Once Upon A Trauma StoryJam

EVENT

Once Upon A Trauma Storyjam is a monthly space for us Charlotteans to share the stories behind our scars:

An evening of personal stories—told live, on-stage, without notes—about challenging moments in our lives, how we healed and what we learned.

Get over to VisArt Video's cozy black-box theatre on the first Wednesday of the month (7 June) from 7-9pm and get into your feels with us, to laugh, cry and commune around the stuff we all struggle with but tend to keep to ourselves.

Courageous audience members are encouraged to come up and share their story. All are welcome to listen, show love and hang out after!

WHAT MAKES A STORY

Live: told from the heart, without notes.

Scars not wounds: We find that our “scars” make for better stories, those moment in our life that challenged us—maybe even traumatized us—but that we’ve had enough time, distance (and maybe therapy) reflect on those moments and hopefully see how they sparked a realization or transformation in us.

We’re not saying stories has to have a happy ending. But we are saying that that story about your ex who ditched you for the pool cleaner 4.5 months ago but is still wracking up bills on your joint credit card but that’s totally cool because you know in your heart-of-hearts that that’s true love and but that’s totally normal, right… right!?

All we're saying is, well, consider saving the “wound” stories for the therapist.

7 minutes or less: It is important to keep our stories concise and driven to a point, so we can here as many great tellers as possible!

True: Stories must come from your point of view and personal experience. No fairy tales.

A story is not: a rant, speech, report, song, poem, performance art piece, spoken word, anecdote, essay etc..

ADMISSION

General: Admission is free but will be limited by venture capacity. Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals.

Audience/Age: Once Upon A Trauma has no minimum age (after all, young and old, we all struggle).

However, if you have delicate ears, we encourage you to first consider the following:

OUaT stories are open mic; OUaT does not control the content or know what story is about to be told on stage.

Some tellers may share raw and explicit stories that are very much meant for a mature audience. Some stories may include profanity. Many stories are likely to include, well... traumatic experiences!

Thanks for your time and attention. We look forward to seeing you at the next jam!