Interview: Heather Christie's LOVENOTES! Returns to Symphony Space

LoveNotes! – the storytelling event created and hosted by author Heather Christie, based on her popular book of the same name – will be performed for three special Valentine’s Day weekend shows on Saturday, February 15 at New York’s Symphony Space for its second annual engagement at 2, 5 and 8 pm. (The 8 pm show will also be livestreamed.) Tickets are available here. 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend, LoveNotes! is a one-of-a-kind storytelling event of memoir and music, in which real people share real stories about romantic love in all of its incarnations. The show reveals true stories of first love, last love, and all the love in between – tales from heartbreaking to heartwarming – in which Cupid has shot someone in the heart… and they have lived to tell the tale.

Storytellers for the New York performances include Shreya Ambatti, Bella Bader, Wanda Colón, Tony Crocamo, Kristina Kelley, Ronna Levy, Sergio Lockhart, Brian Lorio, Sandi Marx, Franklin Matthews, Phillip Palladino, Rita Plush, Holly Rutchik, Xuan Zhao, with music by Glen Roethal. 

After a divorce and dating disappointment, Heather Christie found herself in a dark place, questioning whether love was real. Even so, there was a nudge from deep inside that urged her to look around and find the proof of what real love looked like. So she went on the search for evidence of love in other people’s stories. The poets, the dreamers, the lovers, and a lot of regular people answered her call. LoveNotes! was born.

LoveNotes! debuted last year with a sold-out show Off-Broadway and has expanded to three performances this year. The book LoveNotes! – which is published by 71st  Street Books, and available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and beyond – features true love stories, journal prompts, and puzzles. The LoveNotes! podcast will be launched later this year.

We spoke with Heather Christie about the upcoming NYC edition of LoveNotes!

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Where did the inspiration for LoveNotes! originally come from?

The book and the entire LoveNotes! project (the off-Broadway storytelling show, the satellite city shows, and the soon-to-be-launched podcast) came to me during the loneliest, saddest, and darkest season of my life.

It was in the wake of divorce and subsequent dating disappointment that I became indignantly curious about what real love looked like—how did it walk around in the world?

As a writer, my theory was that if I could find proof of real love in other people’s real stories, then that would be the evidence I needed to believe that it was possible for me too.

So, I put out the call for real stories by real people about real love. And voila—LoveNotes! was born.

How did you pick the stories for the New York edition of this year’s Valentine’s Day show?

I held both in-person and self-tape auditions. The cast includes professional storytellers, actors, comedians, writers, and a few regular people. The only criterion was that the storyteller needed to have a great 750-word true love story and that the tale had to be about romantic love, not a musing about how much you love your mother or your dog. As the curator of the show, my aim is to create an emotional ride for the audience of stories that range from hilarious to heartwarming and from heartbreaking to healing, with the ultimate goal being that everyone, storytellers and theater-goers alike, leave the show feeling hopeful. The LoveNotes! mission statement is to spread love one story at a time.

Since you’ve been doing this, is there a particular anecdote, piece of advice, words of wisdom, etc., that has stuck with you from one of the stories?

Yes. More than a single bit of advice though, there has been a recurring theme that has resonated with me—which is that there really is love after heartbreak. That people can find lasting, pure love the second or third time around, and that love has no age limit. In fact, in this year’s show I have couple who found each other in their eighties.

How does it feel to have recently published the first LoveNotes! book?

It feels great! Keep in mind, LoveNotes! is different than a straight-up anthology. Think of all the bits and pieces you’d scribble into a composition book—quotes, doodles, puzzles, questions, and thoughts, etc. LoveNotes! combines all of this: incredible true love stories with related, interactive journal prompts, puzzles, artwork, and more. I like to believe it’s a new genre (ha, ha!). Something like a fun, interactive smash up Chicken Soup For the Soul and Modern Love with twist of an activity book.

What future plans do you have for LoveNotes!?

Oh, I have so many plans it’s hard to contain my excitement. My goal is to keep spreading love with the Annual All-Star Off Broadway Storytelling show each year here in Manhattan; to continue identifying producers in other communities to launch satellite LoveNotes! shows (there have already been inaugural sold-out shows in Indianapolis directed by Haley Lawrence and in Chicago directed by Sarah Squires-Doyle); to curate and edit future LoveNotes! books with themes like Heartbreak Survival Guide and How We Met; and to launch the LoveNotes! podcast in Q3 of 2025.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

The world needs more love and one way to spread love and hope is by participating in LoveNotes! I want to encourage people to share their love stories by auditioning for the show and podcast and/or submitting for upcoming LoveNotes! books. If you’re not comfortable telling your story, then please come to the show, read the book, tell other people about LoveNotes! Let’s do this. Love wins, if we let it. Find out how to get involved at www.LoveNotesWorldwide.com.

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