One of my favorite things to do is watch stand-up comedy -- especially when it's funny because it's true. After working as a paralegal in family law for ten years, I have realized real life really is stranger than fiction. And in San Francisco, there's a woman named Dixie De La Tour who feels the same way about real life stories as they relate to sex and gender.
Dixie's show, Bawdy Storytelling, is, "a monthly storytelling event in San Francisco that features real people sharing their bona fide sexual exploits in 10 minutes or less. Storytellers are an eclectic mix of authors, poets, comedians, and actors -- along with real people just like you who have submitted their stories online and were chosen for their panache and sense of misadventure." I have seen Dixie perform her own stories at other venues, and I know just how funny she is and what an incredible storyteller she is. She has a great eye for talent, too: she curates, coaches and sets the themes for each show, and her expertise results in performers who are high energy novices and skilled storytellers, all at once.
Apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates what Bawdy Storytelling brings to the stage, as Yale has invited the show to perform later this week. Bawdy Storytelling will be kicking off Yale Sex Week with an evening performance on Friday, February 3rd. Dixie will also be teaching a sex and storytelling workshop to the students at Yale during her visit, and then will return to San Francisco to produce Bawdy's Five Year Anniversary show at its new home, the Verdi Club. The storytellers onstage on Saturday, February 18th will be a 'Best Of' line-up as voted in by the general public.
Dixie's taking Bawdy Storytelling on a tour of the country this year, and Bawdy's Dirty Minds Tour will be bringing true dirty storytelling to brand new cities in the very near future -- they'll be performing with local and San Francisco storytellers in San Diego on Saturday, February 25th and Portland on Sunday, March 11th. Bawdy Storytelling has been to Los Angeles with faces like Nina Hartley, Carol Queen, and Reid Mihalko, and has featured storytellers like Stephen Elliott, Jamye DeWolf, Joe Klocek, Just Morgan and many more locally. The point is to relate to at least one storyteller in each evening of stories, and you usually do. I'm a writer, and I do love hearing stories and comedy told live, so I love this uniquely San Francisco mix of performance and mixer. And if talking to new people intimidates you, you'll find Bawdy is not only highly entertaining but it's a great social event, too. Making new friends is never easier than over a shared laugh.
You can go to www.BawdyStorytelling.com for more information about Bawdy's local monthly shows in San Francisco and Oakland: note that each show has a theme ('Butch/Femme,' 'And I never saw that person again,' 'Geeksexual,' etc.), and if you've always wanted to get onstage and tell a true story from your (sex) life but have never found the right audience for it, you can check upcoming themes and contact Dixie to pitch her your story at Dixie@BawdyStorytelling.com. If performing isn't your thing, you'll still find yourself sitting in the audience laughing, gasping for air, and at times crying when someone shares their very private firsts and foibles onstage. It's not just laughter Dixie is after from her audience -- Bawdy educates while it entertains. From stories about people being sent to 'Behavior Modification' (un-gay) camp, visiting their first sex party or deciding to open up their marriage, you'll see things through the eyes of the person onstage while realizing we're all pretty much the same -- we just make different decisions in our sexuality.