Braided and Twisted Tales

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Jessica Piscitelli Robinson

On May 16th, 2024, join emcees Norm Brecke and Anne Rutherford and storytellers Eva Abram, Tim Ereneta, Amanda Lawrence, Mo Reynolds, and Jessica Robinson for Twisted Tales: Braided Stories.
Online Only at 8:00pm Eastern.

Want to learn how to craft your own Braided Story?
Jessica Robinson is leading a workshop, on Zoom, on April 28th, on Braiding Stories.
Read more and register here.

May 16, 2024 – Starting at 8:00pm Eastern
$15 Suggested/$5 Minimum
All Proceeds Split Between Producer and Storytellers
You will receive a link to watch the show moments after registering. If you do NOT see that email, first check your junk mail folder. If you still cannot find it, contact stories@bettersaidthandone.com BEFORE the show starts.
As people can watch the recording for up to one month after, ticket sales close on May 19th. Your receipt reflects the date ticket sales close. The link to watch the show has the date and time of the show on it.
Tickets include a $1.00 ticket handling charge.
Buy Tickets

($16.00, 100/100 remaining)
($27.00, 100/100 remaining)
($38.00, 100/100 remaining)
($9.00, 100/100 remaining)
($5.00, 100/100 remaining)

In the “Buy Tickets” box, click on the amount you’d like to pay and then “add to cart.” At the top of the “Buy Tickets” box, a little box that says “Go to Cart” will appear. Click on that.
Confirm everything in your cart is correct. Click “Review Cart and Make Payment.” Then click on “Make Payment through Paypal.” That will take you to Paypal where you are given the choice to login to pay OR to pay with credit card.

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May the 4th Storytelling

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Jessica Piscitelli Robinson

On May 4th, 2024, join emcee Jessica Robinson – who will use her Jedi mind tricks to persuade the audience that these ARE the storytellers they are looking for – and storytellers Nick Baskerville, Noa Baum, Jon Modell, Joe Morice, Ravi Pimplaskar, Jack Scheer, and Sarah Snyder for Rebel Alliance: Stories of Empires and Rebellion.

In-Person at Clare and Don’s Beach Shack, 130 N. Washington St, Falls Church, VA, at 6:00pm.
Doors open at 5:30pm.

A full dinner and bar menu is available.

May 4th, 2024
6:00pm Start/5:30pm Doors Open
When you purchase a ticket, your name will be entered on the list at the door. You do not get a physical ticket.
We recommend you get tickets in advance. If we do not sell out in advance, we’ll have tickets available at the door for $15 per person.
Tickets include a $1.00 ticket handling charge.
Buy Tickets

($16.00, 14/15 remaining)
($29.00, 7/10 remaining)
($58.00, 3/3 remaining)

In the “Buy Tickets” box, click on the amount you’d like to pay and then “add to cart.” At the top of the “Buy Tickets” box, a little box that says “Go to Cart” will appear. Click on that.
Confirm everything in your cart is correct. Click “Review Cart and Make Payment.” Then click on “Make Payment through Paypal.” That will take you to Paypal where you are given the choice to login to pay OR to pay with credit card.

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Spring and Summer Workshops

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Jessica Piscitelli Robinson


At this time, all workshops are virtual. If you are local to Northern Virginia and would like to join in-person, we may be able to work that out.

Braiding Stories: How to Weave Together Multiple Stories –
April 28, 2024 at 3:00pm, led by Jessica Robinson

Spotlight on You –
May 25, 2024 at 2:00pm, led by Jessica Robinson
July 21, 2024 at 2:00pm, led by Jessica Robinson

Spotlight on You, Too –
June 22, 2024 at 2:00pm, led by Jessica Robinson

Your Story, Your Life –
Starting September 4, 2024 at 7:00pm, and running each Wednesday night, for 5 Wednesdays, through October 2, 2024 – led by Jessica Robinson

Register for a virtual storytelling workshop below.

