Tell it on Tuesday celebrates the expression of individual storytelling and solo performance. Coming together as a community to share works crafted by theater artists and storytellers, we provide an East Bay home to the solo performer.

The last Tuesday of almost every month!

Producers:
Bridget Frederick, Rebecca Fisher

Advisory Committee:
 
Charlie Varon, David Ford, Jeff Raz, Bruce Pachtman

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TELL IT ON TUESDAY ARCHIVES - 2017

November 28th

STORIES:

  • Abe Bernstein, “How The First Letter Was Written”
  • Jeanne Lupton, "My Life in Tanka"
  • Malcolm Grissom, “"Work: it's more than just a 9 to 5 job."
  • Lois Sanifu Kincy, “Was Enslaved and Still Feeling the Fall Out”
  • Laura Hedli, “too old to be this young”

MUSIC: Adrian West Band, Acoustic Rock & World Styles
Kevin Goldberg & Brandon Farmer

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Blending acoustic rock and world styles, the Adrian West Band will perform the most storyesque songs from its repertoire plus a couple instrumentals. Infectious original songs and grooves featuring Adrian West on vocals, guitar, electric violin & live looping. Kevin Goldberg on bass and Brandon Farmer on drums. www.adrianwest.com

Jeanne Lupton is happy to be on the Tell It on Tuesday stage again. She writes tanka, a 5 line Japanese poetic form, and has hosted the poetry reading series at Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda for ten years. Many thanks to coach Jeanne Haynes.

Abe Bernstein is an actor, improviser, and storyteller. His most recent acting role was as Mortimer in "The Fantasticks." He regularly performs in Bay Area senior centers and senior residences as a storyteller and as a member of Stagebridge's Playback Theatre Troupe. 

Malcolm Grissom is a Storyteller, an Employment Counselor, a podcast host, a friend and a gentleman (sometimes). Tonight he is premiering the work-in-progress for his fourth show.

Lois Sanifu Kincy. Life is its own story. Stagebridge gives me opportunity to practice in the “telling” and I am blessed to be a part of its “telling.”

Laura Hedli is a writer and storyteller. Laura’s articles on the arts have been published in the New York TimesWall Street JournalPhiladelphia Inquirer and American Theatre, and online at stages.tdf.orgplaybill.com, and solosundays.com/4for/. She also writes about science and works at Stanford University School of Medicine. This show, “too old to be this young” will debut at the Maui Fringe Theater Festival in January 2018.


October 24
Stagebridge Partnership Performance

STORIES:

  • Tom Pulsifer, “Judgment in the Snows”
  • Claire Isaacs Wahrhaftig, “Me and Danny Kaye”
  • Ellen Kaufman, “Busted!”
  • Bill Zarchy, “Sweet Home Shenyang”
  • Ben Tucker (aka Brother Ben), “Baptism by Fire”

MUSIC: Levona (ethnic fusion - a combination of Arabic, Jewish, and Flamenco music)
Faisal Zedan - percussion, vocals, Josh Mellinger – percussion, Patrick Kelly – Bass, David McLean – guitar, Asaf Ophir - woodwinds, vocals

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Levonah is a cross-cultural celebration that combines music from around the world with the age-old tradition of storytelling. The ensemble rose out of the highly acclaimed Bay Area musical "Love Sick", and is currently nominated for "Best Ensemble" at the Theatre Bay Area Awards in October 2017. Master musicians from Syria, Israel, and the United States come together to weave a rich tapestry of sounds that is at once a taste of the orient, and a new creation all on its own - the kind of energy that only comes when distant cultures overlap, and celebrate their differences.

Tom Pulsifer has been taking storytelling classes at Stagebridge since his retirement in 2015, and continues to develop his skills as a participant in the EPIC Storytelling Program at Stagebridge. Tom volunteers as a history docent for the Oakland Museum of California, and is particularly interested in applying the craft of storytelling to making history come alive.

Claire Isaacs Wahrhaftig is a retired arts administrator who, thanks to Stagebridge, at last gets to practice an art! She appeared in Tell it on Tuesday in April this year and has told at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts for three years, at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, and for Story Corps.
                   
Ellen Kaufman is grateful for the stories that she has to tell. Even the painful ones mellow out over time.

