Hi, this is Janna! I produce and host Here Chicago and I write these recap articles. You can see my little sign-off at the bottom of each one. I usually speak briefly and in the general We here, to keep the focus on others and convey the collective nature of these events. But I’d like to share a bit of my own experience of last night’s show, and so for this one, I shall be I, and you shall have to scroll down a bit for photos. ;)
First things first: last night’s Audience Favorite open-mic teller was Anthony Vasquez, with everyone else in a tight race for second! Congratulations, Anthony. We hope you will come back to feature with us in December!
This 2019 Summer Edition of Here Chicago took place on one of the lovely stages at Stage773, which had a hyper-realistic set for a sterile hotel conference room that makes our pics look like they’re all taken in the surreally suburban 1980’s, which is odd and great! The setting was fun and weird, and made for a feeling that we were pulling off some shenanigans inside of a formal hotel conference room.
When I invite people to tell a story at this show, I encourage them to trust their intuition when selecting the stories they’ll share. Rather than dictating a theme for their stories, I invite them to bring us a story that just FEELS like it wants to be told. Any subject matter and all emotional tones are welcome. One of the lovely results of this approach is watching our themes emerge during the show. These themes are always better than anything I could’ve assigned.
I use curation as an opportunity to trust my own creative intuition. I invite people to feature at Here Chicago who I meet in professional contexts, in shows, at conferences, on the bus, in Lyfts, through friends, in digital space, and in the classes I teach. I have general rules about the make-ups of line-ups– they should include people with a broad range of ages, genders, orientations, cultural & professional backgrounds. But that part is just math. The art part is getting to trust my own instincts about people, and inviting folks I think it will be a gift for you to hear from.
With all this intuitive choice-making at play, I always like seeing how life conspires to make something surprising. And last night it all worked out beautifully. The intertwining themes of the stories, and the balance of souls in the room… both our invited tellers and our open-mic tellers, and my graceful co-host Ana Diaz, and the people who came to listen and share food and their generous attention… was so complimentary, so solid, so quality that I was a little bit dazzled. It feels great to be in alignment with a creative flow, and to be in it with others.
Another special thing about last night was numbers. Prior to this season’s show, we got some big coverage in local media outlets, including a mention in a feature article in The Reader about Live Lit, written by Ian Belknap. We had more audience interaction leading up to the event than we have had, ever. 600+ opens of our quarterly invitation, in contrast to the usual 300-400 opens. Word of mouth was also pretty buzzy… lots of people asking me about the show this month, saying they’d come, and were looking forward. So, I was honestly expecting a massive crowd.
As it turned out, it was the smallest crowd we’d ever had! 40-50 people were in the room, in contrast to the usual 100+. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing. For me, the most surprising thing was that I didn’t mind. Usually I feel stressed when I’ve invited people to donate their time and talent on a Sunday night and we don’t fill the space for them. I work real hard on publicity, and give most of our seats away for free to folks bringing potluck dishes. Because of the free seats, there’s no profit in the show, but that is part of the deal. The event isn’t for making a profit. It’s just for being together. So when I open the house and see a line stretching into the lobby, I love it. And when I don’t, I can get really nervous.
But last night, I didn’t feel nervous at all. I was a little bit when we first opened the doors and no one was there waiting, and as people trickled in slowly. But pretty soon, I felt something with me that I want to always be with me. Which was a comfort in knowing that whoever is in the room, is exactly who the show is for. However many or few. And this feeling of wholeness and rightness was one of my favorite things about the night. A lot of people gave each other long hugs, and laughed loud and exchanged numbers after the show. A lot of people said the evening changed them. It changed me, too, and I’m grateful.
My other favorite things were the delicious potluck dishes people brought to feed each other, the kindness of our volunteers, and the skillful, beautiful, funny, powerful, heartfelt stories people told. I was amazed by the stories. I am still amazed. Elizabeth Komos, Nicole Frier, Azka Sharief, Michael Greenbaum, Rick Bolnick, Italz, Perfecto Diaz, Linda Eisenberg, Le Zhong and Anthony Vasquez told fantastic stories. Each story taught me, moved me, inspired me, made me laugh and cry. (Oh and edit!: here is Azka Sherif’s email address for anyone who would like to send her fan mail. She greatly appreciates it. :) AzkasWish@gmail.com)
If you were there, I hope you got to be changed, too. And if you weren’t there, We invite you to listen to the podcast when it’s up on this article in a couple of days. Thanks to Matt Fleming, who recorded the show and produces the podcast, it will be here.
Thanks again to Ana Diaz for hosting with me, to Mary Cait Walthall and Andi Pearl and Lin Zhou and Ming Gao for making the night run. And thanks-over-thanks to Eric Stassen, who so beautifully photographed the event. Please have a look:
It was so good. Please join us on December 15th for another good one.
<3 janna
Here, Chicago on December 15th
Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont
7:30 potluck | 8pm show
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