Tickets include a $1.00 ticket handling charge.
Buy Tickets

($26.00, 91/100 remaining)
($76.00, 9/10 remaining)
($76.00, 10/10 remaining)
($76.00, 10/10 remaining)
($199.00, 10/10 remaining)

PLEASE NOTE: Workshops are on Zoom. We are in the EASTERN TIME ZONE and times listed about reflect that.

Spotlight on You, Spotlight on You, Too, and Your Story, Your Life class sizes are limited to no more than 8 registrants so that each attendee will have time to share a story and receive critical feedback. The Braiding Stories workshop is more presentation style with time for a few volunteers to share, but class size is not limited and not all participants will be able to share a story.

After registering, you will receive a receipt. Login information and details for the class will be sent approximately 4 days prior to that class. If you have questions in the meantime, or don’t see the email, please contact stories@bettersaidthandone.com

Braiding Stories – In this 90 minute workshop, we’ll discuss what braided stories are, different types of braided tales, and when it makes sense to intertwine multiple stories. Then we’ll dig into some techniques on how to craft a braided story. Participants will spend some time working and weaving their own tales, and a few will be given the chance to share a story.

Spotlight On You – A half day workshop which includes lessons about storytelling structure, character development and other techniques for creating dramatic, engaging and true, personal stories. Class size is limited so all students will be given the opportunity to share a story and receive critical feedback.

Spotlight On You Too – a 5 hour workshop covering more advanced storytelling lessons. Meant as a follow up workshop to Spotlight on You, this is also ideal for any experienced storyteller looking to delve deeper into a particular story, work on enhanced performance techniques, or play around a little more with form.

Your Story, Your Life – 5 two hour classes, over five weeks, to help you develop secondary characters, dialogue, non-linear structure, enhanced performance skills, and stories of varying lengths to be performed on stage. Students will be able to workshop and hone at least one, and possibly several, stories over the course of 5 weeks.

Read about our storytelling teachers, as well as about what you can expect in our workshops here.

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Women’s Storytelling Festival – Teller Spotlight 4

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Jack Scheer

The Women’s Storytelling Festival is nearly here! We’re nearly at the Thursday night virtual kickoff, followed by three days of terrific telling in fabulous city of Fairfax, VA.

All told there will be twenty-one amazing women sharing their wit, wisdom, skill and power during the fest. You can read all about them here!

Follow this link for festival tickets!

This is our fourth and final piece where we get a little more insight into some of the festival’s participants. They all answered these questions:

Question 1: What sort of stories do you usually tell, and for what audiences?

Question 2: What can you tell us about what you’ll be presenting at the festival?

Here’s what this group had to say…

Anne Rutherford

1. Stories where people discover something unexpected about themselves and one another. For audiences who like to be entertained, moved & inspired.

2. Original stories of personal adventure, true and fictional. Moving, inspiring and sometimes laugh out loud funny.

__________________________________________________________________

Laura Simms

1. What I tell always depends on the audience, the focus of a festival, the moment we are living in and what I love to share. I combine traditional symbolic stories like fairytales, and myths with personal narrative. I have been doing that for 45 years. At first I did it because the little comments between old stories about my life were always enjoyed and then because as more and more life stories were considered that which was true and authentic, I wanted to open a bigger field of recognizing how the great traditional stories were deeply personal, and the memories were mythic.

2. I will be telling a variety of stories from memories of growing up as a girl in Brooklyn – knowing more about Pastrami sandwiches than my own body – to a retelling of one of the oldest mythic stories that we know – the Mystery of Mother and Daughter, through the tale of Demeter and Persephone. I am also delighted to weave three stories in one set: about my mother, hearing Nina Simone on my first date into Manhattan, and a very juicy Hawaiian myth.

Linda Yemoto

1. I tell pan-Asian folktales, nature-education stories, and a few personal stories. My most consistent audiences are school groups and families at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where we lead tours of the galleries, but use Asian folktales to bring the art to life. Since the pandemic I’ve done countless virtual programs for both kids and adults, and appeared in-person at various festivals.

