Storyteller Performance Story Coach

"I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter til they bloom, til you yourself burst into bloom." - Clarissa Pinkola Estes
"Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that to go on living I have to tell stories. Stories are the one sure way I know to touch the heart and change the world." Dorothy Allison -
I hail from a long line of Southern Gothic storytellers in Mississippi, "Bless Their Hearts!" In 2006, I discovered storytelling as an art form when I took a storytelling workshop from a beloved internationally known storyteller, Connie Regan-Blake, when my spouse, Marie and I lived in Asheville, NC.  When we moved back to the Washington DC area a few years later, I began taking storytelling classes from a respected storytelling organization, Speakeasy DC, (now Story District), and fell in love with storytelling, something that I had been doing naturally with family members and friends on porches, patios, and at the supper table my whole life.

 

"I live my life with an open heart, as an extrovert who loves connecting with people, and a sense of adventure, knowing that another great story is just around the corner or happening in the present moment." Elizabeth McCain / Storyteller
In 2010, I decided I had enough stories to write and perform a one-woman show. I took solo performance classes and received theatre and story coaching. And in 2014, I wrote and performed A Lesbian Belle Tells..." and  premiered it in the 2014 Capital Fringe Theatre Festival, where it won best solo show from DC Broadway World. My one-woman play is about my true stories of growing up in Mississippi, coming out in DC, and experiencing family estrangement, love, and healing. Told from the comfort of a rocking chair, it is captivating comedy and triumph over tragedy, as only a lesbian can tell! I have performed my show in Washington DC many times, and at The Altamont Theatre in Asheville, NC. It is usually sold out and really resonates with people from all walks of life, especially with LGBTQ folks, on the universal themes of loss, identity, self-acceptance, celebration, and searching for belonging and love. My mission in performing is to support and inspire the LGBTQ communities and our allies in sharing and reframing their stories of coming out/living out, loss, and transition for personal transformation, growth and community building. I have also performed stories on the themes of coming out/living out, meeting my partner using the law of attraction, and going to my first women's music festival, in Outspoken Pride Storytelling shows and monthly themed shows with Story District in DC, Northern Virginia, and Birmingham, AL, Baltimore's Stoop Storytelling Series, RISK Storytelling Show and Podcast, and at The Improv, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, The Lincoln Theatre, HRC, The Mautner Project for LBT Women, and at government agencies, retreats, and house concerts. I live my life with an open heart, as an extrovert who loves connecting with people, and a sense of adventure, knowing that another great story is just around the corner or happening in the present moment.

Performance Story Coaching

WHAT IS THIS?

I help people craft meaningful and entertaining personal stories about their lives to share on stage or with friends and families. I also coach people in developing, writing, and performing solo shows for fringe festivals, and other performance venues. I can help you develop and deliver your personal stories in a solo show with vulnerability, heart, and humor, that will impact audiences in meaningful ways from all walks of life.
I'd Like to Know More
"We tell stories when we are summoned by them, not vise versa... Tales are a healing art...In the best tellers I know, the stories grow out of their lives like roots grow a tree. The stories have grown them into who they are." -Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D, Women Who Run With the Wolves

BOOKING INQUIRIES

Interested in Hosting a fun event for friends ? Also offering fun Storytelling House Concerts.
Contact Elizabeth for more info and scheduling.
301.520.8734

Theatres, Festivals, Private Events, House Concerts

301.520.8734 ... Look forward to chatting with you.

Contact Elizabeth by Email

Maddie Ardillo, DC Theatre Scene

"A Lesbian Belle Tells... is a thrill from start to finish for audience members from all walks of life, encouraging hope from the comfort of a rocking chair, and leaving a roaring audience in her wake.

McCain's true strength lies as a bard, spinning stories with a beating heart that are at once comical and gripping innuendo with the glossy sheen of clever wordplay."

buy

a couple of cool things

workbook

stay tuned for release date in 2018

storytelling dvd

available at shows only. not sold online.