Category: Anniversary

Stories

• Terry Stokes, The ZAZ Team
• Maryclare McCauley, Too Much Of A Good Thing
• Jeff Raz, King Arthur and Dame Ragnelle
• Xiao Xiao, Don’t You Have Dignity, Mama?

Music

Freddie and the Freeloaders
Hard driving blues/funk set to get you dancing in the aisles

Terry Stokes is a retired Film Editor turned storyteller, singer and actor performing in a variety of productions since moving to the Bay Area in ‘06. He’s a regular with Never Too Late of StAGEbridge, he’s told at Tell It On Tuesday and other local story swaps. Personal adventures and tragedies, fables and fairy tales, and literary stories are his favorites.

Maryclare McCauley enjoys connecting to people, and sharing stories. She is a teacher and performer. Maryclare’s unique style is a blend of a solo performance and a play since her acting and dialogue make you believe there are many characters on the stage. She never imagined she would be sharing this story, so it goes to show: some stories have a will and VOICE of their own!

For the last 40 years, Jeff Raz has performed nationally and internationally with circuses and theaters including Cirque du Soleil, The Pickle Family Circus and Lincoln Center Theater. He has written 15 plays, directed many more and is the founder of The Clown Conservatory, with students currently performing in circuses and theaters around the world. Jeff continues to work in theaters and circuses as well as teaching high performance communication with a global consulting firm, and serving as the Artistic Director of the Medical Clown Project.

Xiao Xiao, born and raised in China, came to the US in her twenties. She writes and shares her personal stories to search for truth from within. She wants to understand what freedom really means.

Freddy and the Freeloaders is a local seven piece jazz band (three horns, piano, bass, drums, and guitar) that has been playing in the bay area for over five years. Playing everything from cocktail/dinner music to great dance tunes, and available for most any occasion taking place on those days of the week that end in “y”.

Stories

• Kirk Waller, Po Sandy
• Charlie Varon, Passenger
• Bruce Pachtman, Oprah called me yesterday and said she wishes she could be as positive as I am.

Music

Freddy and the Freeloaders: hard driving blues/funk set to get you dancing in the aisles

Kirk Waller uses music, mime and the spoken word to create a rich and textured storytelling experience.  He teaches storytelling at Stagebridge Senior Theatre, serves as the current chair of the Storytelling Association of California, and is the proud papa of two wonderful boys!

The San Francisco Chronicle has credited Charlie Varon with “reinventing the form of solo theater.” Charlie has been writing and performing for over 30 years. Since 1991, he has been creating award-winning solo theater work in collaboration with the extraordinary David Ford. Charlie has also directed Dan Hoyle’s smash hit shows Tings Dey Happen and The Real Americans. He teaches solo performance at The Marsh, narrates audio tours for museums around the country, and is currently at work on a cycle of short stories, coming to the stage this year.

Bruce Pachtman’s first solo show, Don’t Make Me Look Too Psychotic, ran in San Francisco, Philadelphia and LA for a total of 300 performances. It was developed with Club Solo and directed by W. Kamau Bell. Along with Ty McKenzie, Bruce now produces three monthly series at Stage Werx Theatre in San Francisco: Solo Sundays (which features solo performers), The Vent (which focuses on storytellers) and Underground Sound (which presents an eclectic variety of musicians).

Freddy and the Freeloaders is a local seven piece (three horns, piano, bass, drums, and guitar) jazz band that has been playing in the bay area for over five years and are available for most any occasion taking place on those days of the week that end in “y”. We’ve played small venues and filled big halls and have the ability to play everything from cocktail/dinner music to great dance tunes. We enjoy jazz, blues, swing, latin, and many styles of dance music (who among us can resist Booker T’s “Green Onions”?).

