Storyteller Rules and Release.

Version 1.1 · September 29, 2026

Questions about anything here, email team@hangdallas.com.

1. The night

Passages by Candlelight is a seated, ticketed evening at which six cast storytellers each perform one story for a live audience, judged by three judges drawn from the audience, with one winner per night.

• Each storyteller has seven minutes. A light shows at six minutes and a bell at seven. Past seven minutes thirty, the judges deduct.
• The story may be read from the page or told from memory. Notes and a printed copy are fine.
• Each night has a theme, shared with a storyteller when they are cast, with a short brief. The theme is not published in advance; the host reveals it on the night. The piece a storyteller performs belongs to that theme, and the judges' cards carry the theme and what to listen for.
• Storytellers arrive by the time on their cast email, check in with the host, and stay for the full evening including the results.
• The running order is drawn on the night.
• The alternate attends every night and performs only if a cast storyteller does not appear. If all six appear, the alternate closes the evening with a short piece and is not judged.

2. Your story and the rights to it

The audition and the performance are two different pieces. The audition tape is a sample from the storyteller's existing body of work, chosen to show how they hold a room. The piece performed on the night is chosen or written after casting, for that night's theme, and declared to Hang Dallas by the date in the cast email. Nobody has to write something new in order to audition.

The storyteller is responsible for having the right to perform both pieces. Hang Dallas casts on the storyteller's word and does not verify rights.

A piece qualifies if one of these is true:

1. It is the storyteller's own original work.
2. It is in the public domain.
3. The storyteller has the author's or rights holder's written permission to perform it, and can produce that permission if asked.

By auditioning and by accepting a seat, the storyteller confirms the following:

• The declared piece is the piece they will perform, or they have told Hang Dallas in writing of a change before the piece-due date.
• Performing either piece does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights, and does not defame anyone.
• If a claim is made against Hang Dallas, its owners, the venue, or its partners because of a piece the storyteller chose or the way they described it, the storyteller is responsible for that claim and its costs. Hang Dallas may remove a piece or a storyteller from a night if a rights concern comes up.

A story does not have to be true. It does have to be the storyteller's to tell.

3. Recording and release

Every night is recorded, and by auditioning and by accepting a seat the storyteller grants Hang Dallas the right to use those recordings and images without further permission or payment.

What Hang Dallas may record: the storyteller's performance and their presence at the event, in video, audio and still photography, by Hang Dallas or anyone working on its behalf, including the audition tape submitted with the application.

What Hang Dallas may do with it:

• Edit, cut, caption, combine with other material, and reproduce it in any length.
• Stream it live or on delay, and broadcast or simulcast it, on any platform, during the event or afterward.
• Publish and distribute it in any medium that exists now or later: events.hangdallas.com, social media, email, video and podcast platforms, print, and advertising, whether free or paid.
• Use the storyteller's name, the name they perform under, their likeness, voice, and short biographical details alongside it, to present and promote the storyteller, the night, the series and Hang Dallas.
• Keep and use it without time limit, anywhere in the world.

What the storyteller keeps:

• The copyright in their own story. This release covers the recording of the performance, not the text.
• A copy of their performance recording for their own non-commercial use, sent after the event.
• The right to ask Hang Dallas to take down a specific post, which Hang Dallas will consider in good faith. Hang Dallas is not required to recall material already published or distributed.

The storyteller waives any right to inspect or approve the recordings or how they are used, and any claim to payment for that use beyond the fee. The storyteller confirms that no one else, such as an agent, label or employer, has to approve this release.

4. Content standards

The room is adults, seated, listening closely, and the story can go anywhere a good story goes. Dark, funny, sad, strange and adult themes are all welcome. Three things are not:

• Content that attacks a person or group for who they are.
• Content that identifies a private person in a way that could harm them, including by name, workplace or address.
• Content that is unlawful to perform or publish.

Strong language is the storyteller's call. Hang Dallas may stop a performance that crosses these lines and may decline to cast a storyteller again.

5. Being cast

A cast storyteller is a paid performer with a signed agreement, and their seat is only confirmed when the agreement is signed.

Casting is by invitation. The storyteller gets an email with a seat and a deadline to confirm. Confirming the seat sends the Storyteller Agreement in SignWell, which includes these rules in full and the fee.

Signing the agreement triggers an email with a secure Stripe link, which collects the storyteller's tax and bank details. Hang Dallas never stores those details itself. The fee is paid the day after the event, to the account the storyteller set up.

Each cast storyteller and the alternate receives three complimentary guest tickets through a personal code, sent in the cast email. The code is for the storyteller's guests only.

The cast email states two dates: when the cast is announced, and when the storyteller's piece (title, author, rights) is due.

A storyteller who cannot perform tells Hang Dallas in writing as soon as they know. Withdrawing before the cast is announced carries no penalty. Withdrawing after the cast is announced means the fee is forfeited and the storyteller is not cast again for the season. Not appearing on the night means the fee is forfeited. Illness and emergencies carry no penalty, and Hang Dallas would rather seat that storyteller on a later night than lose them. If a night is cancelled, no fee is owed and the storyteller is offered the next available seat.

6. Judging, prizes and The Long Passage

Three judges, drawn from the audience on the night, score each performance privately. At the end of the night the runner-up is named, then the winner, who is announced as that night's Wayfinder. The judges' decision is final.

• Each judge scores The Story, The Telling and The Distance, each out of 10, for a maximum of 90. Scores are not shown during the night and are not published.
• Ties for either place are decided on The Distance score, then by the judges together.
• Anyone who came in on a storyteller's guest code, or who is known to be a storyteller's guest, cannot serve as a judge.
• Guests fill in a ballot card at each night and the night's audience favorite is announced last. Ballots never affect the judges' result.
• Prizes are paid by check to the person who performed. Prize money is separate from the fee and is reported as required by law. Current prize amounts are published on the casting page.

A season is three monthly nights and a final called The Long Passage, held about a month after the third night.

• The night's Wayfinder receives the night prize, presented at the results, and a seat in The Long Passage.
• Each night sends exactly one storyteller to The Long Passage: the highest scorer from that night who does not already hold a seat. A storyteller who wins a second night keeps their single seat, and that night's seat passes to the next-highest scorer who does not yet hold one, whether that is the runner-up or the placing below. The same rule applies if a Wayfinder cannot attend.
• At The Long Passage the three seated storytellers each perform a piece of up to twelve minutes and a headliner opens the evening. It is judged the same way as a monthly night. The winner is named the season's North Star and receives the final prize.
• Ballots counted across the season's three nights decide the Audience Favorite, announced at The Long Passage. The Audience Favorite receives the Audience Favorite prize and a seat in the first night of the following season.

7. The audition itself

An audition is kept in the Hang Dallas casting file and may be considered for any night in the series, not only the one the storyteller named.

• The audition tape is a sample of the storyteller's work, not the piece they will perform. The tape, the notes and the answers are seen by Hang Dallas casting staff and not published. The tape is covered by section 3 only if the storyteller is cast; an uncast audition tape is never published.
• Auditions stay on file for twelve months from submission. A storyteller may ask to have theirs removed at any time by emailing team@hangdallas.com.
• Hang Dallas contacts storytellers by the email and phone given on the form, about casting and about the series. The storyteller can unsubscribe from series news at any time; casting messages continue while an audition is on file.
• Auditioning does not guarantee a seat. Every audition receives a reply.
• False information on an audition is grounds to withdraw a seat.