Audience invited on stage to share a true personal story

THE Dublin Story Slam is an open-mic competitive storytelling night where members of the audience are invited onstage to share a true personal story inspired by a different theme at each show.

Judges in the audience decide on a Story Slam Champion who is then invited to share a brand new story at The Dublin Story Grand Slam at The Abbey Theatre.

Hosted by Colm O’Regan, this is a laugh-out-loud night full of heartwarming and genuine tales told by ordinary Dubliners with a story to share.

The Dublin Story Slam Summer 2026 event, ‘Community’, takes place in the Civic at 7:30pm on July 8.

Local community groups can avail of a discounted ticket price for the Story Slam by calling Civic Theatre directly on 01 4627477.

Community groups and the general public are also invited to take part in a free storytelling workshop at the Civic Theatre on June 27 from 2-4pm.

For more details, please visit Civictheatre. 

This week, we sat down with producer Julien Clancy to discuss these upcoming events.

What can you tell us about the theme of this edition of the Dublin Story Slam?

For our Tallaght Story Slam in July, we are looking for stories about a time you felt part of a Community.

From growing up in a neighbourhood, a circle of friends, a network at work, a gang in school or even being part of a club – any kind of community, really, where you felt accepted and belonged.

We’d love to hear the story of how you found your community, how they helped you out in a time of need or perhaps how you helped your community come together.

On the night, we’ll have our open mic storytelling competition, where the winner of the night will also go on to take part in our Annual Grand Slam at The Abbey Theatre.

Zero experience is required in public speaking, so anyone who has a Community inspired personal true story can take part.

We’re also hosting a free storytelling workshop on June 27 at the Civic, so even if you only have a spark of an idea for a story, we’d love to see you there.

How did the idea for this particular workshop come to fruition?

In our last few Slams, we had some brilliant stories about growing up in Tallaght and about the brilliant people who live here today. We also noticed the audience was a great mix of young and old, friends and family and even a few community groups who were there for a fun night out. So we wanted to tap into that energy, celebrate the strong sense of community in Tallaght, and use storytelling to strengthen and support it. Whether you want to share a story or just listen to them, everyone is welcome on Wed, July 8, as we find out who our next Story Slam Champion will be, with host Comedian Colm O’Regan.

Our last interview regarding the Dublin Story Slam was when we discussed the ‘Luck’ workshop in March of last year; what has happened with the programme since then?

So we had a Grand Slam that December with two Story Slam Champions from our Tallaght Slam – Sinead Tighe and Brian O’Connor.

The theme was The Gift, and Sinead told a story about her sister and their journey in getting a life-changing diagnosis.

It was so beautifully told, but it was Brian’s story of jumping out of a plane for charity that won on the night.

Both stories, along with the rest of the Grand Slam, are up on our YouTube channel. If you’re looking for a laugh and a lift, then check them out.

Apart from that, we also just worked with a gorgeous group of young people, Freshly Ground Theatre, who took part in a Shared Island Story Exchange for this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg at Rua Red.

They invited down a youth group from Belfast to hang out together for the day and swap neighbourhood stories in a jam-packed day last Saturday.

The Story Slam Champion will be invited to share a brand-new story at the Dublin Story Grand Slam at the Abbey Theatre later this year; can you give any teasers regarding that?

The GrandSlam is always such an incredible highlight every single year – it’s where we invite back 8 Story Slam Champions to The Abbey Theatre to share brand new stories inspired by a brand new theme.

What I love is always seeing the reaction of the storytellers, some of whom had never been on a stage before, arriving at The Abbey to share brand-new stories on the stage of our National Theatre.

It can be a wee bit scary, but it’s great craic too, filling the room with our Story Slam magic!

We’ll be revealing our theme during the Summer but the winner of our Story Slam at the Civic on the 8th will be the last finalist to go through, so it’s very exciting.

Did you ever imagine this programme would have grown so much?

I think we’ve still a lot of growing to do, but it has been so wonderful to be part of something that has created its own story-loving community.

At the last show, we had storytellers travelling from Cork and Clonmel to tell a story with us after some Dublin friends suggested it.

The Slam before that, we had a woman who planned her trip from Australia around taking part in a Slam after listening to the Podcast, so it seems to really connect with people either through word of mouth, online, the Podcast etc. Coming out to the Civic, though, has also really helped us grow and create a new space for local people to come together, so we’re also really proud of that.

We might be turning 10 next year, but it genuinely feels like we’re only getting started.

What else can be expected from Dublin Story Slam in 2026?

We’re working on a new season of The Dublin Story Slam Podcast, and we’ve quite a backlog of stories to go through from the last year.

So that’s the main focus this Summer as well as planning some exciting shows for the 10 year anniversary next year.

We’ll have the Grand Slam at The Abbey in October, but for now it’s all about our Tallaght Slam this July.

Who would you like to thank for helping to make this possible?

A huge thanks to the team at the Civic Theatre – the whole team there are just so great to work with.

They share the same kind of energy and excitement around storytelling that keeps us going, so it’s a match made in heaven!

Also for this Community Slam, a huge thanks to South Dublin County Council and Creative Ireland for their support in helping us put on the Slam and support our community outreach.

We’ll have a special reduced rate for any community centres around Tallaght, so if you’re part of one, get in touch.

Finally, we’d love to thank anyone who’s ever been to a Slam or trusted us enough to tell a story with us onstage.