Join us for StorySALOON
StorySALOON Live is your mid-week creative fix— three short stories by award-winning and emerging writers, narrated by Australia’s most talented actors. We bring you short stories that will make you laugh, keep you hooked, and make you think. If you can’t see it live on stage, listen to the weekly StorySALOON Podcast.
StorySALOON Live
at The Vanguard, Newtown
$25 + Booking fee
SOLD OUT
We launch with three riveting short stories. ‘Tinder Date’, ‘Octopus’ and ‘Protocols of Transference’, brought live to stage by Zoe Carides, Taofia Pelesasa and Dakotah Love.
‘Tinder Date’, by Sydney fiction and travel writer Monique Choy. Narrated by the immensely talented Zoe Carides, whose TV and film career includes Death in Brunswick, the Netflix TV drama Pieces of Her and thriller Interceptor, Top of The Lake, Rake, Pieces of Her, Brilliant Lies, and Mystery Road.
‘Octopus’, by Nic Low, Melbourne writer of Ngāi Tahu Maori/European heritage, with narration by Western Sydney actor and creative powerhouse, Taofia Pelesasa, whose recent roles include Comedy Central’s SIS, Stan’s C*A*U*G*H*T, and the ABC’s The Messenger.
‘Protocols of Transference’, by Nyungar writer and technologist Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker, and introducing 2024 NIDA grad and proud First Nations artist of the Anēwan mob to read the story, Dakotah Love.
Hosted by Jane Messer
APRIL 1, 2025
MAY 6, 2025
Three wickedly good stories. ‘Aitu’, ‘GPS’ and ‘Baggage Claim’, performed by Chris Alosio, Jules Billington and Monica Sayers.
‘Aitu’ is a breakout story by emerging NT Samoan/Australian writer Oliver Coulter. Narrated by rising star Chris Alosio, acclaimed for his roles in the Netflix series, Surviving Summer, and feature films Talk to Me, Next Goal Wins and Fighting Season.
With ‘GPS’, short story queen Cate Kennedy shines again. Narrated by Jules Billington, whose film and television work includes Buckley’s Chance starring Bill Nighy, and iconic queer Australian feature films Ellie & Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt), and All About E, along with TV and theatre roles with Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, and La Boite.
‘Baggage Claim’ by Paddy O’Reilly, multi-award winning Melbourne short story writer and novelist. ‘Baggage Claim’ is narrated by proud Chinese Australian Monica Sayers, well known for her roles in TV dramas including The Messenger, Rake, Love My Way, and stage work with Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir and MTC. (Also, she adds, ‘countless commercials.’)
Hosted by Jane Messer
JUNE 3, 2025
Mood board for this show’s three stories: Laughter, Tears, Awe. ‘In Disguise- Lying Low’, two exquisite flash fictions, and ‘Singing My Sister Down’.
It was hard to choose just one story from Anne Casey-Hardy’s brilliant debut collection, Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls. ‘In Disguise- Lying Low’ is narrated by 2024 NIDA grad and comic wiz, Esha Jessy.
We present two of Gillian O’Shaughnessy’s exquisite flash fictions, ‘In This Tale of a Suburban Tiger, the Part of the Mother is Played by a Bird’ and ‘1989’. Monica Sayers returns to StorySALOON to tell the tales, briefly.
‘Singing My Sister Down’ is amongst Margo Lanagan’s most affecting short stories. This internationally awarded short story is narrated by the extraordinarily talented Paul Capsis, one of Australia’s most versatile theatre, cabaret, film and television performers. Capsis has worked with leading theatre companies in Australia, and internationally in Vienna, Hong Kong, London, Edinburgh and New York.
Hosted by Jane Messer
StorySALOON Podcast
Tune in to the StorySALOON Podcast — recorded live at the show. Bonus episodes feature deep-dive conversations with authors and actors.
FAQ's
StorySALOON tickets are available at the door, but it’s a gamble. We suggest you buy tickets in advance through The Vanguard or Moshtix online tickets sales. Online sales close at 4pm on the show date. $25 + booking fees.
Each show is approximately 1. 5 hours, 7-8.30pm, with an interval midway.
Podcast episodes drop the week following each event. Available on Spotify & Apple.
We’re building a new cultural event for Sydney and Australia via our podcast. We welcome donations large and small. Donations over $2 are tax deductible via the Australian Cultural Fund.
The stories have been published in online and print literary journals and book anthologies. Some stories are free to read, others you’ll need to access through your public/university library or Australian bookstore.
APRIL
‘Tinder Date’ by Monique Choy, in Soak: UTS Writers' Anthology, Brio Books, 2023.
‘Octopus’ by Nic Low, in Arms Race, Text Publishing, 2014.
Protocols of Transference’ by Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker, in This All Come Back Now: An anthology of First Nations speculative fiction, ed Mykaela Saunders, UQP, 2022.
MAY
Oliver Coulter, ‘Aitu’, Going Down Swinging, Nov 2022.
Cate Kennedy, ‘GPS’, in South of the Sun: Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century, Australian Fairy Tale Society, 2021.
Paddy O’Reilly, ‘Baggage Claim’, in Overland, Issue 231, 2018.
JUNE
Anne Casey-Hardy, ‘In Disguise, Lying Low’, in Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls, Simon & Schuster, 2022.
Gillian O’Shaughnessy, ‘In This Tale of a Suburban Tiger, the Part of the Mother is Played by a Bird’, Splonk, Issue 8
Gillian O’Shaughnessy, ‘1989’, Aniko Press, March 2023.
Margo Lanagan, ‘Singing My Sister Down’, in Singing My Sister Down and Other Stories, Allen & Unwin, 2017.
Acknowledgement of Country
StorySALOON acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders as the first storytellers of this land. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, as we create, perform and listen on unceded Gadigal land.