The Moth Podcast: Performing in LA and Antarctica

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Welcome to the Moth.

I'm Mark Solinger and on this episode, we've got two stories about performing from the heart of the entertainment industry to the furthest reaches of the earth.

We'll start in one of the most remote parts of the globe with Daryl Thorne.

He told this at a New York City Story Slam where the theme of the night was 9 to 5.

Here's Daryl live at the moth.

It's March 19th, 2022.

It's 11 o'clock in the morning.

I'm nine feet tall and covered in 2,000 mirrors, top to bottom.

On my feet are stilts, brand new that I've never worn before.

On my head is a mirrored globe with the continents and latitude and longitude lines cut out.

I can see through them.

On my body is a brand new custom stilt suit with mirrors that I've had designed.

And in my hands are silk chiffon fans.

They're about five feet long, a blue and white ombre.

And I'm feeling really great and really happy because everything's working well.

The stilts are working well.

The headpiece is perfectly in place.

And I'm able to grip my hands tightly with the fans billowing out behind me.

I'm feeling really secure.

I'm having to take really long strides in my stilts because I'm trudging through snow.

And the hardest part of all is this ferocious wind that is blasting into my face because I'm walking across the top of a glacier in Antarctica.

So four months earlier, I get the call from a client, and they say, do you want to go on this perform with us on the expedition cruise to Antarctica for 10 days?

And at this point, I've been working for myself as a performance artist and costume designer for about eight years, but this is definitely the most exciting thing that's happened to date.

So I'm like really thrilled, but also I feel this sinking sensation in my stomach because I realize this is going to be very difficult for me.

I'm someone who has always been risk averse, and I describe myself as, you know, having a very high

self-preservation instinct.

But really, it just means that there's a lot of fear.

Flying, turbulence, like the slightest bump, I'm thrown into a panic.

My palms start sweating as they are now.

I feel lightheaded and,

you know, I have other fears as well.

Strange dogs, undercooked chicken,

roller coasters, elevators, choking on a bay leaf.

There are many things.

And basically anything that makes me feel there may be a risk I tend to shy away from.

So I had certainly shied away from any gigs on a cruise ship.

The idea of being on a boat tossed around in the ocean was not for me.

But I thought, you know, this is amazing.

And who knows, knows, maybe the waters aren't so bad down in the south.

So I go to a meeting with this client.

First meeting, we're laying out the performances.

He's explaining the themes, et cetera.

And I noticed there's four days on the calendar where there's nothing scheduled.

And he says, I might as well tell you, that's when we're going through the Drake Passage.

Those are the stormiest waters in the world.

30 to 60 foot waves, and it lasts for 36 hours.

So my heart sank, my stomach flipped, my palms immediately began sweating, and I just was filled with terror instantly.

And he saw that in my face, apparently.

He said, it's okay, you know, other people have canceled because of the Drake Passage, so just let us know.

So I go home, I'm thinking it over, and I'm just realizing I have to do this.

I can't not do this because of fear.

So I'm committed, and basically I spend the next three months with just this growing pit of dread in my stomach as I'm designing my six new costumes and laying out performances and gathering all the things you need for an expedition to Antarctica.

So the day comes, fly to Argentina, board the ship, and the captain comes on and says, we're delaying for six hours because apparently there's a horrifying storm in the Drake Passage.

So I'm like, okay, this is my worst fear in the moment.

And I'm stuck here, there's nothing to be done.

So I'm trying to just manage myself.

The six hours pass, and we're leaving Argentina, heading into the Drake.

And it just so happens that the people who put this cruise together brilliantly brilliantly put a dance party that would coincide with going right into the Drake passage.

They happen to throw a party called Daybreaker and they're masters of these sorts of things.

So I was like dreading this.

I heard about the dance party.

I'm prepared and basically that's exactly what happened.

We get into the Drake Passage.

Indeed, these massive waves start coming.

The DJs start spinning and we start dancing and

it is like the most incredible leaping and spinning and twirling and just like you would jump in the air and the floor is either leaving you or it's coming to meet you and it's totally unpredictable.

And it was like totally thrilling.

You felt like a kid on a trampoline and all of this pent up anxiety and dread that I'd had is just being expressed out of my body.

And it was amazing.

36 hours in the Drake Passage and indeed we had 40 knot winds and

20 to 25 foot waves and I was totally fine.

I was just like and even sleeping, you know, the boat is going like this.

I thought that was going to disturb my sleep.

I slept like a baby in a cradle.

And I woke up the next morning, and it's completely still and silent.

And I open the windows from the cabin, and there's Antarctica in its pristine beauty.

We get in the zodiac, I'm in my stilts suit, I got my stilts, we're going to the landing, there's a glacier.

So I've got my stilts put on, and someone is holding this hand, someone's holding that hand, and my friend Eli, who's the client, is pushing my ass, and I'm climbing up a glacier in Antarctica wearing 2,000 mirrors and a pair of stilts and I get to the top and it's like a brilliant sunny day.

I can see far into the distance on my stilts and it's the colors and the penguins and the ice and it was the most incredible work day of my life.

Thank you.

That was Daryl Thorne.

Daryl is a New York City-based artist who blends costume design, performance, and storytelling to create immersive, otherworldly performances.

Daryl is currently working with former Moth Artistic Director Catherine Burns to build his first solo show, combining storytelling with his unique visual art, debuting in January 2026.

If you'd like to see photos of Daryl performing in Antarctica, and let me tell you there are some wild costumes, visit themoth.org slash extras.

Personally, I would sooner step on a molten Lego than get up on stage in front of a crowd.

I mean, I can sit in front of a microphone and talk just fine.

