Jane Green is a wonderful author. She’s written 19 novels, has over 10 million books in print, and been published in more than 30 languages.
Our Westport neighbor is as gifted a storyteller in person as she is in print. For years she entertained book tour audiences with her tale of cooking dinner for Hugh Grant.
Jane Green
The Moth — the wildly successful radio show and podcast featuring real people telling true stories — heard about Green’s routine. They chatted a bit, before deciding it was not quite right for The Moth. They asked if she had another story to tell.
She did. It was about her middle-aged head being turned by the attention of a handsome younger man. First told at Cooper Union, “Greener Grass” (clever name!) was wildly successful. It’s been heard more than a million times.
Which got Green thinking: Why not bring The Moth to Westport?
A longtime supporter of the Westport Country Playhouse — and one-time board member — Green always looked for programs appealing to young audiences. She’d helped bring a “Hamilton” singalong, David Bowie tribute and Lisa Lampanelli play to the fabled stage.
The Moth was a natural next project.
Which is why next Friday (January 25, 7:30 p.m.), 5 great storytellers will bring The Moth to the Westport Country Playhouse.
Well, 4 great storyteller. Plus me.
I can’t believe I’ll be standing up there with Green herself; Alistair Bane, a Shawnee who makes dance regalia, paints and rehabilitates feral reservation dogs; Henia Lewin, a Lithuanian instructor of Hebrew and Yiddish, and Trina Michelle Robinson of San Francisco, who explores memory through video, archival materials and text.
Not quite the Westport Country Playhouse. But close.
I tell stories every day on “06880.” I can type a tale in my sleep.
But performing as a Moth storyteller is waaaaay different.
I’ll join 4 experienced folks — including a woman who has done this before, and written 17 New York Times bestsellers.
And — oh yeah — the Moth Radio Hour is heard on more than 475 stations. The podcast is downloaded a million times each week.
But I’m ready. I might rock it — or bomb.
Either way, for the rest of my life I’ll have one more intriguing story to tell.
(For more information and tickets, click here.)