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“So I had this memorable experience and I want to tell you all about it!”

Now more than ever, people are looking to stay connected by crafting short personal narratives to be shared onstage or online in the spirit of stories told at story-slam shows like The Moth StorySLAM, at curated series like Listen to This, and on popular podcasts like This American Life. But those who do it well know that it is more than just hitting "record" on your video camera or just getting up on stage and winging it. It is more than simply riffing on recollections of the past.

This seven-week course (including final performance) covers the techniques for creating a compelling personal narrative piece to be shared onstage or online; one that speaks to a possible suggested theme, comes in on time, and gives the listeners the sense of having lived the memory themselves.

Students will learn how to choose a story to tell, how to write a compelling first line, how to structure and deliver their story, and how to know when to end, resisting the temptation to tack on a lesson-learned epilogue. Participants will be given a series of writing prompts to spark different short personal narratives, and then supportive feedback to find the best final version of the story for the format.

Class meets in person Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time, February 13 through March 20, 2025. Students will attend a performance of Listen to This on Thursday, February 27, and will perform their best piece as part of a student-showcase version of the monthly storytelling series, Listen to This, on Thursday, March 27, at 7:30 PM.

TOM CHALMERS is the host and producer of Listen to This: Stories On Stage, now in its tenth season, three years in Los Angeles and seven years here in Asheville. A graduate of Columbia University, Tom came out of the NYC storytelling scene in the 90s where he performed at Collective Unconscious, Surf Reality, and the original Stories at The Moth. He has done two one-man shows of his personal stories, Every Bone In My Body and Harm for the Holidays. While in New York, Tom was a company member and artistic director of Groundlings East and a member of the original Upright Citizens Brigade house team. After New York, Tom moved to LA where he was a writer for SHOWTIME Television and literary manager of the renowned Sacred Fools Theatre Company. He has taught at NYU and Warren Wilson College. He currently teaches classes through the Flatiron Writers Room and the Asheville School of Improv. He is a member of the Asheville improv troupe, Reasonably Priced Babies, and is the co-host of the sports talk radio show, Steve Sax Syndrome, on AshevilleFM 103.3.