2. Through the use of an old button, I’ll be telling the story of a Japanese picture bride — my baachan (grandmother) — and a look at her life upon arriving in California.

That’s it for our Teller Spotlight! Come join us in Fairfax or online for the fifth annual Women’s Storytelling Festival!

GRAB YOUR TICKETS NOW!

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Women’s Storytelling Festival – Teller Spotlight 3

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Jack Scheer

The Women’s Storytelling Festival is getting closer! Preparations behind the scenes are at a fever pitch as the festival committee works diligently on all the last-minute details.

We’ll be welcoming, both in person and virtually, twenty-one amazing female storytellers. We’ve collected all of their bios here for you to peruse.

Details and tickets here!

This is the third installment of our Teller Spotlight, where we get to know a little bit about the women who will grace our stages. I’ve asked the tellers these questions:

Question 1: What sort of stories do you usually tell, and for what audiences?

Question 2: What can you tell us about what you’ll be presenting at the festival?

Here are answers from today’s fantastic group of tellers…

Claire Hennessy

1. I usually tell true, personal stories for an adult audience, but recently I have enjoyed telling tall tales thanks to Anne and Norm, and now braided stories, thanks to a workshop I took with Jessica.

2. I am going to be telling all three genres at the Festival – a true tale, a tall tale and a braided tale. My true tale is a bit saucy for adults only, but my braided story is for any age and my tall tale is a little spooky at the end but should be suitable for most ages.

__________________________________________________________________

Ronna Levy

1. I tell true personal narrative stories in open mics and curated shows and story slams throughout NYC. My stories range from humorous to dark to heartfelt.

2. I know it sounds cryptic, but – “Help. I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Stacy Ann Parish

1. I tell personal stories around the theme of things that come “full spiral”. I never use the term “full circle” because I don’t believe anything actually comes full circle. I believe that lessons seem to come back again and again in my life, and each time a lesson is learned, it’s learned on a new level–spiraling up. I tell my stories locally, here in Wisconsin, and my audience is made up of mostly older adults. I don’t get up on a lot of stages, but I run two elder women’s story circles called the “Sages Story Circle” and I have the pleasure of listening to their stories and also telling mine.

2. The story I’m telling is one such full spiral moment about personal freedom.

Robin Schulte

1. For over fifteen years I have worked in the Orlando area schools, sharing folktales and literary stories for literacy enhancement. I work with a tandem partner and our company is Tales Two Tell.

2. The story I am sharing at the Women’s Storytelling Festival is a personal story about a childhood visit to the Drive-In movies with my mom and my sister. We share an intimate experience prompted by a movie my mother chose, one my dad would never have watched.

Andrea Young

1. I usually tell stories about my youth or travel and mostly to BSTD audiences. : )

2. I plan to share a story about a [MESSAGE REDACTED], but it may change, so don’t put my answer in your blog.

We’ll be back shortly with part four our this series!

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! You’ll be glad you did.

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Women’s Storytelling Festival – Teller Spotlight 2

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Jack Scheer

The Women’s Storytelling Festival is getting closer by the day! Our fifth annual gathering starts Thursday, March 14th with our online kickoff show and runs through Sunday, March 17th in Fairfax, VA.

Festival details and tickets are right here!

Today we’re bringing you the second installment of our “get to know the tellers” posts. I asked all our tellers to answer two questions:

Question 1: What sort of stories do you usually tell, and for what audiences?

Question 2: What can you tell us about what you’ll be presenting at the festival?

Here’s how today’s featured tellers answered those questions…

Michele Carlo

1. My stories are mostly from my life, many from the perspective of growing up as a redheaded Puerto Rican in an Italian-Irish neighborhood in The Bronx, New York.

2. The story I’ll be telling (a combo of two: “A Tale of Two Weddings” and “Man-O-Pause”) has a timeline that runs from youth to middle age and examines cultural identity, aging – and if it is possible to find a partner after one’s societal “expiration date.” And did I mention it’s funny?

