Main Street Story Slam

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courtesy Tyson Purcell

A man with a mic on stage.

Tyson Purcell

media release: Local business owner/operators Elizabeth and Dan Donoghue are excited to announce the premiere of Main Street Story Slam; a monthly Story Slam competition at Kickback Café in Oregon, hosted by local storyteller & stand-up comic Tyson Purcell. The event is an open mic event with each storyteller being given five minutes to perform their true life story from memory with a winner being selected by a panel of guest judges.

The theme on Oct. 8 is: "SURPRISE!" Everyone is welcome to sign up to tell a true story from their life in 5 minutes or less—from funny to heartfelt, Kickback Cafe is a place for all stories. Sign up starts at 7:30 pm.

"We've always wanted to bring unique events to Oregon's downtown" said Elizabeth Donoghue.

"We have a list of ideas that we wanted to pursue but didn't have the time to produce—we were thrilled when Tyson came on board with the ability to produce shows here" said Dan Donoghue.

Tyson Purcell, who holds a day job as a special education paraprofessional in Oregon moonlights at Kickback Cafe.

"Kickback is an excellent place to work—I'mneurodiverse and their inclusive company culture is flexible—so pitching different types of events to Elizabeth and Dan is encouraged" said Purcell.

The opportunity to produce performance art and spoken word shows is a perfect fit for Purcell who has aspirations of performing stand-up comedy and storytelling in the future.

"I will also produce stand-up comedy shows here, but to start, I feel that a story slam event the community can participate in is the best first step for introducing Kickback Cafe as a venue for special events" explained Purcell.

Purcell is no novice when it comes to producing Indie performance art, having created and hosted shows throughout the area since 2018. As a storyteller, Purcell shines, and is one of the finalists in The Moth GrandSLAM at the Barrymore Theater in Madison coming later in October.