Stagebridge Partnership Performance
Stories
- Shirley Smallwood, “DWAB (Driving While Almost Black)”
- Claire Wahrhaftig, “White Like Me”
- Ida Johnson, “Weave of Wonders – An Armenian Tale”
- Ben Tucker, “Play Ball!”
- Kiran Rana, “Nasruddin Visits the City”
- Albertina Zarazúa Padilla, “How? ¿Como?”
Music
Bunny Numpkins and the Kill Blow Up Reaction: Little Johnny Bowling Ball (vocals and guitar), Miles Steuding (drums), Kelsey Ahern (accordion), Lady Mondegreen (vocals) and Leslie Outhier (bass)
About the Performers
Bunny Numpkins is from Oakland, California. They started around 2005 as a backup band for a puppet and continued on to play quirky pop with songs about months, board games, and geographic musings.
Shirley Smallwood is a vocalist, actor and voiceover talent, and finds it very important to know her family and not lose sight of family history, as she believes we must continue to teach and inform those who come after us.
Claire Wahrhaftig, a retired former arts administrator and Director of the San Francisco Arts Commission, joined the Eth-Noh-Tec Nu Wa delegation to swap stories with Chinese villagers in 2018.
Ida Johnson loves sharing old tales at Stagebridge programs, school classrooms, and story swaps. As a retired teacher and school librarian, she finds that a good story can be enjoyed whether you’re 7 or 87.
Ben Tucker (Brother Ben)’s stories includes personal and historical characters that touch on universal themes. His stories take you back to the front porch, kitchen table, or campfire. iambentucker.com
Kiran Rana was born and raised in India, but in 1973 he traveled to the West, where he joined a Sufi mystical school. In 2014, after many years as a publisher of self-help books, he gave up publishing and became a full-time teacher of Sufism. At the same time he started taking storytelling and playwriting classes at Stagebridge. His stories draw on Sufi sources, folk tales, personal stories and his own writing.
Albertina Zarazúa Padilla is Co-Founder of MiHistoria.net, curator for its online story archive, and workshop facilitator. Born to a farmworker family in Monterey, California, Albertina was the first in her family to attend college. Albertina’s storytelling work with farmworker women has led to public presentations before live audiences.