__________________________________________________________________

Fanny Crawford

1. Half my repertoire is family stories – about my ancestors, immediate family & extended relations – telling for all ages – focus on different parts or messages for different audiences – and portraying some family members in period dress. One quarter of my telling is folk, fairy and tall tales. And the other quarter are regional historical narratives – eg. Johnny Appleseed; Jane Sinclair, enslaved at Sharpsburg, MD during the Civil War.

2. The 50 minute set on Sunday morning portrays my sharp-tongued mother recounting her experiences in a Jewish family in NYC during the Depression, pursuing higher education, joining the U.S. Women’s Army Corp, marrying an African American political activist and building a life – and family – together in Philadelphia during the height of the Red Scare.

Megan Hicks

1. For the past few years, most of my performing has been for adult audiences. My stories are personal history, family stories, American history (Civil War and World War II), fairy tales, and altered fairy tales.

2. For the Women’s Storytelling Festival, I will probably be telling personal history and possibly some stories my mother told me about growing up in the US during World War II. But I know I won’t be able to resist telling at least one fairy tale…

Roopa Mohan

1. I started out telling folktales and myths to school groups visiting the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Now, I enjoy playing with different genres for adult audiences as well, like personal narratives, historical portrayals and tall tales … often braiding my childhood memories and culture into them.

2. I am debuting 2 personal, braided narratives and a portrayal of a contemporary female artist who broke many barriers in the early 20th century in India.

Penelope Whitney

1. I tell racy stories for mixed audiences who are often (hopefully) tipsy.

2. My story for the virtual showcase is about revenge with a capital R! You’ll identify with my obsession, laugh at my stupidity- and feel better about life.

Stop by in a couple of days for our next peek at this year’s tellers! But don’t wait that long to get your tickets, here.

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Women’s Storytelling Festival – Teller Spotlight 1

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Jack Scheer

March is here and with it the beginning of Women’s History Month. And here in our sphere the start of the month means we’re just a couple weeks away from the fifth annual Women’s Storytelling Festival!

The Festival will bring together twenty-one of the country’s most outstanding female storytellers. You can read all of their bios here. In the run-up to the start of this momentous gathering, we’ll also be publishing a series of posts to get a little insight into the amazing women who will grace our stages in Fairfax, VA and on Zoom.

Details and tickets here!

I asked each of our tellers two questions:

Question 1: What sort of stories do you usually tell, and for what audiences?

Question 2: What can you tell us about what you’ll be presenting at the festival?

Here’s what our first batch of tellers had to say…

Rosemary Cipriano

1. I tell stories that my middle school self would die of embarrassment at. My stories are of course deeply personal, but I love to take a relatively challenging or intense experience and find the humor in it. Storytelling is partially my therapy – and that has been therapist approved.

2. I will be telling a story about a recent experience where I found myself – a 30 year old woman – walking in the shoes of someone twice my age for nearly a year. As they say, life comes at you fast, and it certainly did for me.

__________________________________________________________________

Jane Dorfman

1. I tell a lot of Celtic stories, I tell folk and fairy tales, and some literary stories. Since telling Northern Ireland I am always looking for stories from America to share over there. I also do personal stories and ones I just make up. One of these I’ve gotten published. I have lost several Liar’s Contests. I tell mostly for adults at this point, but occasionally with pleasure for kids in a school or library setting.

2. I am telling as Calamity Jane. She is a character I am fascinated with and have done a lot of research on. The facts are hard to pull out, Jane was known to be a fabricator of stories, didn’t seem to let the truth stand in the way of a good story –my kind of person. And the dime novel writers of her day made up all kinds of stories christening her The Heroine of Whoop-Up.

Bonnie Gardner

1. I almost always tell true, personal stories — humorous or more serious — that I’ve developed for a mature audience. As a former journalist, I wrote about other people, but in storytelling I turn the spotlight on my own experiences.

