About Me.
Story is the heart and soul of Elizabeth McCain’s work as a storyteller, story coach, solo performance artist, spiritual counselor, and Interfaith minister. She is also the author of a compelling memoir, A Lesbian Belle Tells OUTrageous Southern Stories of Family, Loss, and Love, published in 2020, soon after the pandemic began. Nominated for best lesbian memoir of 2021 by the Golden Crown Literary Society for women loving women and the Lambda Literary organization for LGBTQ+ writers, Elizabeth’s memoir is about her true stories of growing up in Mississippi, coming out in Washington, DC in the 1990s, family estrangement, and finding love and belonging. It is written with heart and humor from Elizabeth’s perspective as a storyteller, humorist, and keen cultural observer. And it’s dripping with Southern charm and drama, as only a lesbian belle can tell!
“I believe the antidote for disconnection and suffering is storytelling. When we share our stories with one another, magic happens. We are seen and heard. We validate one another and offer consolation and comfort to one another. We realize we are no longer alone. We find hope again. Storytelling in community, even with one other person, can shift us into meaningful connection when moments earlier we felt alone.”
“The magic of storytelling in community brings us back into belonging with one another through our vulnerability. And in these chaotic times in which we live with too much technology, political disasters, and disconnection, we need authentic in-person connection now more than ever.”
Elizabeth began her career as a psychotherapist, workshop leader, and spiritual guide for women and LGBTQ+ folks over thirty years ago. She has supported many people in their coming out journeys and their grief in finding the courage to live their authentic lives.
Elizabeth came out as a “lipstick lesbian” at the age of thirty, which was a surprise to everyone, including herself. It is quite a story, which she boldly tells with humor and vulnerability in her one-woman show, “Queer Porch Stories: OUTrageous Confessions of a Southern Lesbian”, formerly titled “A Lesbian Belle Tells”. She performed her show in 2014 in the Capital Fringe Festival and in Baltimore in the Charm City Fringe Festival, where it won best solo show in both festivals. Elizabeth has also performed in The DC Queer Theater Festivals, in government agencies’ LGBTQ+ Pride events, Story District shows at the Lincoln Theater, Story Extreme shows, HRC shows, The DC Moth Slam, Grapevine Storytelling series of Takoma Park, Risk Storytelling show, Atlas Intersections Festivals, Baltimore’s Stoop Storytelling Series, as well as at theaters in Asheville, North Carolina, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and at spiritual retreats in Mexico and Ireland.
Her most unusual performance was at a funeral home director’s chapel, near Tupelo, Mississippi, where she was born!