Category: Workshop

Stories

• Gigi Bisson, “Adult Child of a Junkaholic Comes Home”
• Helen Curran, “The Summoner’s Tale”
• Jean Gregory, “The Apple of Nobody’s Eye”
• Sally Holzman, “Having The Last Word”
• Eric Larson, “Oh Boy, Oh Man”
• Sharon Noteboom, “And the People Cheered”
• Ann Riley, “MAGIC”
• Kristina Yates, “Snapshots”

Music

Steve Laciak, classical guitar

Gigi Bisson spins true stories about the flip side of life (often in outrageous costumes)—bridging the gap between traditional oral storytelling and the new, edgier, “radical participatory” culture. Originally a journalist, she has performed with the Renegade Women/Unrepentant Men storytelling troupe, Porchlight, Memoir Spool, Sierra Storytelling Festival, Flambe Lounge and as a featured artist on the main stage at Burning Man Arts Festival in Nevada.

Helen Curran is a bilingual storyteller, who started telling in France, where she usually lives. In the Bay Area she tells traditional tales in her native language, English. She still has a funny accent as she comes from a small European Island not far from France.

Jean Gregory is a retired teacher currently working part time for Patten University monitoring student teachers in the teacher credential program. She has 30 years teaching experience in inner city schools in both Chicago and Oakland.

Sally Holzman started storytelling after retiring from the work world as a means of forestalling Alzheimer’s. She’s busy recommending this cure at Senior centers, on radio, festivals and story swaps. Sally is the founder of the Contra Costa Tale Spinners, member of the improv troop Antic- Wittys and Stagebridge storytellers.

Eric Larson used to be five, then ten, then sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one. These days, he’s thirty and still not too sure of anything.

Sharon Noteboom, after teaching in San Francisco for 32 years, is now pursuing her other real interests. She began telling stories in the classroom, both personal and traditional, but thinks that this is much more fun.

Ann Riley enjoys telling stories at the Asian Art Museum, for Stagebridge, and for anyone who will sit still and listen. She is hoping to gather more stories on her ’09 trip to Antarctica.

Kristina Yates is a Marriage and Family Therapist in Oakland, California, a storyteller with StageBridge, world traveler, foster mom for many temporarily homeless dogs, person of Pepper the Service, and she calls herself a psychiatric survivor (she survived psychiatry). She comes from proud poor Appalachia roots and received elocution lessons at the tender age of seven.

About the Show

New work from our Spring 2008 Workshop participants.

Stories

• Marjorie Mann
• Miriam Chaya
• Jeff Byers
• Dana Chernack
• Michael Brown
• Tim Ereneta
• Robert Pina

Music

Jayde Blade, singer/songwriter, guitar

Marjorie Mann has performed all over the US and Europe in National Tours and Theater Productions, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, and The Wizard of Oz. Marjorie also belly dances with the troupe Desert Jade, in Santa Rosa, CA. She is currently working on her full-length production of The 7 Deadly Sins.

Miriam Chaya, actor, director, writer, teacher and documentary filmmaker wrote and performed Odyssey of a Jewish Woman, a one-woman show which appeared on PBS. She co-directed and produced Timbrels and Torahs, a documentary film, which had its world premiere at the Castro Theatre. She studied improv and story-telling with Nina Wise, and performed in showcase at The Marsh Theatre under the direction of David Ford and Charlie Varon,

Jeff Byers began telling stories the first time he got in trouble with his mother, but he learned to do it for fun as a member of the Storyteller Corps of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (stories in the galleries every Sunday at 1:00). He also studies and volunteers at Stagebridge and is a member of the board of directors of the Storytelling Association of Alta California.

Dana Chernack quit the gardening bussiness the summer of 2001. That winter, he got a job in a warehouse. Chernack lives in Oakland with his wife, Pat, the noted horticulturist. They have two grown children.

Michael D. Brown was co-founder, performer and primary writer for both the celebrated Moving Men Theatre Co. of Berkeley (1972-83) and New York’s most notorious street theater, The Pageant Players (1965-71). His recent plays, Rachel & Charlie and The Storyteller And The Silence were produced at Speakeasy Theater, Shotgun Players, Yugen/Noh Space, and in two staged readings at the Magic Theater. His first successful solo performance was in 1953 when he got Howie Kratznik—the toughest kid in the neighborhood—to listen, think, then laugh, and thereby escaped being beaten up.

Storyteller Tim Ereneta of Berkeley enjoys sharing traditional tales with adult audiences at Fringe Festivals, house concerts, and stages like this one. Past performing credits include the mainstage company of BATS Improv and a water molecule at Lawrence Hall of Science.

Robert Pina studied acting with Jean Shelton and Christian Phillips, and writing and solo performance with Charlie Varon. Robert was a performer in The Marsh’s New Artists Festival in 2006 and has received Theatre Bay Area’s CA$H grant award.