Bill Zarchy circumnavigated the globe many times during his 40 years as a cinematographer. Now he likes to write novels and tell tales about his work and travels across six continents.

Ben Tucker loves a good story, well told. He says it nourishes his mind and soul.


September 26th, 2017

STORIES:

  • Naomi Puro, “A Travel Curveball”
  • Geoff Hirsch, "How I Got My Start in Comedy"
  • Phil Surkis, “Happy People Do Not Play The Bass”
  • Ellen Jay & Liz Callahan,  “You’re sisters???”
  • David Hirata, "American Wizards"

MUSIC: Ragtime Bowling, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass. 
Scott Underwood, Sean Dougan, Jared Karol

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

An eclectic mix of ragtime and country fingerstyle blues, bluegrass, Americana, and old-timey, Ragtime Bowling will get your feet tapping, your hands clapping, and leave you thinking: "I get the ragtime part, but what does bowling have to do with anything?"

Naomi Puro has studied Storytelling at Stagebridge in Oakland, and performed at the Monday Night Marsh & Laugh Lines in San Francisco. She has been teaching Dance & Movement classes to Older Adults for so many years, the she’s become an older adult. Her weekly Fun Fitness & Dance class at the Berkeley Jewish Community Center is in its thirty-fourth year! “A Travel Curveball” is directed by Jeanne Haynes.

Geoff Hirsch has been teaching math for over 30 years at Ohlone College and the College of San Mateo. He changed his schedule so he might Tell it on Tuesday. He owns the world's most diverse tie collection (Google Geoff Hirsch "As long as I got my suit and tie") He was the first person in the Third Millennium, but that's another story.

Phil Surkis was inspired to try comedic storytelling and comedy producing after leading a Seder. Performance-wise, Phil is a regular on the Solo Sundays series at Stage Werx, and has performed at The Marsh, Starline Social Club, and Freight & Salvage. He's a producer on two podcasts for W. Kamau Bell, including Kamau Right Now! and Politically Re-Active. 

Liz Callahan doesn’t plan on quitting her day job as an executive coach, and she’s happy to be using her skills as a front-of-the-room trainer to (hopefully) entertain. She and her sister, Ellen Jay, have been looking for projects to collaborate on for decades. Found one! Many thanks to Jeanne Haynes for her expertise, enthusiasm, support and gift of laughter.

David Hirata is the writer/performer of two shows that ran at the Marsh, “Kanji by Starlight” (1997) and “Magic Holiday” (2007). He has also created theatrical magic pieces for the Exploratorium, the Yerba Buena Center and the Oakland Museum. He is delighted to be gracing the Marsh stage again.


August 29th, 2017

STORIES:

  • David Kleinberg, “Return to the Scene of the Crime”
  • Barbara Newman, Tradition
  • Linda Wright, “The King of Pop”
  • Reha Zamani, “Don't Call me Fashia”
  • Beth Huizenga, “Help God, I Hear You Hate Us”

MUSIC: Doris Moskowitz: Early Jazz Standards 

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Doris Moskowitz is the youngest daughter of Berkeley's famous bookseller Moe Moskowitz, owner of the legendary Moe’s Books on Telegraph Avenue. Now it is Doris who owns and operates Moe’s, keeping her father’s legacy alive. She performs Early Jazz Standards Monthly at Nabolom Bakery and Pizzeria at 2708 Russell at College and is delighted to join TIOT for the first time tonight!

David Kleinberg was an editor and writer at the San Francisco Chronicle for 34 years, the last 14 years as editor of the Sunday Datebook. He has also been a standup comic for 10 years, appearing with Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, and Richard Lewis. This is his third one man show and the sequel to "Hey, Hey, LBJ!, about David's year as an Army combat correspondent in Vietnam.

Barbara Newman MD, MPH (Masters of Public Health); worked in medical projects in the developing world: India, Angola, Sudan, southern Mexico, Haiti; and with immigrants seeking asylum in the US; 20 years as an emergency room physician in US, after 10 years as Family Physician

Linda Wright is an Oakland native, and a UCB graduate who works at two elementary schools as a Second Step guidance teacher. A Wife and mother of 3, she leads assemblies on African American history and tells tales from around the world.

