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. Read more

Episode #45 of SpeakeasyDC’s podcast features a story by and conversation with Elissa Laura about a teachable moment with her over-protective father. Read, hear & watch more

In November 2012, we tried out a new idea: to pair filmmaking teams with a storyteller and give then five days to make a film inspired by their story. Thanks for our talented storytellers and the participation of some of DC’s finest filmmaking teams, the event was a huge hit.  The filmmakers talked about how challenging and fun it was to have a true story from which to build a script. Storytellers got the chance to see their stories interpreted in a new way, through a different medium. Read more

You could feel the same kind of electricity in the air as right before the best concert of your life–the one that had you camping out all night just to get a ticket. It was July 10, and the show’s theme was Band Camp: Stories about Music, Raves, and Rock & Roll. Read more

Whether Stories Were Dark or Light, the June 12 Speakeasy Felt Oh-So-Right

Let’s face it: SpeakeasyDC audience members are a highly evolved, super intelligent, wildly complex group of people. So it’s only natural that the audience would relate well to a show on the theme Jekyll & Hyde: Stories about the dark and light of human nature. Read more

10.) The relief you were expecting to feel as you bowed to the applause of a sold out crowd doesn’t surface. Instead, the feeling spreading through your gut is more reminiscent of childhood ice-cream-in-the-dirt sadness. You trudge back to the dressing room s-l-o-w-l-y, taking comfort in the fact that your wonderful friend made you so many cookies that if six fall in the dirt, you’ll still have six more to binge on. Read more

On the night of your performance at a Speakeasy 2nd Tuesday, one of the folks working there will bring an appearance release and put it in front of you.   If you sign it, you are giving SpeakeasyDC permission to record you while you perform your story. Read more

Better Said Than Done had our last big show at Jammin’ Java on St. Patrick’s Day.  It was a challenge, coming up with a theme for that holiday that wasn’t all about being Irish, but I think we found a good one. “The Luck of the Irish,” luckily, was a big success but, more importantly, a fantastic night of stories. Read more

Expectations ran high through the audience as small-but-mighty SpeakeasyDC leader Amy Saidman stepped up to the mic to kick off Tuesday’s show on “A Hero’s Journey: Stories about Tests and Quests.” With a theme like that, people figured that in addition to hearing smart, funny, and surprising true stories, they were bound to hear stories that were also powerful, moving, and perhaps even life-changing. They were not disappointed. Read more

Walking into Town the night of the Open Mic (now called Second Tuesdays), I already knew that I was performing first.  Stephanie Garibaldi, the show’s host, had called me the night before and asked how I would feel about it.

How would I feel?  I would feel terrible.  I would feel like you had no faith in my story and you were putting me up first in order to get my story out of the way.  That’s how I would feel. Read more