Stories

• Jean Ellisen, As Luck Would Have It
• Kenna Fisher, A Home Depot Winter Solstice Story
• Steve Budd, What They Said About Love
• Joe Cole, The Shadow’s Whistle

Music

Jared Karol, Acoustic Blues Guitar

Jean Ellisen, a narrative artist, has been telling stories all her life, but on purpose for the past 20 years, locally, nationally, and internationally. She inspires children to tell stories, and adults to share theirs in Storytelling Association of California’s Hearth Tales—a program she co-founded. A Bay Area native and long-time member of the Bay Area Storytelling Festival Committee, she grew up looking for luck, finding good, bad, and everything in between. And the search continues!

Kenna Fisher has been called a “bold, honest, fearless” storyteller. She believes deeply in the power of telling stories to forge compassionate connections with each other and within ourselves, performing at venues throughout the Bay Area including the Marsh in San Francisco, Word Up! in Santa Cruz, and both The Shout and Bustin’ Out Storytelling in Oakland.

Steve Budd is thrilled to be back performing at Tell It On Tuesday. He’s performed with a whole bunch of Bay Area theater companies, including the SF Playhouse, Marin Shakespeare, Impact, Custom Made, Symmetry, and Virago, and has appeared in numerous indies, commercials, and corporate videos. He’s also a standup comic and storyteller who’s told tales at The Shout, TMI, and The Vent.

Joe Cole started acting in 1980 after he moved to the Bay Area.  He has appeared in numerous national television and radio commercials as well as network TV episodes. Film credits include Murder in the First, as Marshall Gates. He has toured with Theater Unlimited and Bay Area audiences will remember him as Ollie Olson in Four Plays Of The Sea (Eugene O’Neill), onboard the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier.

Jared Karol is a veteran of the San Francisco singer/songwriter scene since the early 2000s. Playing mostly fingerstyle country blues, ragtime, and other roots-based music—originals as well as songs from the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Hot Tuna, and the public domain—he has forged a unique sound amongst the usual crowd of strummers and crooners. After five years playing electric guitar and harmonica in the reggae band Flannel Canoe, Jared is starting to make his way back to the acoustic music he loves.

Stories

• Karen Penley, Luna Moth (written by John Okeefe)
• Julia Jackson, Children Are Forever: All Sales Are Final
• Victoria Massie, She: A Becoming
• Charlie Varon, Fish Sisters (excerpt)

Music

The Frank & Laura Show: A collection of dark folk tunes, with haunting melodies.

Karen Penley created, wrote and performed in two poetic circuses, Circus Proboscis: A Sneeze of Freaks and Not the More Lovely: A Circus Sideshow. John O’Keefe premiered his solo show, Song of Myself, at the Public Theater in New York and then at The Marsh in San Francisco, winning the Bay Area Critics Award for best solo. 

Julia Jackson is a comedienne and solo artist known for her biting social commentary, as well as actually biting audience members from time to time. Julia has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was a Semi-Finalist in the San Francisco International Comedy Competition. Julia appeared in the film Some Prefer Cake, and has worked with Robin Williams, Dana Carvey and Paul Mooney.

Victoria Massie is a graduate student at UC Berkeley currently working on her Ph.D. in Socio-cultural Anthropology with a designated emphasis in Science & Technology Studies. Her research examines the relationship between race and genetics through the transnational circulation of genetic ancestry testing information by African Americans both in the U.S. and in Cameroon. Outside of the classroom, Massie writes and performs poetry in open mics in Oakland. vmmichelle.com

Charlie Varon’s new show Feisty Old Jew starts its run at the SF Marsh on February 8. Varon has been called “very funny” (The New Yorker), “hilarious” (The Washington Post), and “wildly entertaining” (SF Chronicle). The Chronicle has also credited Varon with “redefining the art form” of solo performance. His hit shows – all created in collaboration with David Ford – include the award-winning Rush Limbaugh in Night School (1994; revived 2004), The People’s Violin (2000), and Rabbi Sam (2009), which the Chronicle named one of the year’s 10 best plays. www.charlievaron.com

Frank Chigas and Laura Wachtel have been playing together for only a short time, but they complement each other well in their musical styles and songcraft. Although you can’t dance to them, they hope you enjoy their songs on a deeper level!

Stories

• Jeanne Lupton, Saturday Night Man
• Lisa Rothman, Ding Dong
• Jill Vice, The Tipped & The Tipsy
• Kevin Rolston, Burning the Dragon: Part II

Music

Stuart Rosh, guitar and vocals

Jeanne Lupton writes poetry and memoir and enjoys performing her work.  She hosts a biweekly reading series at Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda. This is her first appearance at Tell it on Tuesday. 

Lisa Rothman lives with her husband and two kids in Oakland. Ding Dong is the first of three linked monologues called Wait and See that she’ll perform next year. She’s also the host of a radio show and podcast recorded at a food truck park, Chew On This.

Jill Vice began studying performance art at the San Francisco Art Institute with Tony Labat, has trained with Jeff Raz at the SF Circus Center and also studied mime and mask with Leonard Pitt and James Donlon at the Flying Actors Studio. The Tipped & The Tipsy was awarded “Best of Fringe” at the 2013 San Francisco Fringe Festival, and she will be performing the piece in full at The Marsh in January 2014.

