The videos are out, a little rough around the edges but you can get the idea. Men from the community writing stories that they might otherwise never tell, submitting them anonymously to the reader's theater group, where they are shaped into an evening's performance. This was the first year but it will become a tradition here, as it follows on a longtime women's Michiana Monologues series with the same structure. The results, in both cases, are funny, thought-provoking, moving, and, in spite of how deep a person's woes can sometimes be, affirming. Things about men's lives right here, right now, get said that otherwise would simmer on for who knows how many years in silence. Proceeds from both the men's and women's shows go to local anti-violence and family justice centers--just beautiful.

Here is an example from the Manologues show, at 9:05 of the first video. Later in life a man recalls how as a child he could see his father struggling and eventually being swept under by his demons, while he as a boy felt keenly both powerful love and powerlessness.

So: Part 1 and Part 2 of the 2013 performance. Their website, where they tell the production's full story and where writers can submit work later in the year for the 2014 production.

But don't miss the joyful finale!