Real stories, real connection: West Michigan embraces authentic storytelling

In an era overflowing with reality shows, streaming dramas, and endless social feeds, something quieter is happening in West Michigan: people are gathering in real rooms to tell true stories – their own.

No scripts. No filters. Just five to 10 minutes about your experience.

It’s a reminder, says storyteller David Scott Smith, that even in a world obsessed with content, there’s nothing more compelling than connection.

“People are craving something real,” Smith says. “We’ve all been living behind screens for years, watching other people’s versions of life. Storytelling gives us a chance to take the masks off. It’s not performance, it’s presence.”

Smith, a Moth Grand Slam winner who has hosted live storytelling events in Flint, is bringing that presence to Holland this month for a pair of events with the Herrick District Library. On Tuesday, he led a workshop teaching attendees how to craft five-minute stories on the theme of “Holding On,” focusing on when they found something worth fighting for. Then, on Oct. 14, those storytellers will have an opportunity to share their finished pieces live at Bowerman’s on 8th downtown.

For Smith, the goal isn’t entertainment, it’s empathy. 

“When someone stands up and tells a true story, it changes the room,” he says. “You can feel everyone lean in. It’s as if, for a few minutes, we all remember what it means to be human.”

True connection

The surge of interest in live storytelling isn’t about nostalgia, Smith says. It’s about recovery from years of digital overload and pandemic-era isolation.

“We’re surrounded by noise that calls itself connection,” Smith says. “But a like or a comment isn’t the same as sitting in a room, breathing the same air, and hearing someone’s story.”

Raul Alvarez Jr., founder of Unfiltered, the West Michigan storytelling event, agrees. The event returns Oct. 24 with Unfiltered Gen3: Unapologetic Underdogs Unleashed at City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids.

He started Unfiltered after the pandemic as a social experiment, a way to reclaim what he calls “our town square for human interaction.”

“It started with a conversation over drinks,” Alvarez says. “We were just a few friends saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if people got up and told their real stories?’ We didn’t know what to expect. And then it sold out.”

Each Unfiltered event features storytellers from across West Michigan who share true, deeply personal stories – sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest. Alvarez recalls one man who spoke about being incarcerated at 19 and rebuilding his life after prison, and another storyteller who shared what it’s like to raise a child with Down syndrome in the public school system.

“They were so powerful,” Alvarez says. “That’s what we wanted. Stories that dig deep. These aren’t things we talk about in polite conversation. But when you share something raw, people see themselves in it.”

COVID’s effects

Smith and Alvarez say the pandemic changed the way people value human connection.

For Smith, who began hosting his Flint-based Passages storytelling series in the aftermath of COVID-19 shutdowns, the hunger for authenticity was immediate.

“Our first event, people showed up just desperate to talk, to listen, to laugh,” he says. “By the end, no one wanted to leave. They were hugging the storytellers, asking when we’d do it again.”

In Grand Rapids, Alvarez saw something similar. 

“After the first Unfiltered, people stayed for hours,” he says. “We had to practically turn the lights off to get them to go home. They’d just missed being in a space where they could be themselves.”

The noisiest part of the night wasn’t the stories; it was intermission, when people were connecting with each other.

“The best sound in the world is that hum of conversation between sets,” he says. “People talking to strangers, laughing, telling their own stories. That’s what community sounds like.”

Theater series

Holland’s Park Theatre has launched Story Spark: A Moth-Inspired Storytelling Event, which invites anyone to take the stage and share true stories. The latest event on Sunday was inspired by the theme Places We Love.

At the historic downtown venue, board member Robyn Schopp helped start the storytelling series, a monthly event she says gives people space to express themselves and celebrate who they are.

“The Park Theatre is just looking for more ways to provide a space for people in the community to express themselves and share with each other,” Schopp says.

The series has held two events, with a third planned for Dec. 14 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit theater.

Participation is simple. 

“Just show up and sign up,” Schopp says. “It’s first-come, first-served five-minute stories, just like The Moth.”

Schopp says the project responds to a growing need for connection. 

“People have wanted to share but maybe haven’t had the confidence or space to do it,” she says.

The storytelling nights build on the theater’s popular open mic tradition. “We already host a huge open mic every Tuesday,” says Schopp, who took part in the library’s workshop. “This is another way to expand that creative energy.”

Event fits library’s goals

This week’s workshop at Herrick District Library workshop ties directly into its mission of community connection, says the library’s Eileen Button.

“In essence, the library is all about storytelling,” she says. “Whether through books, programs, or personal narratives, we’re helping people connect, learn, and grow together.”

Button says the program’s timing feels right. 

“After a few years where people couldn’t gather, storytelling helps rebuild what we lost,” she says. “It reminds us that even if our lives look different, our emotions are the same.”

What distinguishes live storytelling from today’s culture of “content creation,” Smith and Alvarez say, is its realness.

“We live in an age of curated experiences,” Alvarez says. “Influencers tell stories, but they’re selling something. This is the opposite. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s not about being perfect — it’s about being human.”

Smith adds that storytelling’s power comes from its simplicity. 

“You don’t need a camera, a platform, or a following,” he says. “You just need a memory, a moment, and the courage to share it.”

He recalls one of his recent workshops where a participant arrived unsure what to say. 

“By the end of the night, she was crying,” he says. “She told a story about her father, who had passed away, and said she hadn’t spoken about him out loud in years. The audience cried with her. That’s what storytelling can do. It makes room for emotion in a world that rushes past it.”

Creating a space for sharing

Both storytellers say they’re not trying to build an empire. They’re trying to build spaces where people feel less alone.

Alvarez says Unfiltered has stayed intentionally small and community-based. 

He has also kept it a free event, avoiding a barrier that would keep people from attending and participating. He’s been able to do that because organizers have volunteered their talents and resources. All the speakers also share without compensation. 

“We don’t charge admission,” he says. “Instead, we raise money for local nonprofits. Each event, we pick a cause: food pantries, mental health programs, local shelters. We’ve raised around $1,500 each time. It’s about connection and giving back.”

Smith sees a similar purpose in his work. 

“I think people are looking for something that feels true,” he says. “We can’t always fix the world, but we can listen to each other. Sometimes that’s enough. And once someone tells a story and sees how it lands, how it resonates. They want to tell another one. That’s how it spreads.”

In a world increasingly driven by algorithms, storytelling remains refreshingly analog. It happens in breweries, libraries, and theaters – wherever people gather to share a piece of themselves.

“There’s nothing high-tech about it,” Alvarez says. “That’s why it works. It’s people standing in front of people, telling the truth. No competition. No agenda. Just connection.”

Both men say the payoff for these live events isn’t fame or profit, it’s presence.

“Every time we do one of these shows,” Smith says, “I see people in the audience start to relax. They realize they don’t have to perform. They just have to be. That’s powerful.”