Stories

• Brian Fields, My Indian Girlfriend
• Deirdre Kennedy, Don’t Eat the Red Locusts
• Bárbara Selfridge, Zero Tolerance: Sex, Math and Seizures (excerpt #3)
• Inbal Kashtan, Let’s Fly (excerpt) 

Music

Michele Walther, violin and looper.
Jazz, World Music, and some originals (jazz/ minimal music)

Brian Fields earned a Ph.D. in computer science because it looked like a good way to get material for one-man shows. He’s dabbled in stand up comedy, performing at venues throughout the Bay Area. He was a finalist in the Battle of the Bay Comedy Competition and is co-producer and host of Trainwreck Cabaret. 

Deirdre Kennedy is a veteran broadcast journalist whose news stories and features have aired on public radio shows in the U.S. and Europe.  But she’s always been a storyteller and performer.  She trained in ballet, jazz and modern dance; studied drama at U.C. Berkeley, A.C.T. and appeared in small indie theater in Los Angeles. Deirdre developed Don’t Eat the Red Locusts in San Francsico’s Solo Performance Workshop under teacher Martha Rynberg. She sounds American, but actually emigrated from London, England decades ago with her Irish parents and now resides in San Francisco.

Bárbara Selfridge wants you to decide, each of you on your own, which you think is scarier: epilepsy or prime numbers.  Also sex.  Also people who can’t be trusted with the care of others vs those whose care you, yourself, don’t care to be entrusted with (thank you very much!).  Bárbara’s sister Margaret sings back-up with the Magic Makers, a special needs rock band; Barbara works with Theatre Unlimited, a troupe of actors, dancers and playwrights, most of them with developmental disabilities.

B.C. (Before Cancer), Inbal Kashtan taught, wrote, and inspired people about creating a world where everyone matters and people have the skills for making peace. Now she heals, loves, tells stories, and tries to live her dreams for as long as she can. Her family is an ongoing dream come true.

Michele Walther loves to play and perform a variety of music styles: jazz, world music, avantgarde, classical, tango, Balkan, Klezmer, and more. Michele graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Basel, Switzerland, and then from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Stories

• Ron Jones, “3 short stories about a gift, a talking bra, and being a grandfather”
• Paul Sussman, “Shelfspace” (excerpt)  
• Margery Kreitman, “Payday at Pukalani”
• Judi Le, “So, What Are You?” (excerpt)

Music

Perry Dexter and Richard Rosen, poems and songs from Alphabetizoo

Ron Jones tells stories about growing up in San Francisco. He enjoys gardening, paddling on the bay, and coaching his granddaughters basketball team. Ron is the author of award winning books and plays. ronjoneswriter.com  

Paul Sussman developed his approach to melodrama and farce through years of work in financial management with Bay Area nonprofit organizations. He has written and performed a series of solo pieces through the eyes of road-ragers, insects, Anabaptists, cannibals, and others who persist in the search for meaning amidst the puzzling evidence.

Margery Kreitman is a playwright and solo performance artist. She has performed her work at many Bay Area venues, including The Marsh, The Magic, The Plush Room, Theater Rhino, Exit Theater, and Venue 9.  Her full-length comedies, one acts, and sketch shows have been produced in SF, LA and New York. She has taught Theater Arts at ACT’s Young Conservatory, The Academy of Art, The New Conservatory Theater, and privately for adults 

Judi Le set out to write a book about her family’s journey to America before the fall of Saigon. By a twist of fate, ended up writing her first one-woman show, So, What Are You?, which was performed at the Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood.  She’s looking forward to sharing her story in San Francisco.

Perry Dexter spent 9 years playing clubs across the US and Canada. For three of those he made it home for only nine days! Now settled in CA, he chants and plays for yoga classes in the Bay Area. Perry is now transforming some of the incredibly wonderful poems of Richard Rosen’s book AlphabetiZoo into song.

Richard Rosen wrote the first AlphabetiZoo poem way back in 1979, but didn’t officially open the A-Zoo gates until 2010. He’s the director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, and has written three books on yoga, with a fourth one on the way.

