Photo source: scottwhitehair.com
“Welcome to ‘This Much is True!’ ” The crowd roars as Scott Whitehair greets the audience with the title of the event. His enthusiasm spreads as you see all people involved in cheering and clapping for this encouraging event. Having attended ‘This Much is True’ multiple times throughout the past few years, I can only smile when I see something as exciting as random people cheering on one another in telling a story.
That’s what it’s all about for ‘This Much Is True’: original stories and loving on those who tell them.
Founded in 2009 by and produced by Scott Whitehair, ‘This Much is True’ is an intimate storytelling experience. It enhances individuality and creativity by molding a volunteer’s story and making it show-ready. “There’s no wrong way of telling a story” is the mentality of this organization. Their goal is to celebrate each person and their stories through the art of expressing them.
This “new” phenomenon of telling stories has become popular all throughout cities around the country. In Chicago, there are many one day storytelling events, but more weekly groups have storytelling at their core. ‘This Much is True’ is the longest running monthly storytelling event (since October 2009). The volunteer’s vulnerability shines as stories about childhood, travels, sexuality and love emerge on the stage. Every experienced or newbie storyteller receives an introduction by founder Whitehair.
Every second Tuesday of the month, ‘This Much is True’ meets at 7:30pm at Mrs. Murphy’s & Sons Irish Bistro at 3905 N. Lincoln in Chicago. Join them for a good time laughing or crying with storytellers and connecting with the human experience.
In addition to ‘This Much is True’, here is a short list of the various storytelling weekly events and their locations around the city:
The Stoop with Stoop Style Stories takes place at Rosa’s Lounge in Humboldt Park on every 4th Thursday of every month. 3420 W Armitage Ave.
Miss Spoken features female-identified authors on the last Wednesday of each month at 7pm at various locations around the city.
Story Lab Chicago takes place at Black Rock Pub and Kitchen and begins at 7:30pm. 3614 N Damen Ave.
Do Not Submit has a storytelling mic where you can show up and write your name on the list and get seven minutes to tell a story on various nights each month. Takes place in each of the following neighborhoods: Englewood, Old Town, Pilsen, Edgewater, Evanston, Lincoln Park, Hyde Park, Rogers Park, Uptown.
Grown Folks Stories occurs on the third Thursday of each month at The Silver Room from 8-10pm. 1506 E 53rd St.
For more information on Scott Whitehair, please visit: www.scottwhitehair.com/