Everyone has a story. At the Big Gay Storyslam this Saturday, personal stories will be shared with a spotlight on the queer community.
“It's something that's very needed,” said Amber Viola, a judge in this year’s competition. “The space for people to be able to come out and just to be themselves.”
The annual event hosted by Scranton Fringe brings queer people and their allies to the stage at the Scranton Cultural Center for an evening of celebration and connection.
Storytellers
Charley Rude, a trans woman from Lackawanna County, attended the LGBTQ Storyslam as an audience member last year.
“That was my first year completely out as a queer person,” she said. “My partner and I were looking for things to do where I could find my peers and start to become a part of the community.”
She’ll be back this year as a performer.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted that they wanted me to participate this year,” she said. “But it was very interesting to sit and reflect upon my life and come up with a story that would fit the theme and really say something about who I am,” she said.
This year’s theme is "Don't stop me now.”
Mmachi Dimoriaku chose the eight performers for Saturday’s event.
“The stories are all about resilience through the world telling them no,” she explained.
Dimoriaku grew up in New York and was a student storyteller at The Moth, a nonprofit dedicated to the art.
She moved to Northeast Pa. for college and has stuck around.
“This area is a scene that invites everybody,” she said. “And this program highlights the best of what we have. But it also shines a light on [the fact that] we’re human too.”
What is a storyslam?
Storytellers will have about five minutes to tell the audience a personal story that is relevant to the theme.
Unlike a stand-up comedy show, the stories are presented in a variety of genres.
“Story slams are more so an intimate space, similar to an acoustic concert,” Dimoriaku said. “You’re expecting something good to fill your heart… and you don’t have to do anything but listen.”
Drag comedian Pissi Myles is the host for the evening and keeps the crowd entertained in between stories. A panel of judges will choose a winner.
“You have everybody's different personalities coming through,” said Viola, who was in the audience at last year’s storyslam.
“It's such a cool experience, because even people that you do know, you may not have heard certain aspects of their lives or coming out stories,” she continued. “I'm looking forward to just listening and just being around a bunch of gay people.”
'It's so important'
Rude grew up in Lackawanna County in the 80s and 90s. Events like this weren’t happening around here then.
“I didn't have any spaces to go to to have examples of people living that type of life,” she said. “I didn't have the vocabulary, I had no mentors… There were no examples whatsoever of a positive role model as a trans person.
“It was difficult for me to find where I belonged and what my identity really was, and I struggled with it for a very, very long time, until I was a fully grown adult with a family,” she continued.
Rude is co-owner of Strange Birds, a queer event venue in Scranton that opened just last month.
“What we really need is a queer space to make it safe for others so that they don't have to hide their identity most of their life,” she said.
They host creative workshops, performances and other events for the queer community, to create more opportunities for inclusion, like the LGBTQ Storyslam.
Strange Birds will host a Silent Disco afterparty following the Big Gay Storyslam and a queer prom later in the month.
“Having a place where people can gather together and share their identities, who they are, how they live, and show that we just have normal lives… It's so important,” Rude said. “Because when you have to live your life suppressing who you really are, it always ends in tragedy.”
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