Story District will celebrate the holiday season on December 17, 2022, with It’s a Wonderful Life, featuring heartwarming true stories told live at Union Stage.
The one-night-only event will feature first-person stories inspired by classic holiday movies like It’s a Wonderful Life. This classic 1943 film touches on themes that have particular resonance during these pandemic years: family, connection, giving, and a little bit of Scrooge. Story District plans to use true stories to reconnect the District with the enduring lessons of the holiday season — “No man is a failure who has friends.”
Story District Artistic Executive Director Amy Saidman says the It’s a Wonderful Life movie is “so dated, but it’s one I watched many times during the holidays, and somehow, I still tear up at the end when the community comes together to rescue George before he’s taken to jail.” This sentimental reaction inspires the true stories that Story District now presents live.
Story District’s It’s a Wonderful Life will perform on December 17, 2022, at Union Stage, located at The Wharf, 740 Water Street SW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($25) are on sale at storydistrict.org/tickets/wonderful. (Appropriate for ages 15+.)
COVID Safety: Union Stage requires proof of vaccination. See the policy here.
Story District teaches and showcases the art of true, first-person storytelling to inspire, connect, and build a community of diverse voices within the Washington, DC, region and beyond. Through the love of storytelling, Story District creates opportunities for people to deepen a sense of meaning, belonging, and connection to common humanity.
Named the “gold standard” in storytelling by The Washington Post, Story District reaches an audience of more than 12,000 patrons, 200 aspiring storytellers, and 300 adult learners every year through its performances, classes, free coaching, consulting, and a podcast.
For more information about Story District, to view the class calendar, or to buy tickets to upcoming shows, go to storydistrict.org/.
ABOUT STORY DISTRICT
Story District is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching and showcasing the art of autobiographical storytelling to inspire, connect, and build a community of diverse voices within the Washington, DC, region and beyond.
BACKGROUND
Story District birthed the storytelling “scene” in the region and has given close to 5000 people the opportunity to develop and share their stories in front of an eager audience. In 1997, Washington Storytellers Theatre hosted its first storytelling open mic for DMV locals to share stories on stage. The monthly event was called The Speakeasy, which became SpeakeasyDC in 2005, and Story District in 2015. By that time, the organization had evolved from a small monthly open mic series to a thriving local arts institution with a vibrant community, extensive educational programming, services for businesses and organizations, and partnerships. For more information, visit storydistrict.org.
ABOUT AMY SAIDMAN
Called the “matriarch of storytelling” by DC Magazine, Amy Saidman (she/her) has been teaching the art of storytelling and producing large and small-scale live storytelling shows in the DMV since 2005 as the Artistic Executive Director of Story District. A storyteller, coach, emcee, podcast host, and consultant herself, Amy has been featured on the cover of The Washington City Paper, profiled in Washington Business Journal and Washington Jewish Week, interviewed on Kojo Nnamdi Show, and nominated for a DCW50 Remarkable Woman award, in addition to receiving multiple artist fellowship awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
SEE ALSO:
Celebrating 25 years, Story District parties on (review of the Story District Birthday Bash on October 1, 2022, by Gwyneth Sholar)