Des Moines, here's your chance to become a live storytelling capital
The Iowa Storytellers Project transforms what had been an end into a fresh beginning.
Nearly a decade ago, I stepped onto a stage in the basement of the now-defunct Des Moines Social Club as one of six Des Moines Register journalists to share a personal story in front of a live audience. It was the inaugural event of the Des Moines Storytellers series.
From those humble beginnings in December 2015, Des Moines Storytellers quickly outgrew small clubs to fill an eclectic array of local venues—the terrace of the Rollins Mansion, the Iowa Taproom, even a barn at Living History Farms.
After I left the Register in 2018, the series continued to expand. By 2019, it found a home at the historic Hoyt Sherman Place theater, routinely filling its 1,252 seats.
The appeal of live storytelling was evident to anyone who attended or took the mic. Each night featured authentic, compelling tales from Iowans of all backgrounds, structured around universal themes such as love, adventure, or family dynamics. Storytellers received weeks of coaching from Register journalists, refining their experiences into tight, 10-minute narratives delivered without notes. If a storyteller lapsed into an awkward pause while struggling to remember the next scene, the audience sometimes erupted with supportive exclamations and applause.
These storytelling events were emotional rollercoasters, swinging from tragedy to humor, but always leaving attendees uplifted. The stories reaffirmed our shared humanity and a sense of community beyond smartphone screens.
However, last fall, after 43 shows and 246 storytellers, the Register reluctantly ended the popular series to refocus newsroom resources on core journalism.
The final event in October, themed "Overcoming," was among the series' best—and I've witnessed most of them.
But this didn’t turn out to be a sunset or setback for live storytelling in Des Moines. Instead, we’re now on the cusp of a new growth phase in local, live storytelling—and you can get involved.
‘Tell It Like It Is’ takes up the storytelling baton
The community is rallying to revive the series. Lee Rood, a veteran investigative reporter and columnist at the Register, helped to broker a new arrangement in which Hoyt Sherman itself, in partnership with the Register, will become the producer for a relaunched and rebranded version of the series: “Tell It Like It Is: Iowa Storytellers Project.”
The first event is scheduled for Sept. 9 at Hoyt Sherman Place, featuring five storytellers each presenting a 10-minute story on the theme "Back to School." I’ve signed up to coach one of the stories as part of how the series is embracing involvement from across the community.
Aspiring storytellers can apply by emailing a brief description of their story to stories@hoytsherman.org by July 13.
If that theme doesn’t inspire you, you could instead apply for one of these other upcoming themes (event dates TBD):
"Hearts on Fire"
"Search & Rescue"
"Voyages"
Of course, Des Moines isn’t inventing something new here—storytelling is an ancient practice stretching back to our primitive ancestors huddled around campfires.
In a more modern context, a variety of threads led up to today’s storytelling scene:
Since its founding in 1997, nonprofit “The Moth” may be the most famous and widespread source of live storytelling through its tens of thousands of stories staged worldwide. It also produces a podcast and radio show heard across hundreds of stations.
Another nonprofit, StoryCorps, founded in 2003, has recorded conversations with more than 700,000 people nationwide, airing many of them on National Public Radio while also preserving the recordings in the U.S. Library of Congress.
“Stories from the Stage” airs on PBS.
The original inspiration for Des Moines Storytellers came from another Gannett-owned newsroom in Phoenix, where a storytelling series was founded in 2011 to celebrate Arizona’s centennial of statehood. The creator and curator built up the series beyond that initial occasion and eventually helped Gannett roll out similar series to about two dozen other newsrooms—Des Moines among the first. Each local series developed its own flavor. The creator in Phoenix, Megan Finnerty, left Gannett in 2022 but remains a storytelling consultant.
I’m unsure whether Des Moines is unique in making this transition from Des Moines Storytellers to the Iowa Storytellers Project. But there are other examples of strong local cultures of storytelling:
“The Narrators,” a monthly storytelling series in Denver, Colorado, launched in 2010.
“Story Story Night” in Boise, Idaho, also began in 2010.
The American School of Storytelling was established in 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The International Storytelling Center in Jonesboro, Tennessee, supports an annual National Storytelling Festival dating back to 1973.
Is there a storytelling series or city I’m overlooking? What has inspired you about the experience of live storytelling, whether as a listener or teller? Leave a comment.
‘Back to School’ marks a new beginning
Tickets for “Back to School” on Sept. 9 cost $20 apiece, benefitting Hoyt Sherman Place Foundation, plus $1 per ticket helping to fund journalism interns at the Register. (Each event will designate a specific charity to receive a portion of proceeds.)
The modest ticket price highlights that live storytelling isn’t typically a big moneymaker, but Hoyt Sherman’s dual role as venue and producer should offer economic sustainability for the long term.
And wouldn’t it be wonderful to grow Des Moines into more of a storytelling capital, building on our (admittedly somewhat distant) legacy of public education, literacy, and civil discourse?
At the very least, isn’t it reassuring to support an event where mere words, without pyrotechnics or any other type of glitz, keep an audience enrapt for an entire evening?
If you’re looking for an example of uplifting discourse in the public square and a forum that unites rather than divides, I daresay this fits the bill. Kudos to the Hoyt Sherman Staff, Rood, and all the other journalists and community members involved in this revival.
See you at Hoyt for the next step toward Des Moines becoming a storytelling capital.
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