Reha Zamani is an Afghan American actress with a background in theatre and commercials. After college she moved to LA and worked in various independent films, commercials and plays. Reha decided to return to the Bay Area after getting a job working for a tech company and is currently working on the piece: Don't call me fashia. 

Beth Huizenga’s dream as a Dutch American kid growing up in New Jersey in an ultra-religious community was to be fabulous, travel around the world and go swimming on Sundays. She did just that - living in Asia working in broadcasting - before landing in the Bay Area as a DJ on KFOG during its heyday. Somehow, she managed to keep the same bike lock since working as a messenger in Manhattan in the late 80s and that makes her proud. 


July 25th, 2017
12th Anniversary Celebration

STORIES:

  • Ginger Parnes, “Paris Faux Pas
  • Jan Friedman, The Committee”
  • Phyllis Dantzler, “Pretty Little White Girl”
  • Wayne Harris, In the Garden of Gethsemane

MUSIC: Mimi Heft and Friends; folk, jazz, a capella, blues

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Mimi Heft lends her melodious voice to a wide range of music, from jazz and blues to a capella and folk. Whether presenting originals or songs by others, Mimi makes each her own deeply personal and resonant story. In addition to performing with her own band, Five-Legged Mule, Mimi has shared the stage with Joshua Raoul Brody, Myles Boisen, Three Drink Circus, Miniwatt String Trio, Mark Growden, Thad Povey, Delco, and others.

When Ginger Parnes was 3 years old, her brothers sent her on stage to sing at a movie theater talent show. They wanted her to win them a bicycle…and she did! Since then, she has been singing  (including 10 years with Berkeley Broadway Singers) and performing with delight when opportunity presents itself. How fortunate to be here at Tell It On Tuesday!

Jan Friedman, formerly a designer and author of a series of books on American eccentrics, embraced her retirement by joyfully exploring her own eccentric potential through improv and storytelling.  Plunging into a new world of senior dating and previously repressed sexuality, she developed “The Committee” with Marsh director Charlie Varon, first performing it last year at SF’s Monday Night Marsh series.  

Phyllis Dantzler is a monologist, stand-up comedian, writer, filmmaker, artist, and slacker extraordinaire. She lived the first 30 years of her life within spitting distance of where the Civil War started. She defected from The South in 1982 when she moved to San Francisco. Phyllis currently lives in Oakland with her two dogs, cat and five chickens.

Wayne Harris is an award winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator and musician. A gifted artist with wide ranging interests, he has accumulated an impressive body of work over the years that includes 5 full length plays, presentations for schools, directing and designing for pageantry groups as
well as various musical projects. Wayne is also the director of The Marsh Youth program.


June 27th, 2017
12th Anniversary Celebration

STORIES:

  • Ellen Kaufman “Wake-Up Call”
  • Ron Jones “Naked Zombie”  
  • Neshama Franklin, “happy birthday from yelapa”
  • Houston Robertson, “Victory for the Recycled Virgin” (excerpt)
  • Joshua Raoul Brody, “Ruminations about a work-in-progress”

MUSIC: Sandy Noltimier (vocals, ukulele) accompanied by Joshua Raoul Brody (piano, vocals)
Standards, familiar and not so much.

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Ellen Kaufman, after following a 40 year career in the health care industry, is now happily “rewired”. Although she’s been telling stories for years, she discovered storytelling as an art form in 2014 and finds it thrilling to explore her past through this creative lens.

Ron Jones grew up in San Francisco where he currently lives with Deanna, his wife of 5o some years, children, grandchildren, and a peaceful garden. He is the author of award winning books and plays. Ron has trouble fixing things around the house and dreams of playing basketball. He shares a dark secret that explains the appeal of Donald Trump.  see www.ronjoneswriter.com   

Neshama Franklin lives to tell and does so whenever she can: at the Moth (a grand slam winner), the Naked Truth, Fireside Storytelling, and Tell in on Tuesday--her 12th appearance. She works at the Fairfax Library, posts a biweekly blog of book recommendations and hosts a poetry show (both on the Marin County Free Library website), and has a biweekly radio show on KWMR's Turning Pages. Check out her out on YouTube.

