filmmaking. Get the details on telling your story, joining a film team and more. READ MORE

We need your help! We are currently exploring themes for our upcoming season. If you have an idea, a topic, or theme to for a show-- we would love to hear it. Tweet us @SpeakeasyDC or use #SEDCthemes to share your suggestion. READ MORE

Week 4 still has Tattle Tales solidly in the lead, but the other teams are building on their surges from last week. Find out the latest in #2014TDT.

Week three brings more excitement as the Tattle Tales continue to DOMINATE the competition. Other teams are hot on their heel. Kratos and the Enforcer brought in nearly $500 with a single event. They have a bit more work to do but with moves like that in their back pocket it is still very much anyone’s race to win!

In this year's Tour de Telling Spring fundraiser, there are five teams competing to raise the most money for SpeakeasyDC. Each team will employ a variety of strategies for raising the funds, including throwing a bunch of events and YOU are invited. Below is a list of upcoming events.  READ MORE

We are starting the second week of Tour de Telling and the Tattle Tales are holding firm on the lead with $1960 raised so far! And that means that they are once again the recipients of this week's prize, provided by this week's Tour de Telling sponsor: Mad Hatter. The Tattle Tales will receive a $25 gift certificate to Mad Hatters, to add to their $25 gift certificate to Lillies that they won last week.

The first week of Tour de Telling has been really exciting as the teams start to schedule their events and the trash talk heats up on Facebook. The best part has been the donations just flowing in, and we wanted to take a second and reward the week's highest donor with a prize! Anne Thomas, a member of the Tattle Tales is our highest donor in our opening week with a donation of $500!! That was not only a great kick start to her team's success, but to the whole race as well. Thank you for your donation Anne!!

It's the end of the first week of Tour de Telling 2014 and what a great start to the race its been! All of the teams are on the board right out of the gate thanks to 100% participation in the bake sale at the April 8th 2nd Tuesday show. But Team Tattle Tale is out in front with a commanding lead, raising a total of $1599.40 as of 10am Monday April 14. And as a result of being in the lead, the Tattle Tales have won a $25 gift certificate to Lillies Restaurant and Bar in Woodly Park.  Read More

Former Board Member, Storyteller extraordinaire Jeffrey Brady reflects on his experience with Tour de Telling You are invited to meet Jeffery and learn all about Tour de Telling at the launch party April 2nd, 7pm at Acre 121 (1400 Irving Street NW near the Columbia Heights Metro). Please RSVP via Facebook here or non Facebook users click here. Here's what Jeffery had to say about his experience as part of TdT  READ MORE

We are excited to launch our second annual Tour de Telling (#TdT2014) spring fundraising campaign on April 8, 2014. So what’s the deal with Tour de Telling? The short answer is it's a friendly team competition for storytellers and friends to raise money to support SpeakeasyDC. Structured as a virtual bike race. Teams of up to six people compete to raise money pretty much anyway they want, including, but definitely not limited to, bakes sales, happy hours, five-course sit-down dinners, pledge drives, gold fish eating contests (Ok not so much that last one. There are some limits!). Read More...

Bring out the cigars (or your hipster e-cigarettes), it's time to celebrate! Our new Program Coordinator, Ben Thomas, just started today, and he's already making fun of me. Good sign? Not sure, but I'm optimistic. We were incredibly lucky to have so many talented and smart people apply for this job. Ben was our first choice because he seems ready to help us take over the world (as is our secret master plan, obvi).  READ MORE

We are SOOOO sad to see our beloved Sheri Macatangay leave, but she's off to start an exciting new life in San Francisco. Sheri was the first person to take the position of Program Coordinator at SEDC back in April 2012.  I am lucky that she was the first person to take this job, because it was also the first time I had ever had an "employee" to manage. She handled my trial-and-error method with grace and patience. She learned the job quickly and embraced the mission and the community with enthusiasm and sincerity. Read more

We are SOOOO sad to see our beloved Sheri Macatangay leave, but she's off to start an exciting new life in San Francisco. Sheri was the first person to take the position of Program Coordinator at SEDC back in April 2012.  I am lucky that she was the first person to take this job, because it was also the first time I had ever had an "employee" to manage. She handled my trial-and-error method with grace and patience. She learned the job quickly and embraced the mission and the community with enthusiasm and sincerity. Read more

I heard my first go go beat in 1996… at a Jewish summer camp. I’m not kidding. I was a counselor at a Jewish summer camp (Habonim homies – holla!) and, at this camp, we have a ritual after almost every meal. As the dishes are collected, everyone starts to sing. But we don’t just sing, we shout and stand on the chairs, pound on the tables, and stomp our feet. It’s a kind of organized mayhem. In this particular year, there were threespeakeasy gogo4x6 guys – Benjie Porecki, Doug Silverman, and Matt Selig – who would start pounding out a go go beat on the tables. When I first heard it, I was like, what is that? I didn’t know it at the time, but I had fallen in love with go go. Read more

Guest post by Jess Solomon

For the past two weeks I’ve been having those “How did I get here?!” moments. I imagine it’s the gut reaction most builders of things have when speakeasy gogo4x6they reflect on a nearly finished work.

We are a few days out from opening night of Crank & Groove: A Go-Go Love Story and instead of looking down from the perch of the director’s chair I find myself sitting in circles with the cast; rather an ensemble of brilliant Go-Go practitioners, griots and lovers of the music and culture. My teachers. From the very beginning, this production has been rooted in collaboration, improvisation and a little scrappiness. Read more

Our first ever Tour de Telling - our virtual bike race fundraiser - kicked off with much fan fare and fun at April’s Second Tuesday show at Town. In addition to a bake sale to support the teams, each team gave a 60 second pitch for support. There were costumes, there were props, there was even flying candy. The efforts of the teams paid off – in less than 48 hours the teams have raised a combined total of more than $1600! Read more