Welcome to the Moth. I'm Mark Salinger, 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 Thorn.

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

Here's Darrell live at the month.

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 ombri.

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. And 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.

...