About

Open yourself up to tell a story, and you guide people through your world. Step outside yourself to listen to a story, and you benefit from walking around in another point of view.

Share in the community of personal narrative with A Guide to Visitors.

Our mission is to provide the best possible curated storytelling show in Seattle.
When we say the best, we mean:

  • A high quality performance with accessibly priced tickets.
  • A safe, respectful, supportive and inclusive space for tellers to perform their stories.
  • An excellent experience for our audience.

 

Every other month, A Guide To Visitors presents a curated selection of real life stories.

We reach out to potential tellers form all around the Seattle area, gather their story pitches, and sift through them for the ones that best fit the theme for an upcoming show. We then work directly with each of the chosen tellers to give them any feedback or guidance they might need before bringing their story to the stage.

On the night of the show you can expect to share in the adventures, triumphs, joy, despair, and every day heroism that makes up the lives and memories of people in your community.

 

A Little History

A Guide To Visitors is the brain child of Dave Snyder and Jeannie Yandel who met as producers for the once nationally syndicated Rewind from National Public Radio. One night over drinks, Dave told Jeannie about this great television show he saw on some obscure digital cable channel – where people got up on stage and told their own personal stories.  No scripts, no actors, no costume design or dramaturgy. Just straight-up, first person narrative.  It was a show put on by an NYC outfit called The Moth.  Dave lamented that there was nothing that cool in Seattle.  Jeannie drank the rest of her beer and said, “Well, why don’t we do a show like that then?”

AGTV did its first show, “Rites Of Passage”, at the Rendezvous in February 2002.  And the rest, as they say, is history.