When The Adams Theater put out a call in the winter of 2026 for stories about a mistake, regret, loss, or other pivotal moment that required vulnerability and courage, applications from Berkshire residents flooded in. Over forty community members felt moved to share their experiences with the beautiful messiness of being human. From that pool of applicants, eight new storytellers and one Berkshires StorySlam veteran were selected.

​

Before the main event, these nine local storytellers will participate in a workshop and coaching with award-winning storytellers Travis Lee Russ and Sarah Schlossberg of Life Jacket Theater Company in New York. Russ, Life Jacket’s director and a Fordham University professor who teaches communication, narrative and storytelling, says he’s returning to the Berkshires because he finds it exciting to help community members shape their deeply honest stories– “It’s thrilling to watch people be this vulnerable onstage. There’s something about when you come together as an audience and watch people let their guard down and speak their truth. It creates a sense of community and a strong bond within everyone in that room.”

 

Yina Moore, Founder and Artistic Director of Adams Theater is thrilled to continue the collaboration with Life Jacket Theatre, explaining, “Life Jacket Theatre is a gem that not only creates groundbreaking theatre work, but also invests deeply in uncovering authentic stories from often-overlooked communities. We had such a good experience working with Life Jacket in the inaugural Berkshires StorySLAM last year that we want to amplify our community’s voices this year by expanding the production to two venues. By giving our storytellers an even bigger stage, we are celebrating the beautifully messy, shared human experiences that bring us all closer.”

 

As one of the primary missions of the Adams Theater is to collaborate with regional partners, this year’s StorySlam will also be part of Summer at the ’62 Center, which is a summer performance series running June 15 through August 29, 2026, featuring more than 30 days of theatre, dance, music, film, and community events at Williams College’s ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance.