The great levelizer: Liz Alexander brings the art of storytelling to Northport Village

Liz Alexander hosted three storytelling events in Northport Village before she made it onstage herself, to tell a story of her own. She founded Northport Village Storytelling out of what she considered to be both personal and communal necessity. A longtime fan of The Moth, a storytelling organization founded in 1997, Alexander knew the connections storytelling could bring to the community; once it became an idea in her head, to bring a version here, she did not hesitate to act. 

The journey to sharing her own story, however, took a little longer. 

She recalls walking through Northport Village Park with Annie Mark, whom she met after Mark responded to her very first call for storytellers in 2021. Alexander’s story, as she walked around the park with Mark, came out raw and unedited. She spoke of a coincidence in date between the death of her mother and the birth of her nephew Max. 

“It was just multiple pieces of one story and Annie giving me her ear and that space to be open, I could almost visualize my story taking shape,” Alexander said. So she put a story together. 

Through sharing it with Mark, the story came into form a little bit more. “There was the arc, right, which you want to create. I had the stakes in it. I had the beginning. I had the end,” she said.  “I had my story. And when I told it at the event, I, you know, I felt woof. It kind of yoked together this journey in my life that I hadn’t spent time on, and aspects of it just came into clarity.”

Storytelling, she said, is “a pathway to your soul. And that’s what it was for me.” 

Thanks to Alexander, local storytellers – many who have never stood on that type of stage before – now have the opportunity to join her on that path, and the payoff is proving to be just what the neighborhood needs. 

“And so I did”
The onset of Covid, the extra time in front of screens, the division the pandemic and politics caused online – it’s not an uncommon story. It’s how Alexander responded that sets her apart.

She was living on Main Street in 2020, in an apartment with her husband Eric and their daughter Rayne. Alexander was spending, like other people, a lot of time on social media, where she witnessed “a fair amount of conflict and vitriol” as people shared opinions from their keyboards. Sometimes Alexander got involved, sometimes she chose sides. 

“I just felt my world closing in because of all this conflict,” she said. She found an escape in The Moth, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to the art and craft of true, personal storytelling. The organization is best known for its live StorySLAM events, radio hour and podcast.

“Every time I would listen to The Moth, I – emotionally, spiritually, mentally – I just felt better,” she said. “I would listen to the human stories told, and it sounds kind of cliche, but I felt my heart and my mind opening. And I was like, that’s what we need, right? For me, it was an answer to the growing division.”

Alexander was listening to The Moth podcast often at the time; as the country began to recover from Covid, she tried to find where she could go locally to listen to some storytelling in person.

“I’d look up where events were happening. Obviously, we were coming out of the pandemic, and, you know, they were all in the city or in Queens,” she said. 

“And I thought, I’ll throw one together here. What the hell? And so I did.” 

Unscripted, emotional and authentic 
While at a past Moth event, Alexander heard storytelling described as the “great levelizer,” where everyone’s story, regardless of status, wealth, education or background, is important and valued. Shared stories can bridge gaps, democratize experiences and spark human connection. 

Moth events are known for the range of human experience showcased with each story; it’s not uncommon to laugh and cry at a show. Events are held together by a theme, and the storytellers explore it, live and without notes, in often unexpected ways. The stories are true and every voice is authentic, creating a uniquely intimate experience for the audience. That connection, between storyteller and listener – between us all – is what Alexander hoped to capture here in Northport. 

“Storytelling puts us on a plane where we can be together,” Alexander said. “Your class, your race, your gender matter less than your willingness to be authentic and honest and share a story before a live audience, before a group of people that are genuinely interested in hearing you. What else can you ask for? I’ve found that willingness to be a treasured gift.” 

A way to give back…
The first Northport Village Storytelling event took place in September 2021. At that point, Alexander had lived – steadily – in Northport Village for over a decade. But her time here dates much further back than that. 

“I remember coming as a kid, coming to Northport because I lived nearby. I loved this village, it had such an artsy vibe to it. You come to Northport Village, you go to the movies, you go to the park. It always had a really good energy that I was drawn to,” she said. 

She lived in apartments on Lewis Road and Fifth Avenue, off of Woodbine, over the years. It was from her Main Street apartment that Northport Village Storytelling was born. 

“And it was very homegrown,” Alexander said. Community members pitched in to help set up for the first event, which took place on Union Place, off of Main Street. Sound equipment, chairs and a tent were borrowed and arranged in the outdoor space. Alexander’s husband, Eric, did a lot of heavy lifting: he built a stage, set up the PA system, greeted audience members at the door. He continues to do so today. At the last storytelling event held back in May, he even kept the room apprised of the score in the Knicks game. “He’s basically my director of operations,” Alexander said. Rayne, their soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter, also helps out, and can often be found fundraising via bake sales on the sidelines. 

The Village has been kind to Alexander and her family over the years. She hopes in some way, that storytelling is her way of giving back. 

“How do I do this?” 
The first Northport Village Storytelling event, Alexander said, was a leap of faith. 

“I was like, All right, how do I do this?” she remembered feeling. She looked on conversation boards online for guidance. First things first, they advised, was to do a call for storytellers. So Alexander put a call out on Facebook. Mark – who Alexander had never met before – was one of the first people to contact her. 

“It was a thrill, when I got responses,” she said. Mark was one of seven storytellers that evening; the theme was “Mistakes Made.”

“It was such a wonderful night,” Alexander said. She spent most of the evening seated and didn’t even know what the stories were going to be for the most part, she said. What she did know is that she wanted to keep going. 

“Even going into it, I really felt like, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do this all the time,’” she said. 