2. I’m going to be sharing a spooky story at the festival. It also happens to be a true story. It still gives me chills, so I hope it does the same for the audience.

Andrea Kamens

1. I tell for all ages, from babes in arms to honored elders. I specialize in telling tales inclusive of kids and adults with special needs and who are neurodivergent. My stories are original, traditional, first-person, Jewish folk and sacred, and a weaving of genres, told in-person and online.

2. I’ll be presenting a traditional-ish tale, going into the classic Russian forest, deep and dark and full of teeth. And I won’t quite be myself in the telling.

Aimee Snow

1. I usually tell stories from my journey to parenthood or my insane former job….to anyone who will listen.

2. It involves 2 different bodily fluids but it’s not gross.

Check back shortly for our next installment of answers!

In the meantime – GET YOUR TICKETS! You don’t want to miss this festival.

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Guide to the 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Miriam Nadel

The Women’s Storytelling Festival, produced annually in March by Better Said Than Done, is a festival celebrating Women (including TGNC individuals) Spoken Word Performing Artists. The festival debuted in March 2020 in Fairfax City, VA, and, thanks to the pandemic, set a precedent for our Festivals to be available for audiences both in-person and online.

The festival will be performed in-person at the Old Town Hall, 3999 University Dr., Fairfax City, VA 22030, as well as streaming online.

The Festival main page includes links to the storyteller bios, the schedule, tickets, a FAQ, and more. Click on the link below to get to the main festival page, and find all additional links in teal along the left side of the website. Use the teal links as your guide.

The Women’s Storytelling Festival

Festival Tickets

For $45, the Virtual Festival Pass gives you access to all 15 plus hours of storytelling live-streamed from the venue, and also for one month after. If you miss any of the live-stream, you have time to catch up.

$65 gets you the In-Person Festival Pass. You can attend all programs from March 15 – 17 in-person (note that March 14th is virtual only), and you also receive the links to watch all of the recordings for one month after. $122 is the cost for a 2 person, in-person ticket.

If we do not sell out in advance, we will have in-person tickets available at the door. Virtual ticket sales close on April 1, as everyone has access to the festival videos until April 22.

Details and Tickets Here

Storytellers

The 2024 festival features 21 storytellers.  5 tellers will be part of a virtual showcase, premiering on Thursday evening, with the remaining 16 performing in person.  Read the bios of all these wonderful women at:

Storyteller Bios

Schedules

The 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival starts on Thursday March 14, 2024 and runs through Sunday March 17, 2024.  The Thursday showcase will be on-line only, beginning at 8:00 p.m.  The in-person event, at the Old Town Hall, in Fairfax City, VA, as well as the live-stream, will begin at 7:00pm Friday night. The festival concludes around 6:00pm on Sunday.  Note that all times are Eastern Standard Time.  Click on the link below for the full festival schedule.

Festival Schedule

Sponsorship

Thank you to our 2024 sponsors – Capture Video Inc.; Clare and Don’s Beach Shack; Fairfax City; Lifestage, Inc.; Luna River Publishing, LLC; Mythics; Tales and Ales; VASA (Virginia Storytelling Alliance); and Kim Weitkamp!

Find out more about these wonderful sponsors and get more info on how you can become a sponsor at:

Sponsorship Page

Merchandise

Make sure to check out the merchandise table at the in-person event.  We’ll have Women’s Storytelling Festival goodies for sale as well as books, recordings, and more from our festival tellers.  If you’re going to be attending virtually, check the link below to learn about our online shop.  

Merchandise

Where to Stay

If you are coming from out of town, there is a list of nearby hotels on our FAQ page. We have a block of rooms reserved at the Holiday Inn Express.

Holiday Inn Express Fairfax – Arlington Blvd.
10327 Fairfax Blvd
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-359-2888
PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO BOOK ROOMS FOR OUR DISCOUNTED RATE.
PLEASE NOTE: Once you put in the dates, you will be able to select “BSD” from the group rate pull down menu.

