About the Stoop
The Stoop Storytelling Series is a popular event in Baltimore in which 7 people get 7 minutes each to tell a true, personal tale on a shared theme in front of a live audience.
Since its founding in 2006, The Stoop has featured the stories of more than 450 Baltimoreans onstage. These stories are now available on its web site and podcast, and are frequently aired on local public radio station WYPR-FM.
Guided by the motto, "Everyone has a story. What's yours?", The Stoop's mission is to showcase the extraordinary stories of "ordinary" people. We believe strongly that sharing a true, personal tale is an act of witness that offers empowerment to the storyteller, and enlightenment, inspiration, insight—and entertainment!—to the listener.
In addition to its mainstage shows in the 540-seat Pearlstone Theater at Center Stage, The Stoop presents a yearly show at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, offers storytelling workshops, and runs a popular bar series called "Second Stoop."
Laura Wexler, Producer and Co-host
Laura Wexler is the author of Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America (Scribner, 2003),
and her writing appears in various magazines and newspapers. She's a senior editor at Style Magazine and teaches creative writing at Goucher College and Johns Hopkins.
She is also Jessica Henkin’s straight man.
Jessica Henkin, Producer and Co-host
Jessica Henkin has a master's degree in special education from Johns Hopkins and serves as a Special Education Liaison with the Baltimore City Public School Early Learning Programs.
She's passionate about her family, autism education, Baltimore City, keeping her house clean, finding most things funny—and, of course, storytelling.
You can also see her onstage with the Baltimore Improv Group.
Stoop Storytelling Podcast
All Stoop stories are available via our podcast.