Kevin Rolston is an actor, writer, director and performance coach. He and his man-spouse (poet and novelist Ron Palmer) and their dog-child (Kylie Fantastic) enjoy long walks on the beach, cookies and naps.

Stuart Rosh has been a professional dishwasher and a university professor. He has won numerous obscure awards for his scientific research, music, and writing. His latest finished big project, a novel entitled The Mathematician’s Shiva, will published by Penguin Press in the fall of 2014. stuartrosh.com

Stories

• Jeanne Haynes, A House Under Water, Part 3
• Gloria Bromberg, This is My Brain on Drugs
• Wayne Harris, My Trip to the Holy Land: How Wayne Harris Brought Peace to the Middle East
• Bridget Frederick, Evolution of Anger

Music

Eventual Ukulele Superstar: Emily Yates, vocals, tenor banjo and tenor ukulele. Smart-ass folk songs, with a smile.

Jeanne Haynes was originally a news reporter, but became a full-time performer and teacher 18 years ago, after two decades as a public relations consultant. In addition to Tell it on Tuesday, she has performed with Brava!, SF Theater Festival, Ashby Stage and Bay Area Storytelling Festival. She has taught 300+ adults in ongoing Stagebridge Oakland classes and 3,000 students as a schools artist in residence
 
Gloria Bromberg developed “This is My Brain on Drugs” in classes with David Ford, and performed at the Marsh Berkeley and SF. She’s now working with director Mark Kenward. A former psychotherapist, Gloria is more happily employed as a health educator.  

Wayne Harris is an award winning solo performer, writer, teaching-artist, curriculum innovator and musician. Recently, The State Department sent Wayne to Jerusalem to tell the story of Martin Luther King Jr. to Palestinian students and teachers… and lives were changed. Wayne is developing My Trip to the Holy Land with David Ford. www.waynethestoryteller.com.

Bridget Frederick wrote and performed her first solo piece in 2004, and co-created Tell it on Tuesday the following year. She teaches ongoing yoga classes in the East Bay, including regular workshops on Yoga for Cyclists. bridget-yoga.com

Emily Yates is an upstate New York native who moved to Oakland after six years in the U.S. Army. She learned to play music in 2011, then started writing songs so that she could tell people how she really felt about things without them punching her. She is currently on a perpetual Eventual World Domination Tour, and will one day run for World President on the simple platform outlined by her hit song, “Try Not To Be A Dick.” 

Stories

• Tim Ereneta, Christmas in the Underworld
• Maxine Epstein, Pushin the Pushke
• Beth McLaughlin, Part of a Story
• Lisa Marie Rollins, Ungrateful Daughter: One Black Girls Story of being Adopted into a White Family… that aren’t Celebrities

Music

Richard Herrera Lopez, Guitar

Tim Ereneta is a Berkeley-based storyteller who enjoys sharing obscure fairy tales and myths from world cultures with listeners at fringe festivals, around campfires, and from stages like this one.

Maxine Epstein has spent most of her life making the world a better place. Not until God spoke to her through a Cornish game hen did she realize the impact of her work.

Beth McLaughlin is a writer and performer of two original full-length works, with a background in theater and improvisation.  

Lisa Marie Rollins is a writer and performer. Her award winning solo work, Ungrateful Daughter: One Black Girls Story of being Adopted into a White Family… that aren’t Celebrities, had a sold out run in the New York International Fringe Theater Festival and has toured theaters, universities and academic conferences across the United States. She is a director and producer of solo & ensemble performance work and is currently focused on the writing and development of her new play, Side Effects. lisamarierollins.wordpress.com

Richard Herrera Lopez, after many years as a recording engineer, has rediscovered playing the guitar. Before becoming an engineer, he worked as a producer/composer. Tonight he’ll cover songs he has very much admired.

Stories

• Neshama Franklin, “No Regrets”
• Rebecca Fisher, “Memphis on My Mind”
• Alex Martinez, “Papi”
• Candace Roberts, “Death’s Greatest Hits”

Music

Mark Lemaire and Twilight: unique guitar and interlocking male/ female harmonies

Neshama Franklin has been telling stories since she could talk—and that was some time ago. She works at the Fairfax Library, has a weekly blog of book reviews on the Marin County Free library website, hosts Marin Poets Live! (on that website as well), and shares her love of literature and stories on KWMR in West Marin. She is delighted to be back at TIOT for her 7th round.

Rebecca Fisher is a writer, director, and producer of solo work. Her first solo show The Magnificence of the Disaster had a successful run at The Marsh in SF as well as a tour to Memphis, TN and college on the East Coast. SF Chronicle describes her work as “smart, challenging, disarmingly funny, and unmistakably affecting.”  She is developing Memphis on My Mind with Charlie Varon and preparing for the upcoming SF Fringe Festival. www.rebeccamfisher.com.

Alex Martinez is a native San Franciscan with a love of theater and a gift for gab. Since childhood, he craved an audience and to this day, will do 5 minutes in front of the refrigerator because of the light!