Houston Robertson calls herself an Octobabe. She’s a post-corporate, post PTA, and post-spousal woman who's always wanted to be on stage. And now she is. Houston had a run of shows at the Marsh Berkeley in October 2016. Joshua Raoul Brody is better known as an accompanist — for improv, tango, singers and comedians — than as a sole practitioner, but this is his second appearance on the TIOT storytelling stage … third if you count a piece he did with Merle “Ian Shoales” Kessler many years ago.


May 30th, 2017

STORIES:

  • Shelley Campbell, “The Center of the Labyrinth
  • Harriet Patterson, “Title: Sail On!” (an excerpt)
  • David Jacobson, Dog's Misery Swamp” (an excerpt)
  • Penelope Whitney, “Revenge” 

MUSIC: Deborah “DJ” Hamouris, singer and song writer

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Shelley Campbell is a mother, grandmother, writer, storyteller and bookkeeper.  Her web-site is:  www.shelleycampbell.com.

Harriet Patterson grew up in Texas where she developed a lifelong love of breakfast tacos and walking barefoot. She studied and lived in New Zealand where she fell in love with nature. She moved to California and discovered a love of nonprofit management, which is her day job.  And nearing 40, she found The Marsh where she (re)discovered her love of writing and performing.  She lives in the East Bay with her husband and cat where you can find her most weekends making breakfast tacos and walking around barefoot.

David Jacobson is a writer/performer and home to 100 trillion bacteria that collectively weigh as much as his brain. These crucial cohabitants may have subliminally suggested their co-starring role in his new "solo" show, Dog's Misery Swamp. David's previous show, Theme Park, which failed to even mention his microbes, went to a bunch of Fringe Festivals.

Penelope Whitney is not as psycho as she sounds on stage. Catch more of her stories at That Really Happened in Berkeley and Fireside Storytelling in San Francisco. 


April 25th, 2017

STORIES:

  • Lisa Rothman, “Trolls in Yoga Pants”
  • Claire Isaacs Wahrhaftig “Selma, Selma”
  • Kirk Waller, “Stagger Lee”
  • Steve Budd, “What They Said About Love”

MUSIC: Laura Austin Wiley, Solo Flute

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Laura Austin Wiley plays flutes and sings with the Resonance Jazz Ensemble, which recently performed at Yoshi's. She also performs with her own ensemble, the Laura Wiley Quartet. She has just released a new CD called Waiting for Rain, which is available on CD Baby. Her website is www.lauraaustinwiley.com.

Lisa Rothman's first solo show, "Date Night at Pet Emergency" ran for six months at the Marsh Berkeley.  When she's not performing, Lisa teaches people to make presentations.  She recently learned more than she ever wanted to know about sinkholes and scabies.

Claire Isaacs Wahrhaftig is a retired  arts administrator. She ran children's programs a SFMOMA, directed a young peole's arts center in Los Angeles, and directed the San Francisco Arts Comission. She has returned to her early love of performance.

Kirk Waller uses movement, music, song and the spoken word to transport his audiences to places far away and long ago. Director of storytelling at Stagebridge, former chair of the Storytelling Association of California and on the Tell It On Tuesday Advisory Board - BUT his most prized possession and biggest accomplishments??? Eric and Elijah, his two sons!

Steve Budd is an actor, storyteller, standup comic, and solo performer. He's performed with lots of Bay Area theater companies, including the San Francisco Playhouse, Impact, Marin Shakespeare, and Custom Made. What They Said About Love won Best of the 2016 San Francisco Fringe Fest. He'll be performing the show in June at the Hollywood Fringe Fest.


March 28th, 2017

STORIES:

  • Carole Klyce, "Life is a Riot"
  • Diane Barnes, "My Stroke of Luck”
  • Hannah A. Taylor, "Breed and Rescue: Part 1: A Child Needs A Home"

MUSIC: The BBQs: Henry’s Memphis Bluff Blues Quintet
Henry Klyce, Jim Semitekol, Joel Henner, Harold Shashi, John Eckstrom

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Carole Klyce has stories that need to be told. With the help and encouragement of Ann Randolph,David Ford and Rebecca Fisher
she is going to tell them.This will be Carole's first solo performance!

