April 30, 2024

Music

Sara Glaser, Americana/Folk, Acoustic guitar

Stories

Laura Jane BaileySuper Secret Super Power
The origin story of how one average, ordinary girl realizes she has a mind-blowing new power.  What an unbelievable gift!  Or is it?  Learning to live with the super secret forces her to deal with the big, weighty issues of life—sex, violence and margaritas.

Tim ErenetaLong Ago and Far Away
There was a time, long ago and far away, before ubiquitous information and digital bliss, when we could focus. Sink into our own imaginations. Do you remember? Tim can get you there in four words.

Jody YearyDrink ‘til He Drowns
When Jody gets fired, she takes the first job she can get—at a liquor store, with a drivethru window. Located outside of Tallahassee on the way to the Georgia State line, she finds herself surrounded by fascinating southern characters and bears witness to their quirky and sometimes tragic lives. Jody brings to life several memorable characters with humor punctuating the story, with poignant original songs in her BlueBilly Kentucky style.

Mark McGoldrickNothing Happened
So much to sort out as a kid, from botched robberies to shifted bikini tops—in times of big feelings, how do you make sense of what it means, or if nothing happened?


About the Performers

Sara Glaser began writing songs in earnest at the turn of the century after decades of performing covers. Her debut album Cinders in the Wind, includes story songs about the California fires, a burned-out Nashville writer, a spooked singer of murder ballads, and a besotted firebug.

Laura Jane Bailey is a Bay Area actress, originally from Chicago. Bay Area productions include: The Roommate at Capital Stage in Sacramento, Luna Gale and Mud Blue Sky at Aurora Theatre, Crimes of the Heart at Theatreworks, and Equus at Boxcar Theater. LJ is also a solo artist and will be performing her award winning solo play The Paris Effect at Marin Shakespeare this May and her new work Super Secret Super Power at a fringe festival near you! laurajbailey.com

Tim Ereneta realized, after years immersed in the spontaneous stories of improvisational theatre, that his greatest inspiration came from the folk and fairy tales that have been passed down for thousands of years. He is delighted to be sharing stories from the oral tradition with you—these tales are too juicy to be reserved for children. timereneta.info

Jody Yeary, a singer-songwriter from Kentucky, Jody studied music at Florida State University and stand-up comedy in San Francisco. Her album, Fast Horses and Beautiful Women, is available on her website drjody.com. She specializes in treating addictions and helping people recover from the bad things that can happen. She is currently writing a book on stress.

Mark McGoldrick is a retired public defender. He is a co-director of the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project (FIPPP.org), where he helps bring stories from formerly-incarcerated people to stage. Mark has written and performed a couple full-length solo shows, The Golden Hammer and Countercoup, as well as several shorter pieces.

March 26, 2024

Collage: headshot of Bennet Caffee; Tell It On Tuesday logo; headshot of Andrew Potter
Headshots of performers Janet Thornburg, Barbara Saunders, Elaine Magree

Music

Andrew Pottersinger/songwriter, guitar

Stories

Janet Thornburg, Plum Ascending
Have you ever heard the voice of your mom or dad inside your head, saying something like, “You really should do your taxes before you continue binge-watching The Great British Bake-Off”? Some call it the voice of the superego, but others consider it the voice of one of your sub-personalities. Enter the colorful inner world of Hannah, Raisin, Plum, Mauve, Rosie, and Wild Child, and see how a group of sub-personalities navigates the challenges of aging and how they reach a temporary resolution on Halloween.
 

Elaine MagreeOTHER
Elaine sets out with an ex- nun and a box of ashes to untangle the story of her mixed heritage. From the museums of Portland to The Columbia River Basin homeland, she journeys into outrage, irreverence and, finally, forgiveness.
 

Barbara SaundersYou and I While We Can
How do you keep your schooling from getting in the way of your education? You find the teachers hidden in plain sight, write your own lessons, and take the kinds of risks you know you shouldn’t. 
 