Festival FAQ

Is there anything else you want to know about the festival?  All of the who, what, when, why, and how –   from how to get here to what to expect – is answered here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Emcees & Volunteers

We have a team of dedicated volunteers who make sure everything runs smoothly at the festival, for both tellers and attendees.  We also have 8 emcees guiding everyone through the program.  Learn all about them at this page.

Volunteers and Emcees

The Story Swap

Has what you’ve heard inspired you to want to get up on our stage and try your own hand (and mouth) at storytelling?  The story swap, Sunday morning at 11:30 is your opportunity!  Just write your name (legibly, please) on a piece of paper (which we will provide) and put it in the basket for your chance to tell.  Names will be drawn randomly and tellers are limited to 6 minutes.

Whether you attend in-person or watch online, whether you share a story in the Story Swap or just sit back and listen, we are excited for you to join us at The 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival!

And Stay in Touch!

Like and Follow the WSF Facebook Page
or Better Said Than Done’s Facebook Page
Keep up on Instagram
Subscribe to our Blog
Subscribe to our Newsletter

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The Women’s Storytelling Festival Approaches

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Jessica Piscitelli Robinson

The 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival is just over two weeks away!

In-person tickets and virtual passes are on sale here!

The WSF (as we call it) has been called “the best festival I’ve ever attended,” “a unique festival experience,” and “something special” by past attendees. I agree. And so do the storytellers of the 2024 WSF. Watch what a few of them (Fanny Crawford, Carmen Agra Deedy, Jane Dorfman, Bonnie Gardner, Claire Hennessy, Roopa Mohan, Stacy Parish, Laura Simms, Aimee Snow, and Linda Yemoto) have to say, here:

There are many more interview videos. The above just contains shorts clips from each.
If you’d like to see more, check out our YOUTUBE page (subscribe if you want to be notified when videos are posted), or follow us on INSTAGRAM or on the Facebook pages for BETTER SAID THAN DONE or Women’s Storytelling Festival.

One of the things we at Better Said Than Done value is our community, a community built on shared stories. If you are able to join us in-person, come to Fairfax March 15 – 17 and be with your people – our people. If you are only able to watch online, know that we will hold you in our hearts and share in that community spirit with you as well.

The 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival kicks off on Thursday, March 14, with a virtual showcase featuring storytellers Carmen Agra Deedy, Edith Gonzalez, Stacy Parish, Penelope Whitney, and Linda Yemoto! In-person storytelling starts at 7:00pm Eastern on Friday, March 15, at The Old Town Hall, 3999 University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030. In-person events will be live-streamed. Ticket holders (all full festival pass as well as virtual ticket holders) will be able to watch the videos starting on March 14th and through April 21st, 2024.

Find out more and get your tickets here!

We will see you soon!

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The Women’s Storytelling Festival Returns!

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Jack Scheer

As we move into February, anticipation is building as the Women’s Storytelling Festival gets set to return for its big fifth year!

In-person tickets and virtual passes are on sale now!

Conceiving of, coordinating, and launching a show on the scale of the Women’s Storytelling Festival is a big deal. A thousand things can go wrong and scuttle all the hard work and best laid plans. And we can say this with authority, because we pulled off that inaugural festival right at the bleeding edge of Covid shutdowns!

But launch it we did, and every year since the festival has brought some of the most talented and sought-after tellers from around the country to Fairfax, VA. It has gone from a fledgling hope to something more – a tradition.

And now we celebrate year five of that tradition! The 2024 Women’s Storytelling Festival runs March 14th through the 17th, and we’re bringing in twenty-one of the best women in the field to celebrate, to share, and to build community.

Over the next few weeks we will spotlight the tellers who will make up this year’s edition of the WSF. We’ll get to know a little bit about them, and we’ll pique your interest for the festival itself.

Find out more and get your tickets here!

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