By the second or third event, Alexander narrowed her scope and the name Northport Village Storytelling became official. “I want to change the world, but, let’s be practical,” she remembers thinking. She asked herself, what’s the scope? Who can we reach? She decided on Northport Village. 

“I've always loved this village, and that was doable,” she said. 

As the storytelling group has grown, Alexander has been a little bit more intentional about curating the stories. She and Mark host workshops (eight one-day workshops to date) that delve into the process of storytelling, providing a safe space for storytellers to “mine” their memories and hone into the most impactful parts of their stories. 

“I think one thing about Annie and I that really lends to our good working relationship is we both want the storyteller’s soul,” Alexander said. “Our feedback is constantly, but gently, to dig deeper. I think we are driven and motivated to dig to that real vulnerable place of the storyteller because that is when human connection comes to life.”

Mark said it’s cathartic, the process of crafting the final story, sharing the story and connecting with the audience. A singer/songwriter, Mark arrived at the first storytelling event knowing three people: her husband and two friends who had come to see her. She had never told a Moth-style story before but knew too, from music and being a Moth fan, the power of storytelling. 

She recalled hearing “At Seventeen” by folk icon Janis Ian when she was a teenager. A song about bullying, Mark connected with it immediately: “Somebody feels the way I do,” she remembers thinking. “I'm not so alone.” 

Storytelling, Mark says, connects her to her heart. She quotes Leonard Cohen at this point, saying, “The real weapons of mass destruction are the hardened hearts of humanity.”

That night she told her first story, she walked into a room of people she barely knew. “But by the end of it, I felt connected to my own story,” she said. “I felt connected to other people's stories. And if it connects me to my heart, it connects me to somebody else’s heart. It reminds me of our shared humanity. And that’s why even Northport Village Storytelling, one little ripple, can make a difference. Maybe one person at a time, one village at a time.”

Northport resident (and the first person to tell a story at a Northport Village Storytelling event) Valerie Goldstein has felt that ripple, one that has created for her new bonds with new friends. 

“It was such a vulnerable and powerful experience,” Goldstein said. “I not only felt seen and heard from sharing my story, but I felt so connected to all of my now strong friends that also stood up there. I was so nervous, but the support from Liz and everyone else was immeasurable. It’s such an important and raw event that brings community members together to create this forever bond. Liz created this beautiful event for our community, to bring people together from the spoken words of their soulful stories.”

In memory of Malcolm 
The first time Alexander told a story at one of her events was in May of 2024. Her godson Malcolm DeLara, there to support Alexander, ended up sharing a story, spontaneously, with the audience. Two months later, he died unexpectedly, just shy of his 33rd birthday. 

Alexander was gutted. 

“Malcolm was a skateboarder, an avid skateboarder,” she said. “From the time he was small, I used to take him to the skate park. The last time we hung out, he was on the skateboard.” In an effort to honor her godson, Alexander tried to think of a way to bring his love of skateboarding to the community. It was her way, she said, of keeping him alive.

Again, she thought of the scope of what she could do, of what was possible. She reached out to a friend at the Tri-CYA, a youth organization in Huntington, and together they developed a program that introduces and exposes local kids to skateboarding and scootering, then outfits them with equipment to pursue the sport. The idea is for Tri-CYA kids to attend clinics and, should they want to continue, they’ll receive helmets, pads – whatever they need to move forward and develop their skills. 

While logistics are still being figured out, Alexander has teamed up with Broadway Pro Scooters and local scooter-riding superstar Griffin Tucker for the inaugural event, which will take place at the Tri-CYA and/or the skate park in Greenlawn.  

To fund it, Alexander is using the proceeds from Northport Village Storytelling events, including little snack stands run by her daughter Rayne and her friends. At the first event after Malcolm’s death, Alexander raised $1,500 to put toward the program. Soon after, while passing out fliers about the program, she met Axel Yberg, owner of local business, Laug Auf. The Northport Village space and vibe, Alexander said, was filled with Malcolm’s kind of energy. 

“Malcolm was so creative,” she said. “He loved new ideas. He loved using his imagination.”

While there, Yberg offered to donate the proceeds from Laug Auf’s grand opening to the cause. Afterward, he gave Alexander a $900 check. The date of the first skateboard/scooter will be set in September. 

What goes around… 
Alexander, who works full-time as a government liaison officer, is not shy about the art of juggling her time. She has a lot on her plate. 

Founding, organizing and supporting Northport Village Storytelling has been well worth the time and effort. “It has given me so much. The relationships, the people I’ve met, the people that come to the events regularly, the feedback I’ve received. It’s just all pure and positive,” she said. 

“And going back to what prompted me to host the first one, I keep thinking, ‘Where is there a place we can meet and connect?’” That place, she said, should override any differences that exist outside of storytelling. Alexander has been to events where she’s seen people connect with storytellers from opposite ends of the spectrum – people who are worlds apart politically, ideologically and personally.

“I’m interested in that,” she said. “Seeing that happen, it bolsters my faith, and I feel like it brings out the best in people.”

The next Northport Village Storytelling event is scheduled for Friday, October 10 at St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Northport. It will be the seventh event hosted by Alexander. The theme, fear, will be explored by planned storytellers, after which audience members who put their name in a hat will be selected to tell their own five-minute story. For more information or to purchase tickets, follow Northport Village Storytelling here or check out their website. 

Liz Alexander was nominated as a “dreamer” for the Northport Journal’s third annual Sunset Gala by fellow storyteller and Northport neighbor David Rivera. She will be celebrated alongside Brielle Neumann and April Heyman this Saturday, September 6, for her contributions to the community.