Bennet CaffeeThe Catacombs (excerpt)
When twenty-one year old Bennet Caffee is admitted to a psych ward they have his name wrong as Dayle Bennet and he’s sure it’s a sign. From now on he’s just “Bennet” and he knows why he’s there. He just can’t talk about it.


About the Performers

Andrew Potter hails from Jamestown, Rhode Island, and delivers great syncopated finger-style guitar work in blues, jazz, and folk genres. His latest album, I Haunt My Own House is co-written with his long-time cohort, Mr. Wheeler Cole. Potter’s driving syncopated guitar style and Cole’s snarky and sublime lyrics create vivid musings on family, love, hope, fate and regret.

Janet Thornburg has written and performed eight full-length solo shows in San Francisco. Most recently, she presented two new pieces, How’d You Get That Baby? (2022) and The Worry-O-Meter (2023at The Marsh and at StageWerx Theatre in San Francisco. janetthornburg.com  

Elaine Magree is a Founder’s Fellow at 3Girls Theatre. She has acted and directed at Bay Area theatres, up and down the west coast, and in New York City. Her solo shows were twice nominated for Theatre Bay Area Awards. Her first solo show, Other, will be presented at Marin Shakespeare Company on April 5, 2024. elainemagree.com

Barbara Saunders writes about the intersection of (auto)biography, history, and myth. She has featured at Monday Night Marsh, poetry readings, and storytelling events in the Bay Area. Barbara’s writing a memoir about her youth in the hopes of accelerating the journey to her second childhood.

Bennet Caffee’s storytelling highlights his experiences with bipolar disorder. He has performed his full length show, My First Miracle – Adventures in Bipolar Disorder, to critical acclaim at numerous Fringe Festivals across the US and Canada. Presently he plans to continue touring festivals with his new show, Orange you glad to be in Miami? which premiered last August at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival.

February 27, 2024

Collage of performers: Brian Leonard, Natacha Ruck, Bill Zarchy, Duncan Carling

Music

Duncan Carling, Instrumental Jazz and Blues

Stories

  • Bill Zarchy,  Ecstasy at the Altar
  • Natacha Ruck,  Surprise Movie Night
  • Brian Leonard,  Therapist Zero


About the Performers

Duncan Carling is a lawyer, guitarist, and exasperated parent of teenagers. In his spare time, he enjoys carbohydrates and looking at his phone. He lives in Oakland. 

Bill Zarchy circumnavigated the globe many times during his 40 years as a cinematographer, as captured in his memoir, Showdown at Shinagawa: Tales of Filming from Bombay to Brazil.  Now he likes to write novels and tell tales about his work and travels across six continents. Bill’s debut novel is Finding George Washington: A Time Travel Tale. He is a graduate of the EPIC Storytelling Program at Stagebridge in Oakland.

Natacha Ruck‘s solo show, You’re good for nothing… I’ll milk the cow myself, was developed at the Marsh and StageWerx and is headed to Fresno and Montreal this Spring.  She’s developing a new hour-long show based on her experiences as an interpreter at international film festivals.

Brian Leonard is an actor, writer, and director who lives in Oakland with his much more talented wife and much, much smarter daughter. He’s written comedy for BBC Radio, was a story consultant for Pixar, and had a long career in stand-up, appearing on numerous brick-wall shows (the San Jose Mercury says that Brian is “… one of San Francisco’s most intelligent and funniest comedians.”) His stage work includes SF Shakespeare, Center Repertory, Theaterworks, and George Coates Performance Works, among others. You can see Brian in the films Bottle Shock, Bee Season, and The Bachelor.

October 29, 2023

Stagebridge Partnership Performance

Collage of performers: Eleanor Clement Glass, Magda Peck, Gerry Keenan, Melinda Ginne

Music

Misha Safran, Singer/Songwriter

Misha Safran singing

Stories

Eleanor Clement GlassNot in Kansas Anymore!

Magda PeckHearing Change

Gerry KeenanAn Ark on Wheels

Melinda GinneThree Therapists and a Psychic


About the Performers

Misha Safran has been singing and creating songs since she was five years young—that’s 50 years! Growing up, Misha also spent a lot of time listening to folk songs, classic rock, and the blues. Today, Misha is a social justice song writer and sings about topics that are sometimes uncomfortable but thought-provoking and relatable to many. Check out Misha’s YouTube channel.

