Archive

The Stoop Story Archive contains the true, personal tales shared by thousands of everyday people on our stages since 2006. We’re proud of this amazing collection and invite you to listen, browse by topic or storyteller, check out past shows — and share, share, share.

Story Title	Story Date	Story Description	Story Tags
Justine Barron: The Stoop Ha-Ha Holiday Show	December 11, 2018	It’s a gut-busting buffet of holiday tales — featuring the good, the bad, and the ugly! she and her boyfriend were both ill but managed to get engaged on a train platform on Xmas eve	bronx, city, engagement, illness, parks, rings, subway, walk, weird
Danny Zawodny: The Stoop Ha-Ha Holiday Show	December 11, 2018	It’s a gut-busting buffet of holiday tales — featuring the good, the bad, and the ugly! It was a clear, warm New Year’s Eve night out in the rural farmland of northwest Nicaragua. I tried to fight off the growing discomfort and pain in my stomach,	foreign, language barrier, new year's eve, Nicaragua, outhouse, pants, poop, travel
Stacy Harkum: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Trying to expand the bubble of womanhood, so she can fit inside it too; during college, boys in convertible yelled at her “Fuck you faggot,” but when car got in	misgendered, Towson University, Womanhood
Rahne Alexander: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about transitioning from a strict Mormon background and being called a bull dyke by truckers.	Mormon, sexuality, transgender, truckers
Chaz: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Has been on testosterone for a year, in “second puberty”; played softball when he was younger; was involved with Boy Scouts of America	Boy Scouts, hormones, North Carolina
Justine Barron: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about hooking up with a couple while eating mac and cheese
Angie: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about finding love in her Hampden neighbor
Stephanie Safran: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about helping her young son transition.
Maneesha: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Physician in infectious diseases, recently had first transgender patient – just by being present with patient, it ended up working out	connection, doctor, patient
Kyasue: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Follows tao te ching, went to rehab for overuse of adderall and cocaine; has been separated from modern society — walking in woods; discovered trans body through several failed suicide	drugs, meditation, reincarnation
Matt Mitchell: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Went on a family vacation to Wyoming, rode hose named “Kale”; Wyoming is a place to return to harmony and natural beauty, juxtaposed against conservative environment	horse, midwest, Wyoming
Sarah: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Was a super jock – grew up as a boy, “I could totally pass”; identifies as a “feathery soft butch” — goes back and forth with how she expresses herself	Cecil County, Ceciltucky, Jock
Eli: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about transitioning at a young age, from the child’s perspective
Sonny: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Grew up dressing very girly, trying to fit stereotype — seeking to be something she will never be; now, dresses how she likes — “french dad on a mountain vacation”	french dad, Girly, outfit
Mary Wiltenburg: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Story about leaving her husband for a woman late in life, getting breast cancer, and using it as an opportunity to get breast removal surgery	breast, cancer, divorce, surgery, transgender
Claire French: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. Mom very different from her (opposite end of gender/femininity spectrum); felt like she needed dress like a “woman” at work; after dressing how she actually wanted at work, was passed	jobs, makeup, marketing, promotion
Vanessa: It’s Complicated	November 15, 2018	A Second Stoop show featuring personal tales about the exciting, scary, and fascinating journey of discovering our true selves — and our true desires. Come to tell or listen. From Puerto Rican family, joined the Army, fluidity is not her (she has stayed the same) – it’s more about culture changing around her	breast cancer, military, Puerto Rican
Nevin Baker: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on I met an older woman in World of Warcraft. Moved across the country to live with her. It all went to hell in a hand basket and I stayed in	east coast, mental health, midwest, relationships, sexual assault, teenagers, video games, World of Warcraft
Marc Unger: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on Story about making a Web series about pursuing your dream	Amazon, careers, comedy, library, TV, web
Peggy Oehlmann: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on My mother asked me to be her health care proxy when she was in her late 50s/early 60s. We very frank conversations about what she wanted/didn’t want- she didn’t want	daughter, divorce, gay, kids, living together, mother, sandwich generation, transplant
Heidi Abdelhady: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on I often enter the lives of my patients’ and their families on the worse day of their lives as a critical care physician. At times I’m giving my condolences, while	advanced directive, death, doctor, dying, father, planning, reovery, sick
Maria Falzone: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on I’ve been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer, chemo didn’t work, at the worst I have 4 to 6 mos at the best 12 to 24 mos. I	assisted suicide, california, cancer, comedy, daughter, death, mother, mushrooms, sicilian
Aphonso Mayo: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on story about overcoming obstacles due to poverty and health and being seen for who he is and not the color of his skin/these obstacles	black, college, fatherhood, football, grandmother, grandson, heart surgery, HIV, poverty, Stevenson
Polly Bart: I Did it My Way	November 1, 2018	Click on a photo to hear the storyteller’s tale. The Stoop, in collaboration with Speak(easy) Howard, presents an evening of stories about defining your values, checking off the most epic item on In my late 40’s, I became suicidal for a long, horrible month. A friend intervened and what she said to me which turned it around is the heart of the	community, daughter, friendship, funeral, mother, relationships, suicide, support
Jason Cross: Getting It Wrong	October 25, 2018	It’s an evening of epic goofs when The Stoop presents 7 tales about how we misjudge, misconstrue, and misinterpret ourselves, each other, and the world. This show is presented in Story about unknowingly asking women to have sex with him in Iceland	boy, party, sex, translation