Candace Roberts is a San Francisco-based singer/songwriter and cabaret performer. Since the release of her 2010 CD, Honeymoon for One, Candace has been in residence at Martuni’s Piano Bar in San Francisco, performing on the 4th Thursday of every month. She increasingly finds herself rocking the house concert circuit (and the funeral circuit) as well as playing such local venues as the Fillmore and Cafe du Nord. Tonight’s piece is an excerpt from her one-woman-musical-in-development, Death’s Greatest Hits, which explores the notion of self-acceptance via acceptance of death. www.candaceroberts.com

Mark Lemaire and Twilight have taken the tradition of harmonies and acoustic guitar to a unique place. Mark has shared the stage with folks like Tracy Chapman, Stefan Grossman, and Maria Muldaur. Find out more by visiting www.marklemaire.com/

Stories

• Liz Nichols, A Grimm Tale
• David Kupras,  Kielbasa Blues
• C.W. Nevius, The Super Bowl of Cross Country Skiing
• Xiao Juan Shu, Ze Ren

Music

Joshua Raoul Brody & The Proverbial Special Guests

Liz Nichols was born in the Bronx, but she got lost in the 398.2 (Folklore & Mythology) section of the public library at age ten, and hasn’t found her way out yet! Besides telling stories, her passion is to share the value of play and creative expression with folks at every stage of life. She does that as an elementary school teacher, Laughter Yoga Leader, RainbowKidsYoga teacher, and TimeSlips™ Master Trainer and facilitator (a creative storytelling method for people with Alzheimers). www.liznichols.net.

David Kupras was raised in the 60s and 70s in a rust belt suburb of Buffalo, NY where the high arts were considered to be decoupage and sand candles. He has dabbled in the performing arts for years as a member of several improvisational troupes, and as an amateur standup comedian in Seattle and New York City. Kielbasa Blues is an evolving attempt at reconstructing the formative episodes in his life, their effects on his relationship to money, family, work, and an effort to answer those deep imponderable questions we all have, like: “Who the hell am I, and just how exactly did I get here?”

C.W. Nevius is a metro columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, covering topics that range from the Board of Supervisors to the nude guys — and the surprising connections between them. For over 20 years he was a sports columnist at the Chron where he went to eight Olympic Games, nine Super Bowls and a crawdad dinner in Beaumont, Texas. He is the author of Crouching Father, Hidden Toddler, based on his marriage to the lovely Mary and their life raising the two best kids in the world.

Born and raised in Eastern China, Xiao Juan Shu now enjoys living in the San Francisco Bay Area and telling stories. She performed her first solo show Ze Ren at the 2012 San Francisco Fringe Festival. 

Joshou Raoul Brody is best known as an accompanist for improvisational theater, and is music director for BATS Improv, True Fiction Magazine, and many other groups. He also plays with Tango No. 9 (who is working on their 5th CD), the Nino Rota cover band Orchestra Nostalgico (who is working on their 2nd), and Merle “Don’t Call Me ‘Merle “Ian Shoales” Kessler’!” Kessler (who is working), as well as the ever-popular Too Many Others To List Here.

Stories

• Bill Amatneek, Pickin’ for the Prez
• Mia Paschal, Heartbreak Velocity
• Michael Katz, Who’s the Student?
• Mark Kenward, Nantucket (excerpt)

Music

Michele Walther, violin and looper. Jazz, World Music, and some originals

String bassist Bill Amatneek has accompanied Peter, Paul & Mary, bluegrass patriarch, Bill Monroe, the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, and other American roots music artists.  Rolling Stone, Down Beat, and Yoga Journal have published his stories, and he is anthologized in the book, “Encounters with Bob Dylan.” Bill has been an Exchange Place Teller at the National Storytelling Festival, and in 2004 the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association conferred their Best Music Book award to the first edition of his book, Acoustic Stories.

Mia Paschal moved to San Francisco from Milan, Italy to study with Ed Hooks. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art commissioned her most recent performance, a site-specific solo work inspired by Jim Dine’s painting “Blue Clamp”. She is currently exploring how Judaism and Argentine tango approach time.

Michael Katz has been a paid professional storyteller for over 25 years, performing at such venues as the Disney Concert Hall, the LA Getty Center and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.  He hosts his own storytelling radio program called Katz Pajamas, heard on NPR station KCBX on Saturday mornings.  Michael’s other “hats” include being a mindfulness teacher in elementary schools, teaching adults storytelling, directing one-person performances, editing film scripts and washing dishes (unprofessionally). www.storytellermichael.com

Mark Kenward is a writer, performer, and director based in Oakland. He has written seven full-length one-man shows and performed them in over thirty-five cities throughout the US and Canada, including several main stage runs at The Marsh in San Francisco.  “Kenward is a warm, wonderful storyteller who establishes an instant rapport with his audience.” (SF Examiner) Recent directing projects include full-length pieces by Angela Neff, Howard Howard Petrick, David Jacobson, David Kleinberg, David Caggiano, Victoria Doggett, and Kurt Bodden. markkenward.com

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.