Diane Barnes is an actor, writer, storyteller and solo performer. Born and raised in New York city, she is a well rooted SF Bay Area 415 transplant. After a career as a physician specializing in Diagnostic Radiology, she discovered improvisation and the power of storytelling. My Stroke of Luck, developed at the Marsh with David Ford, and directed by Rebecca Fisher has toured the US and Canadian Fringe circuit, and will be presented at the prestigious United Solo Festival at Theater Row in New York City in the fall. www.dianebarnes415.com

This is Hannah A. Taylor's first solo performance. Something she thought she would happen decades ago, but she got caught up in "performing" her life's work.Tonight, for the first time, she attempts her first solo, a work-in-progress. It's a singing and performing outing...a solo performance musical. Please be kind! She has teamed up with David Ford, dramaturg/development, Ellen Hoffman, composer and pianist, and Marc Monserrat-Drukker, director.


February 28th, 2017

STORIES:

  • Karen S Ripley, “On Line Funeral”
  • Ronen Sberlo, “Get in the Elevator”
  • Daniel Ari, “Scenes from The Trip”
  • Lisa Oglesby, “The Smile”

MUSIC: Perry Dexter and Robert Riggle, Acoustic blues and Americana music.

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Perry Dexter has sung and played guitar professionally all over the US and Canada. He will be joined by Robert Riggle, an accomplished bay area musician, on vocals, guitar, slide guitar and harmonica.

Karen Ripley has been performing for over 35 years as a comic and improviser. 2005 she won SF Fringe Best Musical Comedy with Annie Larson in the original play “Show Me where it Hurts.” Her stand up is featured in Logo's Wisecracks episode 2. Her original show “Oh no there’s men on the land,” received Theatre Eddys Top 5 Solo Shows in 2015, San Francisco Bay Area.

Ronen Sberlo is a Bay Area native, and has been writing and performing for over 20 years. He is currently developing a solo show entitled Experts, Assholes and True Believers.

Mesmerized by language, Daniel Ari dives deeply into it through the craft of poetry. Besides reading his own works, he performs works by Millay, Yeats, Shakespeare, Boots Riley, and Cummings—and if the December is bleak enough, he does a mean Poe. He published two books last year, One Way to Ask and the Richmond Anthology of Poetry, both available from him, Amazon, and NorfolkPress.com

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Lisa Oglesby now lives in Berkeley with her wonderful husband and two furry children. As a teacher, trainer and facilitator, Lisa has been telling stories for years. In the last year, she’s finally be able to tell stories just for the sheer joy of it and has started a collection of short stories.


January 31st, 2017

STORIES:

  • Mick Renner, “Adapt"
  • Irma Herrera, “Tell Me Your Name”
  • Toni Weingarten, “Babe in the Hollywoods”
  • Bradley Paterson, “Lack”
  • Pearl Louise, “Shame the Devil and Pass the Nails”

MUSIC: Kadie Kelly (piano) Suzanne Yada (violin) and Ward Spangler (waterphone)

A B O U T   T H E   P E R F O R M E R S

Kadie Kelly is a Bay Area pianist and teacher, inspired by storytellers and the piano music of Bach, Yann Tiersen, Helen Jane Long, Ludovico Einaudi, and Enya. Accompanied by Suzanne Yada (violin) and Ward Spangler (waterphone).

Mick Renner has been a professor of English, a technical writer, and an actor. In the Bay Area, he produced plays for Power Mad Productions; and he performed at the Berkeley Rep, Berkeley Shakes, and Eureka theatres. ADAPT, which is set in the future, is the second full-length solo performance he has developed with David Ford. www.mickrenner.com.

Irma Herrera, a social justice activist, has spent three decades as a public interest lawyer, and a handful of years working as a journalist. A native of South Texas, she has resided in the Bay Area since 1980. She is now a playwright and solo performer of her one-woman show, Tell Me Your Name. www.irmaherrera.com/

Toni Weingarten has written for TV news and magazine shows, documentary, corporate videos, interactive CD-ROM, newspapers articles and essays.  But these days she's happiest when she delivers her words in person to real live people - like you!  toniweingarten.com

Bradley Paterson is a writer and solo performer based in San Francisco. 

Pearl Louise: What can I say about me?... Well I like to perform and I found Mr. Ford, the best teacher ever, and he helped me with my plays and now I am here. YASSSSSS


Tell it On Tuesday
Bridget Frederick and Rebecca Fisher

bridget.frederick@gmail.com and rebecca@rebeccamfisher.com

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