(because we are ALL storytellers)

Did you come here after hearing about Queer Memoir on Stories From the Stage? Or at the Moth MainStage?  Or the Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness podcast? Well anyway we’re glad you’re here. So glad! You can find more info about Queer Memoir co-founder and curator Kelli Dunham here and read on for what Queer Memoir is all about…

Well, we’re back IRL in New York City. We decided we’re good with back in person for a number of reasons including the fact that Caveat is run by scientists (gotta love NYC, right?) and they’ve done a ton of research about how to keep people safe/r and their Covid protocols are on point.

But we’re also still doing livestream because, access.

Upcoming shows 12/12 Queer Memoir I HATE THE HOLIDAYS and 1/23 Queer Memoir ASSUMPTIONS.

Tickets for the 11/21 show are available on the Caveat website

As always please please please please email kellidunham@gmail.com or text 215.964.1963 if you need a reduced price or free ticket and we’ll set you up.

Want to share a story an upcoming show. Hit us up in the pitch document OR email kellidunham at gmail.com or text/call Kelli at 215.964.1963. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN EXPERIENCED STORYTELLER OR PERFORMER TO SHARE AT QUEER MEMOIR. We’ll provide whatever help and support you need to put your story together. Also if you’re not in the NY area, we are scheduling a few online only shows that storytellers anywhere in the world can take part in. Check out the pitch link above for details.

We’ve got some exciting announcements coming up about a Queer Memoir Oral History Project, but in the meantime. PLEASE. If you want to continue hearing about Queer Memoir please please please please please sign up for the mailing list. Never more than 2-3 emails a month, promise. We really can’t rely on social media to get the word out about Queer Memoir events. Facebook has completely shut down all ads that contain references to ‘social causes” so without changing the name (apparently just being queer is a social cause?) we are out of that game.

ABOUT QUEER MEMOIR

Queer Memoir is a multi-venue all ages LGBT storytelling series; our aim is to give voice to our collective queer experiences as well as preserve and document our complex queer history.

At each Queer Memoir event, we host some of Queer New York’s best-known performers, and folks who have never been on a stage in their lives and bring them together to celebrate the ritual and community-building value of storytelling.

The motto of the well known Moth story performance series is “real stories told live without notes” while the motto of Queer Memoir is “real stories told live with whatever you need to get your story told.”

That means use notes, bring your friends, bring your ukele, use your herbal relaxation, ask us for support, ask the audience for support….(for more info on this and what makes Queer Memoir different than other NYC events, check out our post on The Seven Traditions of Queer Memoir) We are committed to hearing a wide range of stories, from a wide range of voices and we will work with you to help you get ready for the Queer Memoir “stage.”

Please sign up for the Queer Memoir mailing list if you’ve like to be kept up to date about our shows, upcoming themes and call for stories. Never more than two emails a month.

About some of our past shows…..

A few years ago the Friends of the Highline invited us to tell stories (where else) on the Highline in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood.

 

Last year, we hosted Queer Memoir: EULOGY FOR A DYKE BAR at Macon Reed’s um, recreated dyke bar.

Queer Memoir SUMMER. We boarded the train at the Atlantic Pacific stop on a Sunday morning at 11 am, got on and…told stories. it was an amazing morning and some of the folks on the train even stayed on past their stops hear the end of the “show.” Here Erica Cardwell shares a story about her childhood in Baltimore that transported us completely……

Earlier last year we had an amazing show Queer Memoir 50+; it was guest curated by Stephanie Shroeder and Ryn Hodez: the event brought together storytellers who ranged in age from 50 to 97 years old and shared stories about everything from escape Berlin during World War II to paying for sex in the Dominican Republic.

Additionally, our Queer Memoir: WHAT IS TUZ event, which was guest curated by film-maker Nadia Awad, was recorded and was presented as part of the Asia Pacific Forum on WBAI. You can listen to the whole event online.

And who can forget Queer Memoir: DISORDER, which happened less than a week after Hurricane Sandy. The venue was still without electricity but the queers really wanted to get together, so turned one of the producer’s apartments into a venue…

We run an ongoing series of workshops to bring new work, new faces and new stories into the Queer Memoir family, keep your eyes here or on  facebook for schedules and times.  All Queer Memoir workshops are free, although if participants want to give a donation to help with expenses we don’t turn that down.

Our biggest push in the coming year will be working with folks who have shared at Queer Memoir in the past to guest curate a Queer Memoir event of their own. To learn more about how to participate, visit our submissions page

We’re always on the prowl for venues that would work for Queer Memoir events: if you know of an non-bar, wheelchair accessible, all ages space that might be a good rental choice for us, please contact kellidunham at gmail dot com and let us know.  We are also always looking for community partners for events as well!