Story Title	Story Date	Story Keywords
Mike Quindlen: Silk Road	June 10, 2016	Man recounts some of the strange things he saw while visiting India. “It’s like being stuck in a Salvador Dali painting, that’s really sweaty after you’ve done two tabs of	grotesque, India, relationships, travel
Mike Quindlen: Stoop Holiday Hootenanny 2024	December 3, 2024
Mike Quindlen: The One That Got Away	September 14, 2023
Mike Ricgliano: Catastrophe!	November 6, 2019	ripped glasses off a mural while doing volunteer work	glasses, mural, volunteer
Mike Ricigliano: Accidents!	January 23, 2014	A guy gets the chance to try out for a game show and in his audition gets so caught up that he hits his partner	competitiveness, game shows, violence
Mike Ricigliano: Accidents!	January 23, 2014	A guy gets the chance to try out for a game show and in his audition gets so caught up that he hits his partner	competitiveness, game shows, violence
Mike Ricigliano: All Stars	May 16, 2024
Mike Ricigliano: Into the Wild	May 30, 2018	Story about losing a bet and having to wear a dress while going on a hike	bet, cross dressing, embarassment, family, game, hike
Mike Ricigliano: My Secret Weapon	November 8, 2012
Mike Ricigliano: Not Throwing Away My Shot	January 19, 2017	A sports cartoonist manages to bring a contentious dummy into a Baltimore football game.	Baltimore, Colts, dummies, football, sports, teams
Mike Ricigliano: Obsessed	November 15, 2022
Mike Ricigliano: Secrets	September 26, 2013
Mike Subelsky: Making Their Mark	November 18, 2016
Mike Subelsky: Scary Stories	October 27, 2006	Story about failing during Navy Seal training week	defecation, male, military, San Diego, Seals, swimming
Mike Subelsky: Taking a Leap	January 6, 2018	Story about how a failture to become a Navy Seal lead to the creation of the Baltimore Improv Group	community, Craigslist, failure, Green Beret, hero, improv, Navy, San Diego, Seal
Mimi Dietrich: First Times
Mirah Ippolito: Illin’	May 12, 2016	Woman fights nausea and discovers anxiety issues.	anxiety, grad school, nausea, pregnancy, strange diagnosis
Miriam Doyle: My Freaky Family	November 16, 2017	Story about menstruating for the first time and mother refused to believe her, Mom leaping in front of Tom Wolfe’s golf cart,	blinking, car crashes, daughters, fatique, JFK jr, menstration, mothers, research, Tom Wolfe
Miriam Greenleaf-Miller – Audience Storyteller: The Stoop Turns Ten!	February 10, 2016
Miriam Greenleaf-Miller: The Stoop Popup at Warby Parker	May 2, 2016
Miriam Tillman at More Room in a Broken Heart: Stories about loving, losing, and rebuilding	February 13, 2025
Miriam: Over It	January 10, 2024
Missy Smith: Unmasked	March 10, 2021	Story about how she trains on navigating space as a queer black woman. She does implicit bias training	consultant, equity, flight, music, travel
Mita Vogel: The One That Got Away	September 14, 2023
Modupe Agueh McCracken: Workin’ It	May 16, 2019	Story of being being a mom and doctor	Africa, babies, burn out, daughter, mother, OB GYN, self care, wife