The Moth, a nonprofit organization of storytellers – both famous and emerging – held its fourth annual Moth Ball on Tuesday night at Capitale.

More than 500 guests attended the event, raising $200,000 for the Moth’s storytelling workshops for at-risk teens and adults in rehabilitation. The group also raises money by conducting storytelling workshops for corporations. But it is perhaps best known for its themed “StorySLAMs,” bringing literary chic to theaters and watering holes and offering a break from plain-vanilla readings.

“I tell a lot of stories with the Moth. I just like the idea,” said the editor of Harper’s, Lewis Lapham.

The evening was meant to give attendees a taste of the Moth storytelling experience.

“It’s always tough to make the shows work at the gala, with so many people in the room – our regular events are much more intimate,” said the Moth’s executive director, Lea Thau.

The star of the event, Ethan Hawke, did the job well.

“Celebrities are people too. That’s what my story is about,” he began.

Mr. Hawke spoke of his adolescence – braces, breaking a leg while riding a motorcycle, reading Playboy, and smoking cigarettes. He recalled hearing on the radio that River Phoenix, a peer whose career he’d envied, was dead.

“I figured out life is predestined – that so much is happening beyond us, we’re not in control…. I had wanted to be River Phoenix, and had my prayer been answered, I would be dead,” he said.

After the storytelling, there was dessert and dancing to the Bee Gees, Eminem, and Beyonce. The emcee, Andy Borowitz, cut out at midnight, skipping an after-party at the home of the Moth’s chairman, Alexander Roy.

In a roomful of yarn-spinners, there were those who support them: their editors (Dan Menaker), agents (Sarah Burnes, Nina Collins), psychiatrists (Dr. Alan Manevitz, a board member), and musical muses (Moby, Suzanne Vega).

The number of volunteers who pitched in demonstrated the sweeping pride in the Moth. They included Mary Domowicz, Nevin Patton, and Kelly Roth, who wore pins made of plastic moths resting on cocoons (tufts of white cotton). Many guests also wore Persian robes and jewelry inspired by the event’s theme, “A Thousand And One Nights.”

The Moth flies on. “Closets” is the theme of the next “StorySLAM” on Tuesday at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. “Forks in the road” is the theme of the slam on November 29 at the Bitter End.