March 25, 2014

Stories

• Mark Kenward, “Nantucket”
• Karen S. Ripley, “Oh No… There’s Men On The Land”
• Charlie McClelland, “Father Knows Best”
• Muriel Johnson, “A Personal Story”

Music

Rachel Efron, Singer/Songwriter/Pianist

Mark Kenward is the creator of seven full-length solo shows. He has performed his work in over thirty cities throughout the US and Canada, including a reception for The House of Representatives in Washington, DC, and several runs at The Marsh. Tonight he performs an excerpt from Nantucket, a memoir about his years growing up on the fabled island. Nantucket will run at The Marsh Berkeley in May. markkenward.com

Karen Ripley came on to the gay comedy scene in 1977 in San Francisco. From the cover of the East Bay Express with Whoopi Goldberg, to Ms. magazine’s Top 100 Lesbian Comics.  In 2005, she won the SF Fringe’s Best Musical Comedy with Annie Larson in the original play, Show Me where it Hurts.  They teamed up again for the 2006 Diva Fest with Waiting for FEMA. She’s traveled all over the USA and the Caribbean. Her stand up is featured in Logo TV’s Wisecrack, episode 2.

Charlie McClelland was born and raised in Michigan. He was married and ran his own service station by the age of 23. In 1976, at the age of 24, he lost 90 pounds, his marriage, and his job. He then set out on an amazing adventure and got a job in the circus. At that point, there was nowhere else to go but California and the Bay Area, where he has resided and performed, on and off, since 1978.

Muriel Johnson’s mother was an actress, avid reader and an English teacher, who exposed her to a wide range of literature, instilling in Muriel a love of language and an awareness of the power of stories. Now as a mother, teacher and performer sharing personal and traditional folk tales with children and adults, Muriel’s warm, gentle presence connects with the audience as she transforms herself into different characters.

Rachel Efron presents her all-original piano-based artistic pop songs.