Summer Lovin’ – A Hot Night of Cool Stories
Date: Saturday, July 30th, 2011
Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:00 p.m.)
Location: Jammin’ Java
227 Maple Ave E
Vienna, VA 22180
Tickets can be pre-purchased online, www.jamminjava.com, by calling 703.255.1566 ext. 8, or by stopping at Jammin’ Java.
Meet the Performers:
Host Jessica Piscitelli, CEO of Better Said Than Done, got her first shot at fame when she won a Young Author’s Award in 6th grade. She went on to writing scripts and studying filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has been a regular commentator on WAMU, DC’s NPR station. She performed her first story on the SpeakeasyDC stage in 2007 and has been addicted ever since – performing stories for SpeakeasyDC, Fan-Freaking-Tastic, TEDx, SWAN Day, among others.
Dustin Fisher decided to celebrate his 30th birthday by having a panic attack and moving all his stuff to the Midwest. Along the way, he found a knack for stand-up comedy, highlighted by making it to the finals of the 2008 Funniest Person in Cincinnati competition. Dustin co-wrote and stars in the storytelling performance Logic, Luck and Love, which sold out at the Capital Fringe Festival 2010.
Stephanie Garibaldi is SpeakeasyDC’s Education Director. She is responsible for coaching all the performers on the open mic and directing the 2009 Sucker for Love Valentine Special. She is a member of the cast of SpeakeasyDC’s acclaimed Fringe Festival success, Chocolate Jesus and a rising star on local stand-up stages. She has been performing, hosting, directing, teaching with SpeakeasyDC since 2002.
Katie Kelly has been able to find humor in every area of her life; family, school, work, church, and nature. Katie even laughs in her sleep (ex-roommates/pets can confirm). She has performed for local storytelling and stand-up shows in the Washington DC area since 2008. However, some of her most rewarding experiences are sharing humor and story-telling with different cultures when she travels for her career in international development. She even once made an indri lemur giggle.
Lynda Laughlin found that she was not very good at making stuff up in improv, so she turned to story telling because the truth is much more interesting. She has performed for SpeakeasyDC and looks forward to finding new audiences to listen to her stories about the wild west, her passive aggressive family and her obsession with karaoke.
Jennifer Luu is a storyteller, a life coach, and a lover, not a hater. With her emotive insight and bite of witty humor, she has told stories and emceed events at retreats, festivals, theaters and college campuses for audiences coast to coast. As a one-time radio deejay, certified wedding officiant and frequent panelist and panel moderator, Jennifer is called to do anything that involves speaking (out loud to people). Fortunately, she also knows when to shut up.
A molecular biologist by day, Adam Ruben has told stories with SpeakeasyDC, Mortified, Story League, Fan-Freaking-Tastic, and Baltimore’s Stoop Storytelling. He has performed stand-up comedy for more than a decade, opening for such comics as Jim Gaffigan and Greg Giraldo, and he appeared as a recurring guest expert in a lab coat on the Food Network’s “Food Detectives.” He writes a monthly humor column for the otherwise serious journal Science, and he recently published his first book, Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School.
Amy Saidman is SpeakeasyDC’s artistic executive director. She co-directed the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival’s top-selling show The Sin Show, 2009′s Mommie Dearest Mother’s Day Special, and was in the cast of Chocolate Jesus. She has been performing, hosting, teaching, and directing with SpeakeasyDC since 2000 and is a two-time recipient of the artist fellowship award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanties.
First Time Teller Len Kruger gave a very well-received toast at his brother’s wedding in 1987. When he was a camp counselor in 1975, he told a ghost story to fifteen 6-year-old boys, but had to stop mid-way when several started crying because it was “too scary.” Len is also a fiction writer and has had short stories published by magazines and journals including Zoetrope All Story and The Barcelona Review, as well as the anthology Stress City: A Big Fat Book of Fiction by 50 DC Guys.
