Yarn spinning, in real time

The Moth storytelling tour helps erase the line between writers and their readers.

from the May 18, 2007 edition

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Boston - The conventions of readers and writers are such that their physical paths rarely cross. Yes, there are fleeting interactions on author tours. But even then writers often maintain the distance and security that come with reading a dog-eared selection from a recently published work – a script of sorts.

So the title of tonight's event at the Calderwood Pavilion – "Out on a Limb: Stories From the Edge" – seems especially promising. It has the potential to upset a standard, go off script, and transgress the boundary between writers and their readers. In doing so, "Out on a Limb" will force two local authors out of their comfort zones.

The event is part of a national tour by the Moth, a well-known storytellers collective. Writer George Dawes Green formed the group in his New York living room a decade ago, hoping to revive the craft and connectivity of oral storytelling. Their following has grown and Moth shows have spread to much larger venues across the country.

When Mr. Green first came up with the idea, he imagined re-creating the experience of listening to his friend Wanda spin yarns on her porch in his native Georgia. (The moths that battled through a hole in the screen gave the event its name.) Since then, it has come to encompass the stories of more than 2,000 disparate personalities.

While raconteurs run the gamut – from singer Moby to an astronaut – the Moth relies heavily on writers, who make up about 70 percent of its performers. It may come as something of a surprise, then, that not every great writer is a great storyteller.

"It is a different medium," says Lea Thau, Moth executive director. Indeed. Just a few days before he was scheduled to perform before 300 people at the Calderwood, Steve Almond, author of the memoir "Candyfreak," noted, "There are people who are born good storytellers. Then there are people like me, who know how to tell a story if we can work on it or edit it. But we're not natural storytellers – which is why we write."

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