Big Changes for West Side Stories

The nice thing about a story slam is that it’s as portable as people are.

Since Dave and Juliet Pokorny launched it over 10 years ago, West Side Stories – Petaluma’s popular live monthly storytelling competition – has moved a fair number of times, selling out shows and entertaining crowds in art galleries, winery production rooms, outdoor patios and the ballroom at Hotel Petaluma, where it’s been held for the last year or so.

With Dave as host, the show always seems to work, wherever it is, at one point selling out over 60 straight shows before the pandemic silenced the stories for 18 months.

Beginning in January, however, West Side Stories will move one more time, to its new home at the newly-refurbished and just-opened Polly Klaas Community Theater, 131 Howard St. The monthly event, previously held the first Wednesday of the month, will shift to the second Wednesday, with its first show in the new location on January 11, 2023.

But first, there’s the annual Grand Slam extravaganza to be thrown, set to take place at Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. Featuring all of the previous winners from 2022 going head to head and tale to tale one more time, telling 5-minute stories on the theme of Unfinished Business, the show culminates with the audience choosing a first, second and third place winner. Tickets are now on sale, and traditionally, this one sells out by show time.

And that’s not all that’s new for the Pokornys.

Starting last month, their fledgling podcast, “The Story Behind the Story,” in which two storytellers from recent shows sit down with Dave in front of a live audience to share all the details they couldn’t quite squeeze into a five-minute piece, has moved to a new location as well. On the last Wednesday of the month, the podcast is now recorded at Brooks Note Winery, 426 Petaluma Blvd. North. The next show will be taped on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.

For information on all of the West Side Stories shows, and to buy tickets for the Grand Slam and The Story Behind the Story, visit WestSideStoriesPetaluma.com.