frequent asked questions

What makes 2nd Story different?

We are so lucky - in Chicago and across the country - to have an abundance of storytelling organizations and opportunities. So what makes working with 2nd Story different? Many of the most common questions we receive about time commitment, revisions, collaboration, and process connect back to this answer.

One of 2nd Story’s core values is CRAFT. We deeply believe that well-crafted stories are more impactful, and this impact is critical to us. Our work is rooted in the idea that storytelling can build empathy and connection, and we’ve found that stories resonate most, for artists and audiences, when they’re given time, care, and attention.

Because of this commitment to Craft, we are not an organization where you write a story and then show up to perform. 

The questions below walk through both the submission process and what happens if your story is selected, including timelines, time commitment, the show process, and compensation.

  • 2nd Story has an annual submissions drive where we solicit potential stories for our upcoming season. Very generally, submissions open at the end of the calendar year for a season that will kick off the following September. Our season runs September - June (like a theatre season or a school year.) 

    Once submissions close, we gather all of the stories and sit down with the 2nd Story Artistic Company to read through every story. Each story is read by a minimum of 4 people.

    If we’d like to consider your story for our upcoming season, we will contact you about setting up an audition, which typically takes place in the spring of each year. 

  • Once storytellers are scheduled for a show, you’ll enter our story development process - we also refer to  this as the curation process -  which typically begins about four months before your performance date.

    • Each show features 3–4 storytellers, usually a mix of new tellers, experienced tellers, and company members.

    • You’ll work closely with a 2nd Story curator and your group, spending several months writing, revising, and refining your story. Even if you enter the process with a finished draft, you’ll be encouraged to stay curious, explore new directions, and deepen your piece.

    • About a month prior to the performance, you’ll shift your focus from writing to preparing for the performance. You’ll collaborate with a director and musician/sound designer to make your story performance-ready.

    We’re excited to guide you through a process rooted in care, craft, and collaboration.

  • The story development and rehearsal process is approximately a 4-month commitment consisting of 6-10 meetings and rehearsals. We ballpark it at ~25 hours of meeting time over that 4-month period, plus whatever time you spend writing/revising. Many of those meetings happen virtually (over Zoom), with more happening in person as we get close to the show itself. 

    It is required that you participate in this process in order to perform with 2nd Story.

    We are a collaborative bunch, and our work really emphasizes the importance of stories in conversation as well as the value of the outside eye in the development of personal narrative work.

  • Storytellers selected for a show work closely with a small group of fellow tellers (the group they’ll be performing with) and a curator (the person who shepherds the writing process) to develop their stories over time. They’ll spend roughly four months prior to the show with this small group.

    The group will meet a few times for story development meetings (or as we call them, curation meetings.) At these meetings, each teller gets a chance to read through the draft of their story, talk through their ideas, and gather insights and questions from the other tellers and the curator. Therefore, even if a storyteller is coming in with a fully written story (maybe something they submitted, or a piece that they’ve performed/published elsewhere), we’ll ask you to stay curious at these meetings, and to incorporate feedback and questions into your drafts over the process. This is one of the ways that we put our value of CRAFT into practice—as artists, we are continually engaged in the process, listening for new directions to explore, scenes to flesh out, different ways we might make a story come alive and connect with a listener.  

    As we get closer to the performance date, storytellers then work with a director to hone their performances. Depending on the show, we will often bring in sound designers or live musicians to accompany your story as a final part of the process. 

  • Yes! Regardless of whether we are able to offer you an audition, we will notify you either way. Every note, whether or not it includes an audition offer, comes with feedback about your story. We’re writers too!

  • At 2nd Story, we believe that art is work and that artists should be appropriately compensated for that work. Our budget is a statement of our values, and our budget says, in explicit terms, that we value artists.

    2nd Story compensates all of its artists. Storyteller stipends are based on an approximate number of hours at an hourly rate. As of spring 2026, 2nd Story is currently paying performing artists $20/hour, so a storyteller writing a new story is receiving a stipend of $500. For more details, please see our Pay Equity Policy.