Stories

• Ron Jones, “The Wave: a classroom experiment in Fascism”
• Wayne Harris, “The John Henry Chronicles” (excerpt)
• Liz Nichols, “Lost & Found” (Part II)
• Jeanne Haynes, “A Bed for All Seasons”

Music

CZ and the Bon Vivants, a Cajun/Zydeco band

Ron Jones lives in San Francisco where he shares his life with family, gardening, and coaching his grand children in CYO basketball. Sometimes if you stay in one place the world comes to your door. This visitation is the wonder and confusion that causes him to write and make sense of it all. His record to date is 354 wins, 47 defeats, 5 ties, and 3 convictions.    

Wayne Harris, one of northern California’s premier storytellers is proud and honored to be a part of TIOT. With three full length solo plays that have had successful runs over the years, Wayne is turning his skills and imagination into projects geared for school performances. Anyone interested in his services should visit www.waynethestoryteller.com.

Liz Nichols got lost in the 398 “Folklore” section of the public library at age of ten, and hasn’t found her way out yet. Her upcoming move to Washington DC should give her the chance to spread Laughter Yoga and TimeSlips (c) Creative Storytelling for People with Dementia.  She thanks Rebecca and Bridget for the opportunity to start developing her first full length piece. 

Jeanne Haynes, after four years of obsessing over her one-woman show, The Stove Is White, with its culminating 6-performance run at San Francisco’s Brava! this winter, at last comes out this evening with a fledging new piece “A Bed for All Seasons.” Since giving up her media relations consulting business 14 years ago, she has submerged herself in the world of storytelling as a full-time teller, teacher and solo performer. She delights in teaching ongoing classes for adults at Stagebridge Oakland and as an artist in residence for children in Bay Area schools, plus conducting interactive workshops at senior and health care facilities.

CZ and the Bon Vivants is a rip-roaring, smile-’til-you-cry Cajun/Zydeco dance band that has Bay Area audiences up and dancing in record time. Playing from their heart the music of Southwest Louisiana, CZ has performed on rooftops, backyards, at wineries, mansions, museums, on the street and at many a dance hall near you. Their first CD, “Good to the Bon” is available for sale at intermission.
Andrew Carriere, accordion, Catherine Matovich, fiddle, John Graham, guitar, Elaine Herrick, bass, Tim Orr, drums

Stories

• Liz Nichols, excerpt from “Lost & Found”
• Ruth Halpern, “Waltz me once again round the dance floor”
• Tim Ereneta, “Fie, foh, and fum”
• David Jacobson, excerpt from “Theme Park”

Music

The InTones performing “unplugged” (Starring Wayne Harris, Mark Kenward and others)

Liz Nichols got lost in the 398 section of the public library at age of ten, and hasn’t found her way out yet. With a background in teaching, training and cross-cultural education, she has been active in the local storytelling community as Storytelling Director at Stagebridge, and has served as a member of the storytelling corps of the Asian Art Museum, the board of the Storytelling Association of California, and the Bay Area Storytelling Festival planning committee. “Lost & Found” is her first full-length piece.

Ruth Halpern has been telling and writing stories for over 25 years, and dancing since she could walk. This story grows out of her years in the Cajun Zydeco dance scene.

Storyteller Tim Ereneta of Berkeley enjoys sharing forgotten fairy tales and re-imaging familiar ones with adult audiences at Fringe Festivals, house concerts, storytelling events, and stages like this one. Past performing credits include the mainstage company of BATS Improv and a singing paleontologist at Lawrence Hall of Science.

David Jacobson is a San Francisco-based writer whose work has appeared in Esquire, Fortune, Business 2.0 and Details. He’s the author of Get Met Out of Here! Exit Strategies for All Occasions and the forthcoming How To Be Famous. This piece is part of a larger landscape being watered and weeded by Charlie Varon at The Marsh and by the Wool Street Gang of solo performers.