Eleanor Clement Glass delights children with folktales from around the world as a Volunteer Storyteller at the Asian Art Museum. She also tells personal family stories from her Black and Filipino cultures. Eleanor contributes to Asian American Storytopia, a YouTube channel offering Asian folktales and cultural activities by Asian American Storytellers for young children (K-5), as a way to combat Asian hate. As a cultural ambassador with Eth-Noh-Tec, she has exchanged stories with storytellers in China and South Korea. 

Magda Peck has been known throughout her career for weaving powerful personal stories into leadership practice for the public’s health and equity. About 10 years ago, she took a deeper dive into the art and science of storytelling for social change, first as an Urban StoryTelling Fellow with Ex Fabula in Milwaukee, then with StoryCenter and StageBridge, in Oakland.  Her latest intergenerational collaboration, SquareRoot Stories, builds storytelling skills and strategies in communities across the country for healthier women, children and families. Magda loves how a light cracks through when our hardest stories are honed and heard from the inside out.

Gerry Keenan has been telling stories for many years as a writer and fine art photographer. Ten years ago she decided to add spoken word telling to her lexicon of written word stories and the stories her photos evoke. She thinks stories may be in her DNA as she grew up intrigued by her Irish father’s ‘gift of gab’ and her Polish mother’s family tales of ‘the old country’ and credits Stagebridge and its EPIC program for giving her the tools to take her stories on-stage.

Melinda Ginne, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over 40 years of experience in geriatrics and treating the psychological aspects of major medical illnesses. She draws inspiration from Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke), Oliver Sacks, Sid Caesar, and Imogene Coca. For generations, her family lived in Boyle Heights, the Jewish-Latino comunidad of East Los Angeles where tacos were kosher and the Shul was directly across the street from the Catholic Church. She is a graduate of the EPIC storytelling program at Stagebridge in Oakland and has been telling stories on Bay Area stages for many years.

August 29, 2023

Collage of headshots: Cathy Bowman, Neshama Franklin, Ed Klaus, Ike Torres

Music

Kadie Kelly, piano, guitar and vocals

Stories

  • Cathy BowmanFour Legs and a Funeral
  • Neshama FranklinMy brilliant careers
  • Ed Klaus, LetGovia: In a Box, to the Left
  • Ike TorresTripping Balls with Washington

About the Performers

Cathy Bowman is an award-winning cartoonist, writer and illustrator interested in the intersection of words and pictures and how we tell our stories. Before becoming an educator, she served in the Peace Corps and worked as a journalist. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she makes art, writes and teaches. 

Neshama Franklin has been telling stories ever since she could talk. She got her professional start in ’89 at Marin County Library where she still works, and  has performed  all over the place ever since. She tells both personal and folk tales. She also has a radio show on KWMR and a weekly blog at Marin County Library.  Check her out on YouTube.

Ed Klaus has a burning “create or die” passion. Naturally in tune with his emotions since a child, he paints every scene with authentic passion, whether on stage or behind the camera. He studied acting at University of Wisconsin-Madison and flexed his performance prowess on many collegiate ensembles. When he is not acting, Ed transforms into Mr Klaus, an elementary school teacher with a heart of gold.

Ike Torres is a master of blending theatre, spoken word, and comedy to create unforgettable solo shows and performances. With a unique artistic vision, Ike takes audiences on transformative journeys, challenging conventions and evoking laughter and introspection. From intimate venues to national stages, his work has captivated audiences across the country. 

June 27, 2023

18th Anniversary Celebration!

Collage of performer headshots: Joshua Raoul Brody, Lisa Safran, Jeremy Greco
Collage of performers' photos: Scott Cohen, Bridget Frederick, Rebecca Fisher, Cynthia Cudaback

Music

Joshua Raoul Brody, piano and vocals
Joshua will be taking requests (although he doesn’t promise to play them all.) Hint: he knows a lot of Beatles songs. Like, all of them.

