Better Said Than Done’s Come As You Are online storytelling series keeps rolling along, bringing tellers from around the USA to our wonderful community via the power of the internet. The next one is Thursday, June 18th! Register here!
Most of the cast for Thursday’s show will be telling under the Better Said Than Done banner for the first time. Let’s take a moment and get to know them!
Natalie Amini is a DC area native and the DC Regional Producer for The Moth. When she is not helping DC area locals find their stories on stage, she works as a Housing Counselor in Adams Morgan, helping DC locals buy affordable homes in the District. She loves the incredibly supportive nature of storytelling audiences and the community as a whole. She believes that everyone has a story, and is passionate about creating diverse and inclusive spaces with in the storytelling world.
Calvin S. Cato has performed all across the United States and has even crossed the border into Canada. His television appearances include the Game Show Network, Netflix, Oxygen’s My Crazy Love, National Geographic’s Brain Games, and an unaired pilot for Vice Media called Emergency Black Meeting. In addition, you may have heard him overshare on many podcasts including Keith and The Girl, The Beige Philip Show, RISK!, and Tinder Tales. In 2017, Calvin was named one of Time Out New York’s Queer Comics of Color to Watch Out For. Calvin will be one of the featured storytellers joining us on July 10 for our Black Stories Matter benefit show.
Vara Cooper is a storyteller, writing coach, and narrative consultant. She’s a Moth Story Slam champion and winner of the 2017 National Story Slam at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. She has been featured on WGBH’s Stories from the Stage, the Risk! podcast, and stages across the country. Vara is a native New Yorker who has traveled through thirteen countries and 49 states, but has never been to the Grand Canyon or the top of the Empire State Building. Her favorite color is green. Now that dating is canceled, her hobbies include knitting, staring into space, and planking. She is owned by two Basset hounds.
Fourth-generation Affrilachian storyteller Lyn Ford is a teaching artist with the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, a Thurber House mentor to young writers, and a great-grandma. She has provided stories in diverse venues: centers for education, correctional facilities, libraries, conferences, and storytelling conferences and festivals in the United States, Australia and Ireland. The recipient of two National Storytelling Network’s Oracle Awards, she’s also an author with two books and numerous articles to her credit, and was the first storyteller to be nominated for an Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts.
Rhonda Hansome is an Outstanding Comedian BackStage Bistro Award winner and has appeared on TV shows including Saturday Night Live, Stand-Up Spotlight, and Showtime at the Apollo. She’s also been the opening act for Anita Baker, Diana Ross & Aretha Franklin to name a few. She developed her “provocative sense of foolery” at storied New York venues Catch A Rising Star and The Improv. You can catch her Monday nights at 11 P.M. on John Fugelsang’s SiriusXM Progress show, Tell Me Everything.
Stephanie Rogers produces a storytelling and music show in Chicago called Story Jam, which combines storytelling with original songs written for each story, played by a 10-piece band. Stephanie is mainly a musician and bandleader, and she has been an actress, a server, a tennis coach, a rocker, and a preschool teacher. She was in a funk band in the 90s called Hipbone, hence her website: hipchick.com.
Paul Strickland’s heartfelt and hilarious tall-tales and songs have been performed in virtually every imaginable environment, from Off-Broadway to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons – where he was NOT an inmate at the time. His collections of stories have won “Best of Fest” honors 13 Times at Fringe Theatre Festivals all over the U.S. and Canada. Paul was an Exchange Place Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2018, and set to be a Featured Teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in 2020.
Our fearless leader, Jessica Robinson, will be your host for the evening. And yours truly, Jack Scheer, will be the man behind the curtain pulling all those Zoom levers. The festivities kick off at 9 P.M. EDT.
The Come As You Are shows are pay-what-you-can. The suggested contribution is our standard “at the door” ticket price – $15 per person – with a minimum contribution of $5. All proceeds are shared among the performers and Better Said Than Done.
Ticket sales close at 7:00 P.M. EDT on the day of the show. Get yours now!
