Duke City Story Slam
About
Duke City Story Slam is Albuquerque’s only story slam (friendly storytelling competition). An accessible event including both Featured Tellers and Open Mic-ers telling true personal stories bi-monthly. Prizes are given to all tellers, with Canteen gift certificates awarded to the top scoring Featured and Open Mic Tellers. Plus, an audience raffle for admission to a future DCSS event!
Featured Tellers are recruited ahead of time and are provided with story crafting support and a rehearsal before the slam. They get 10-minutes on the mic to tell their story, along with a small stipend.
Open Mic Tellers can prep their story beforehand or spontaneously put their name in the hat at the mic for a chance to tell their 5-minute true story on that month’s theme. We often discover future featured tellers from open mic tellers.
Inspiration: “When people’s stories are recognized, it does something: It creates a possibility.” (John A. Powell)
Our Team: We regret to announce that our popular Emcee and co-producer, Swim Karim, is moving out of state for personal reasons. He said farewell to DCSS at the July 9th event. We will miss Swim, thank him profoundly for his visionary embodiment of the emcee role, and wish him the very best!
Sarah Malone, DCSS Producer, is a founding member of our parent nonprofit, Storytellers of New Mexico, and an enthusiastic supporter of DCSS since its inception in 2018. Many thanks to our professional coach, Barry Simon, formerly of popular Liar’s Game. We acknowledge Dianne Rossbach, STNM treasurer, for her steadfast presence at each event at the gate, Tom Rich for managing sound, and welcome Paulina Przystupa, as a new member of the production team.
We welcome guest emcee, Marvin Cotton, for the September 10th DCSS event. Marvin is a former open mic and featured teller on the DCSS stage and is enthusiastic about stepping into this role in September as guest emcee. Welcome Marvin!
See calendar for upcoming theme or email us, links below, if you have a story you would like to tell.
NOW ON YOUTUBE! Check out recent DCSS storytellers on the Storytellers of New Mexico YouTube channel. Click HERE.
event details
When:
DCSS is a bi-monthly event occurring on the 2nd Tuesday of every January, March, May, July, September and November. 6-8 PM
Storytelling guidelines:
True Story
Your Story
No notes, props, or music
No -isms will be tolerated
Storytelling, not stand-up
Storytelling, not therapy
Stay within the time limit
DCSS teller, Kory Chandler, at Tellabration in November 2024
DCSS teller, Chris Fulcher, at Tellabration in November 2024
pitch a featured story
Want a guaranteed spot at a future slam, more time on the mic, and support putting your story together? Pitch a Featured Story! Email a brief description of your story concept on a future theme to DCSS Co-Producer, Sarah Malone (contact info below). If you have a great story that doesn’t fit a current theme, pitch it and we may be able to create a theme it’ll work for.
enter the open mic
It’s as easy as showing up! Put your name in the hat when you get to the slam for a chance to get it pulled out in one of the two open mic rounds. There are four open mic slots every slam. You can prep a 5-min story for a future slam or just tell it off the cuff! But remember - your story should have an arc; a beginning, middle, and end.