Stories

Cynthia CudabackLessons from a Wheelchair
I used to look back at my life, wondering if there were one thing I would change if I could. No sooner did I find that one thing than it turned out to have saved my life.

Jeremy GrecoThe Big Snap
On March 17th, 2020, a lockdown was announced in San Francisco, Jeremy Greco decided to document each day by taking a picture.  From these pictures, Greco conducted a series of interviews of people from all walks of life: head of the SF Republican party John Dennis, author Nicole Galland, and many others—all of whom discussed their year of COVID, Trump, and their hopes for the future (without snapping).” 

Lisa SafranScenes of a Mother
An Oreo cookie kiss, a murdered Bonsai plant, a captive piano and a therapist mom are all part of Scenes of a Mother; a coming of age story in Berkeley in the ’70s. 

Scott Cohen, If It’s 7:30 in the Living Room, What Time Is It In The Kitchen?
Is an Egg McMuffin really a symbol of religious oppression?  The question will be answered in this nostalgic piece in which Scott reflects on his childhood and the lessons he learned from his loving, unconventional grandparents.  


About the Performers

Joshua Raoul Brody  has been a regular at all the Marsh venues over its 30+ year history, collaborating with Merle Kessler, The Residents, A Karen Carpenter Xmas, Marga Gomez, Josh Kornbluth, Pulp Playhouse, and countless others, as well as doing his own work. He’s also done a bunch of other stuff. Drop him a line at mail@jraoul.org to be put on his mailing list, or just to say hi.

Cynthia Cudaback, an Oakland native, grew up hiking in the Sierra Nevada and developed a passion for protecting the environment. While working on her PhD in oceanography, she met her husband and got involved in storytelling. These threads weave together in her teaching stories.  

Jeremy Greco’s first solo show, With Held, directed by Mark Kenward, was based on six months of interviews with San Francisco mail artist and writer John Held Jr.  Greco performed his most recent solo work, Keeping Up with the Jorgensons—also directed by Mark Kenward—throughout the U.S., including the 2017 San Francisco Fringe Festival (where it won a “Best of” award honors), and a Discovery Run at The Marsh. 

Lisa Safran is a Bay Area writer, improvisor, and musician. Venturing into solo performing, she began working on this piece with David Ford last year, bringing in Julia McNeal, and most recently Joyful Raven to support additional direction. Lisa has two published books, including Executive Presence—Improv Style! She also coaches leaders around the globe. 

Scott Cohen is a storyteller and comedian, but only at night.  By day, he is a mild-mannered accountant and no one knows how funny he is.    

April 25, 2023

Collage of headshots of tonight's performers

Stories

Carole Klyce, Flight Risk
When Carole was 12 she was sent to live in a group home for girls. Next stop was Juvenile Correction. Run with her through six years living on her own and supporting herself. How did she do it?

Precious HicksFull circle moments
A story of triumph from a broken place: one that depicts how old wounds can show up as new faces and how starting your healing journey can bring you to safety.

Ben Tucker, Sentimental Journey
A road trip with Ben’s son to a family reunion in Louisiana brings back bitter sweet memories.


About the Performers

Carole Klyce took a writing class called, Write your Life with Anne Randolf 9 years ago. With encouragement from Ann and David Ford she began writing and performing excerpts of her unusual life experience growing up on her own.
 
Precious Hicks is a life and wellness coach and mental health advocate. She was born and raised in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Precious found herself in an abusive relationship that led her to incarceration after a failed attempt at leaving. While incarcerated she discovered that many people had trauma way before prison, which led her to create her wellness business, A Pocket of Sunshine. Now she has helped hundreds of people in their journey to heal and de-stress, including incarcerated women. Precious is also a member of the Formerly Incarcerated People Performance Project which develops and presents the stories of those impacted by incarceration and the justice system.
 
Ben Tucker
, a.k.a. Brother Ben, is a storyteller, singer, author and Podcaster. He tells personal stories and historical unsung hero tales. iambentucker.com. You can find his podcast on Spotify: Storytelling time with Brother Ben.