I'm alright having my voice on a podcast, but seeing an audience?

Absolutely not.

That is a level of bravery I just do not possess.

However, if you are not like me and you do want to get up on stage and tell your tale, you can share your story at one of our story slams.

There aren't any in Antarctica yet, but they happen in dozens of cities throughout the US and the world.

You can find more info at themoth.org slash events.

After the break, a story about performing under some completely different circumstances.

Be back in a moment.

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Welcome back.

Brittany Ross told our next story at an LA Story Slam where the theme of the night was anniversary.

Here's Brittany live at the moment.

So I moved to LA when I was 21 and I did what every girl who moves out here to act does.

Well, first I shredded my college diploma and then I joined a women's group.

It was actresses supporting actresses to become actresses.

And

there was a girl in the group who had it all.

She had just done an episode of Law and Order SVU where she played a very featured dead body

and she owned her own princess party company.

And she specialized in high-end LA birthdays.

And I was like, okay, this is my chance to perform inside the home of industry power players, people who can make a career.

And I was like, I have got to single-white female this girl.

So

I get a job working for her company, which kind of feels like destiny because as a princess, I finally get to use my real voice.

And

I'm taking this as like a serious acting job, so I study up on all my princess Siri.

Ariel and Hercules, they're actually cousins.

Cinderella wears a size four and a half shoe, which just happens to be exactly the same as me.

And my princess boss says I am ready, so I head out into the field and I hold on to my wig like my acting career depends on it.

And I am killing it.

Party after party, I am becoming a very in-demand act princess, just a princess.

And I am so in it that somehow a year flies by and I get a call from my princess both.

She wants to celebrate my princess aversary

and she wants to talk to me about something and I'm like, oh my god, she's probably gonna ask me to be a partner in this company or like CEO, whatever that is.

And

no, she does want to reward my good work by she's making me a very featured player at the party of the century.

It is a Persian christening at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons.

And she mentions there will be a lot of Hollywood people there.

And guess who I am playing?

Yes, a tiny fairy with actual opinions on things.

Tinkerbell.

I'm like, okay, this is why I got this job.

It's my time to shine.

And I pull my Honda Civic into the ballet line of the four seasons.

And I get out and I make my way through a sea of party entertainers.

There's like cirque du Soleil people, guys on stilts.

I'm like the tiniest fairy in the room.

And

I find the mother of the bride, I mean the mother of the baby, the baby who is dressed in head-to-toe dolce and gabbana.

And the mom is like, okay, you will be presenting her to the room in this wheelbarrow covered in roses.

And everyone's like, what's the baby's favorite song?

Oh, it's Lady Gaga's Bad bad romance go and i am now dragging this baby into a room of 500 of her closest friends and family and as i walk in i'm like yeah i've always wanted to come here but i thought it would be for like a emmy party or something where i'd be dressed in well um probably what that baby's wearing and

I look up trying to make eye contact with the person ready to give me my big break, but nobody is looking at me.

No, they're all looking at this baby.

And I look back at this baby too, and I'm like, oh, she has everything I've ever dreamed of.

Better clothes, more friends, better taste in music.

And

I start to realize, like, oh my God, I have wasted a year of my life in actress years.

That's like nine.

And like, what have I been doing?

This is not what I moved out here for.

Like, I am freaking out on the inside, smiling on the outside, something I'm really good at because I'm, well, I'm a woman.

and

I look around and I see there is like an e-news reporter guy filming this whole thing and the camera is coming towards me and I'm like no no no this is not how I want my big break to go I do not want to be seen on TV like this so I just stare directly in the lens to make sure that that shot is unusable

And I excuse myself to the bathroom.

I'm like, I gotta go.

I'll be right back.

And I set a timer on my phone for two minutes to cry.

And

I did come up with a really good trick in that moment.

If you cry while looking directly at the ground, tears will just fall out of your eyes and hit the floor.

And you do not have to redo your makeup.

And my timer went off and I was like, oh, I have to go back to this party.

I don't know.

I really don't want to walk back in there.

And then I remember my fellow four and a half size shoe, Cinderella, she left the ball early.

So I just snuck out of there because there were over 500 people there.

Nobody was going to notice, and I did what every good actress does.

I went and got a waitress job.

Thanks, guys.

That was Brittany Ross.

Brittany is an LA-based stand-up comedian, actress, and writer.

Raised around a whirlwind of cultures, Alaska, Scotland, South America, Texas, Chicago, and Hawaii, as a result, she is very normal.

She's performed at major festivals and appeared on Mythic Quest, The Middle, Two Broke Girls, and more.

We checked in with Brittany about her time as a party princess, and she told us that she's now a mom of a five-year-old little girl who's absolutely princess-obsessed.

Her daughter actually has a princess come to all of her birthday parties, and Brittany says that sometimes she wants to dust off her old princess dress just to get her daughter to listen to her a little bit more.

That brings us to the end of our episode.

Thanks so much for joining us.

From all of us here at The Moth, we hope that whether you're in Antarctica, LA, or somewhere in between, you have a wonderful week.

Mark Solinger is the podcast producer of The Moth, the co-creator of the audio drama Archive81, a lover of museums, and someone who feels very strange reading his own bio.

This episode of the Moth Podcast was produced by Sarah Austin-Janess, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Sollinger.

The rest of the Moth's leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Marina Cluche, Jennifer Hickson, Jordan Cardenale, Kate Tellers, Suzanne Rust, and Patricia Oreña.

The Moth Podcast is presented by Odyssey.

Special thanks to their executive producer, Leah Rhys-Dennis.

All moth stories are true, as remembered by their storytellers.

For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story, and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org.

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