Stage and competition

Although Moth storyslam tellers are volunteers drawn randomly, Ian feels that the competition aspect and the theatrical stage create more of a division between the teller and audience than at Carapace:

I think that if there’s a competition going,

and it’s that more formal setting,

you are the storyteller,

they are the audience.

The audience people are sitting in audience chairs.

It’s not

you sitting at a table

eating a cheeseburger

and then getting up and telling a story

to a bunch of other people sitting at tables eating cheeseburgers

and so forth.

It’s more formally framed as a

performer versus audience,

not versus audience,

performer and audience

type of situation.

He was hesitant to say “performer versus audience” but there can be an antagonistic relationship there. I don’t mind saying it. By combining the stage and the competition, The Moth furthers this connection I see between a hotter stage and greater expectations regarding the performer’s obligation to entertain the audience.