March 28, 2023

Collage of headshots of tonight's performers

Stories

Kat Meltzer, Nature Nurture Time Travel
When we are little, we make sense of ourselves and our world as best we can. Kat Meltzer explores the origins of her lifelong battle with depression, and offers a powerful portrait of the child whose spirit helps her fight back.

Annamarie MacLeod,Reasons He Had to Die
Is it vengeance or justice? 2 historical poisoners and a mythological gorgon share their thoughts on murder.

Anthony Michael Jefferson (AJ),The Bumpy Road Less Traveled
Tragedy and triumph of faith, hope and, awareness of the spirit.


About the Performers

Kat Meltzer (info coming soon)

Annamarie MacLeod  is a local creator of several solo shows. Her first show, Full Fathom Five, about post-partum depression and mermaids, was accepted into the SF Fringe Festival in 2020. Someday, she wants to write something funny.

Anthony Michael Jefferson (AJ) is a Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef, actor, and activist.  He has been performing locally for the past four years.  The first role he landed was in The Box, which toured nationally.  The Box depicts the persistence of humanity despite the torture of solitary confinement.  He has performed at the Marsh SF, with the Marin Shakespeare Company, and at the Monkey House Theater in Berkeley. AJ is also a Fellow in the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project

February 28, 2023

Stories

Collage of headshots of tonight's performers: Dara Kosberg, Algiin Ford, Pearl Ong
  • Dara Kosberg, Do-Gooder
  • Algiin Ford, Behold I Make All Things New
  • Pearl Ong, The Aunts


About the Performers

Dara Kosberg is a San Francisco based writer, comedian and storyteller. She’s the Program Director of Reimagine, a nonprofit that helps people face adversity and loss. As part of their community-driven arts festivals that explore the end of life, she’s produced comedy shows about grief and loss. In her free time, she’s co-writing a workplace comedy sitcom which features the character in her piece “Do-Gooder”. 

Algiin Ford is a Bay Area-based writer and actor. With over 20 years of experience as a yoga instructor and wellness professional, Algiin brings a unique physicality and performance to all of his work. Algiin’s wide-ranging theater credits include classics like Skin Of Our Teeth  and Fences, as well as experimental plays and his own original works.

Pearl Ung has been performing short autobiographical storytelling pieces since 2019, and has performed at Solo Sunday at Stage Werx in San Francisco, Monday Nights at the Marsh, Tell it On Tuesday, and the Marsh International Solo Festival (online). Critics have raved: ‘Meh’; ‘Amy Tan she’s not’; ‘Laughable’.

January 31, 2023

Collage of headshots of this evening's performers: Karen Ripley, Bill Zarchy, Maryclare McCaulety

Stories

  • Karen Ripley,  On Line Funeral 
  • Maryclare McCauley,  The Road to Revenge
  • Bill Zarchy,  The Battle of the Bay


About the Performers

Karen Ripley has been performing for over 35 years as a comic and improviser. She came on to the gay comedy scene in 1977 in San Francisco. She was featured on the cover of the East Bay Express with Whoopi Goldberg in the mid-80’s. She won 2005 SF Fringe Best Musical Comedy with Annie Larson, in the original play Show Me where it Hurts. Featured in 2007 Logo TV’s Wisecrack, episode 2. Ripley’s original show Oh No, There’s Men On The Land!, received Theatre Eddy’s Top 5 Solo Shows in 2015. 

Maryclare McCauley has been writing and telling stories for the past 15 years. She has a theater background that includes performing in contemporary, classical and science plays, circus work, improvisation and dance. Presently she is learning to play the ukulele and read with a kindle rather than a paper book! Practicing the ukulele is easier! (I know…it’s complicated) 

Bill Zarchy circumnavigated the globe many times during his 40 years as a cinematographer, as chronicled in his memoir, Showdown at Shinagawa: Tales of Filming from Bombay to Brazil. Now he likes to write novels and tell tales about his work and travels across six continents. His latest book is Finding George Washington: A Time Travel Tale.