“Think The Moth meets Antiques Road Show,” says Writer/Producer David Wayne Reed of Shelf Life.
Shelf Life is a bi-monthly live ‘show and telling’ event featuring an array of unique objects from the region and the stories behind them. At each Shelf Life event, there will be six objects and storytellers featured. Each teller has 7-10 minutes to share a story based on, featuring, or inspired by the object that they bring with them.
Storytellers are curated from an open call submission and are selected to tell a story inspired by, or featuring an object within the context of the events chosen theme (Winning, Election, Unwanted Gifts). The storytellers range generations, professions, and cultures thus providing a vast range of personalities, objects, and perspectives.
“I share stories in order to connect to something larger than myself. I write because I love to listen and I perform so I know I’m not alone. As a playwright, I create dialogue. Shelf Life is a way of connecting with audiences directly and asking them to share in the dialogue. This stems from my one-man show, Jolly Rancher, and how my first person narrative invited people to share their own stories. I found that by sharing the personal aspects of myself I opened up more universal themes. I discovered that through the craft of storytelling that I can not only describe community, but also expand it.”
“I laughed, cried, was inspired, and went away with new definitions of courage. Shelf Life is a thoughful, erudite concept which I believe won’t take long to find a much wider audience.”
“Adult show and tell is AWESOME!!! Great theme and the stories were first class!!!”
David Wayne Reed’s Shelf Life tears down walls, one story at a time – The Pitch, Feb. 2017
Hear David Wayne Reed discuss Shelf Life on KCUR’s Central Standard
David Wayne Reed is a playwright, director, producer and actor from Kansas City, MO. Plays include: Help Yourself, Jolly Rancher, Mother Trucker, Mother Trucker 2: Ride On, Peggy and Paul at the Post Office in Provincetown, and Sequoia. As an actor, he has appeared at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, Kansas City Rep, Unicorn Theatre, Fishtank Performance Studio, The Living Room, Late Night Theatre and Seaside Repertory Theatre. Reed is a founding member of Late Night Theatre and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He has been awarded two Inspiration Grants from the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and has won multiple Best of Awards from the Pitch Weekly.
